bosskong

I've never used organic core solder - what's the advantage over rosin core? And why should you not use it on panel mounted parts?

I use a Weller EC1002 soldering station and I highly recommend it. I think I paid close to $200 about 10 years ago, but you should be able to find one for under $100 if you look around. Like TK said, if you just want to build a few projects, go for a cheap Radio Shack 15 watt iron. But if you plan on continuing this hobby, a quality iron makes a world of difference. I went through a few of the cheap Radio Shack irons when I first started, but since I talked myself into spending the money on a decent one, I can't imagine going back. My Weller station has an adjustable temperature, replaceable tips (many different sizes), burn-resistant cord, and it heats up in about a minute or so. Not to mention that it's 10 years old and still looks brand new. A quality iron makes soldering SO MUCH easier. For anyone who's been struggling with a cheap iron, just go ahead and spend the dough - you won't regret it...

I think you just need layers 16, 17, and 18 (bottom, pads, and vias). If you know what kind of printer they have at the copy place, you could try installing the driver for that printer on your pc. Then when you go to print, check the "Print to file" box, and take that file with you. To print out that file at the copy place, you can copy it to the printer port in a dos prompt, eg. "copy file lpt1:" or "copy file \\server\printer". Or if that doesn't work, you can print it with this program - http://www.smartlister.com/Plt.htm Kind of a hassle, but it should work...

Now that I've looked into it a little more, it looks like the Midibox 128 was designed for almost the same purpose as what I want to use it for. When the new 18F firmware comes out, I'll get working on my standup MIDI organ with two sets of 37 keys, 13 pedals, and 17 or so switches... ;D

I'm interested in kind of the same thing. I have an old synthesizer organ (two sets of keys and a set of pedals) that I can't get the sound working right and I'd like to turn it into a midi controller. The keys don't have velocity, so it just needs simple on/off switches. I was planning to see if I could adapt one of the midibox projects to work, but does anyone have a better solution?

How does a real touch sensor work anyway? Is the touch sensor pin just a connection to the knob/button and the circuitry to detect touch is done by the user? Or does the fader actually have some extra circuitry in it? Or is it just a very sensitive push switch?

Cool... I got my 10 Alps motorfaders today. This was my first experience with Alltronics. but I'd order from them again. I was getting nervous since UPS took 9 days to get them here, but they actually shipped within 24 hours after I'd ordered and a woman on the phone actually emailed me with a tracking number like she promised she would. I've never seen a motorfader with a touch sensor. Any thoughts or tips on what would be required to get these faders working with touch sensors?

http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=news;action=display;num=1048462029 Also, if you go to http://www.ucapps.de there's a Midibox LC FAQ all the way down at the bottom. It's in German, which may or may not be a problem for you, but I was able to get some useful information in English by running it through babelfish.

The portal is a great idea. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's designs in one central location. But I agree with Thorsten about not wanting to create 2 forums. Anything that can be done to keep everything organized would be welcome. I've been into this midibox stuff for a few months now, and I'm still coming across basic things that would have been very helpful if I'd found them a few months before! There's tons of excellent information on the website and in the forum, but sometimes it can be a bit hard for a newbie to locate it all. But hey, digging for treasure only makes it more fun, right? ;)

They work fine for me too. Maybe try upgrading to the current version of Acrobat Reader (6.0, at the moment).

I definitely will... I can't wait until the portal is open!

I guess I should have been more specific - thanks for the advice, but I already have all of the chips as samples, except for the Cypress chips. And the Cypress samples are hopefully on the way. I can make the PCB myself fairly cheaply - I'm planning to combine all 4 modules to fit on one board. If I don't build my own USB hub into the same PCB, I have an extra USB hub lying around here. I have an empty rack mount case that's ready for the trash and I'm sure I can rob all of the connectors from other junk. So, just pretend that I really can build this for practically nothing and I don't mind spending time on it - is there some technical reason not to or is a commercial version really that much better?

I'm beginning to think you're right. But pretend I could get the Cypress chips and the rackmount case for free or real cheap, would it still not be worth it? I figure it would cost $100 or more for an 8 port MIDI interface on ebay, but I could build one for almost nothing. Is there some problem with the USB module plans?

The USB module looks pretty cool, but I'm interested in something with more than 2 inputs and outputs. I'd like a rackmount unit with 8 inputs and 8 outputs. Does anyone know if I'll have any problems running more than one USB module on the same computer? I was thinking of using 4 USB modules in the same case and just chaining them together with some kind of USB hub. Does anyone have a better suggestion? Thanks

Thanks, I didn't know about that one! Here are some other sites that offer free samples: www.ti.com www.microchip.com www.maxim-ic.com Does anyone know of any others?