Wilba

Since I answered you the first time, you probably expect an answer from me again or you'll think I'm rude. ;D Put the button anywhere you like. I've already said it's not needed. I don't understand why you really want one, considering you didn't know what it would do until yesterday.

There are plenty of spares available for this bulk order. You just need to contact me to get on the list. Base PCB is US$20. Control Surface PCB is US$20. 7-pin DIN Socket to go with base PCB is US$2. If you have not yet ordered PCBs, then this is what you need to do: Read this thread entirely Read the notes here Contact me by email to confirm your order. Do not post your order here. My email address is Jason.S.Williams@ I HATE SPAM gmail.com When you email me, tell me which PCBs you want (number of base PCBs, number of control surface PCBs), your MIDIbox username (if you have one) and your PayPal email address. When I am ready to send you some PCBs, I will send a PayPal invoice for PCBs+postage. This is different to the original bulk order where people paid for PCB production in advance and only need to pay for postage. In other words, you can buy the extras I paid for so I don't need advance payment for production, they are already being produced. At the rate of people ordering the spares, they might all be bought in about a week!

Sorry to hear about such bad luck, Sasha... Maybe this thread will get hijacked with sad stories so you know you are not alone. Stories like: the time I accidentally put 14v into four 6581s and fried them all or the time I bought eight 6581s from a guy on eBay (who kindly salvaged them from C64s he was selling as scrap) only to discover they all had dead oscillators or dead filters or were just dead. or the time I bought four 8580s from a guy in Canada (who said he tested them in a HardSID) only to discover they all had dead oscillators or dead filters or were just dead. or the time I burned a one inch scar into my left hand with the soldering iron or the time I was trying to remove the DOUT resistors on the perfectly soldered MB-6582 and ripped the pads off the PCB or the time I ... well, you get the idea. ;D

A webpage! Excellent idea! I wish I had done that with the bulk order I'm running... maintaining a spreadsheet has been a very time-consuming task.

From the MIDIbox SID V2 User Manual I removed the "3O" LED from the panel, primarily because it doesn't really belong in the Filter section anyway, it just happens to be a flag in the SID register next to the other filter settings. It's not used very often and would usually be turned on only when first creating a patch using sync/ringmodulation. Also it didn't fit on the panel layout nicely. I haven't missed the LED at all, and there'd be nothing really gained from adding a button. Only a very few patches use it and when I am seeing how a patch with sync/ringmoduation works, I just go to the Filter menu. In contrast, I added the "Ext In" button to the Filter section (the LED is present on TK's "step C" panel), thinking this is a much more useful feature to put in the Filter section, since I use feedback pots to get a resonance boost out of the filter and thus frequently toggle "Ext In" (i.e. route external audio input through filter, instead of just through mixer). Plus there was space for it and it fit in nicely with the O1,O2,O3 LEDs ;D

I don't want to criticize the idea of recycling the VIC-II chip, that's a great idea... but it's a lot of effort to work out how to drive it properly and you're probably still stuck with issues like storing graphic fonts on the PIC and writing line drawing routines etc. Compared to pre-packaged solutions for microcontroller control of VGA monitors: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/home.php?cat=262 it's a slow path to a far from perfect solution. These MicroVGA adapters might look expensive compared to recycling chips, but there's already a lot of the hard work done for you, no hardware design required, PCB manufacturing, firmware development, etc. Unlike the SID, there's nothing really special about the VIC-II. Again, I'm only providing a contrasting opinion. If you want to recycle VIC-II chips into a cheap TV controller, as further homage to C64s, for the technical challenge and for the fun of it, that's great, I'm all for it. I'm just posting to show you alternative ways of achieving MIDIbox connectivity to monitors etc. I gave all mine away to a guy who was competing with me on eBay for a C64!

Yeah I got lucky with the prototype PCBs, only ordered one of each but got two, the spare base PCB made a nice present for TK ;D BTW I paid extra for electrical testing, which was fixed per batch so added practically nothing to the per-PCB price... maybe this means they make a little more anyway and post all that pass testing.

There were quite a few late orders so I've added more spares to the PCB manufacturing order... these are paid for by me so I will not need advance payment for these, I will collect payment for them plus postage when they are ready to post. However, I will not begin selling the spares until the current orders start arriving at their destinations, just in case some get damaged or lost in the post. I know that's not likely, but if it did, I'd like to have spare PCBs to offer as replacements

The huge pile of cash in my PayPal account has gone off to pay for the PCBs! I am rather impressed that the orders (plus a few spares) have reached the nice figures of: 100 pcs of MB-6582 Base PCBs 75 pcs of MB-6582 Control Surface PCBs. If you want some of the spares, they are still available, follow instructions for ordering in the first post of this thread.

I think the "monome-like" keypad kits from Spark Fun Electronics are better... probably work out a tiny bit cheaper than $140 and you can use RGB LEDs, but there's no diode per switch like the monome (maybe you could add them?) Just thought I'd mention it, before people start buying the keypad kit and connecting to a MIDIbox without comparing it with other alternatives.

I made an "executive decision" and rather than collect orders for the 7-pin DIN socket (PCB mount) to suit the base PCB, I've just gone ahead and bought a big bag of them. This means for everyone who is buying base PCBs, I will add one socket per PCB and will add US$2 per socket to your postage & handling invoice. I do this for many reasons: You will not need to desolder the socket from a C64, which is hard to do and obviously cripples a C64 more than just removing the SID. This part is the exact one that fits the PCB, I can't guarantee that other 7-pin DIN sockets have the same pin arrangement. This part is rare. You will easily find panel mount sockets, and 7-pin DIN plugs (if you can't buy a C64 PSU and need to plug alternative power adapters into the 7-pin DIN socket) SmashTV is preparing a parts bag for people building the MB-6582 base PCB, and maybe eventually he will stock this socket at a better price than US$2, but unfortunately I am stuck with local distributors and small quantities and cannot offer it any cheaper than US$2. So I am hoping that you won't mind paying a few cents more for the convenience of having this rare part in your hand when you get your base PCB and can get all the common parts from wherever you please. I only want to hear from people who are not using the PT-10 case and definitely will not be using PCB mounted sockets. These people can email me directly. Everyone else will just get one per PCB. Do not confirm you want these sockets, only confirm you do not want them. The other rare part, the rocker switch like the one from a C64, is not so critical, as you can substitute a cheap DPDT switch while you wait for the PacTec PT-10 case and panels and all the other bits. If you're getting your other parts from Mouser, they have this kind of switch (but it's overpriced at US$7 I think). If you're lucky, SmashTV might find a cheaper source for this switch and can sell you one.

Well, I got the Delta 1010LT, the breakout box was of little importance to me, as I rarely will switch inputs and would like the cables neatly tucked away at the back anyway. The balanced input problem was solved with a homemade XLR to RCA adapter, just connected signal to pin 2, ground to pin 3, left pin 1 open. I set the jumpers for the balanced inputs to the default "line level" mode instead of "mic mode"... with identical SIDs, the balanced input is a tiny bit hotter than the other unbalanced inputs, but other than that, no other audible difference. After mucking about with an original SB Audigy Platinum and kX drivers and doing all the magic rerouting to get 8 inputs and being stuck with only one sampling rate option, this card is a pleasant change, just plug it in and all the ASIO inputs are there at any sampling rate you like, with low latency and nice input level controls and all the pro stuff.

Zoner Draw 5 isn't free, but is pretty cheap and has a free trial, quite good for panel layouts and planning, it's more of a vector based drawing package but with so much support for typing in dimensions, it's a good CAD alternative.

I have officially closed the bulk order. Almost everyone else has paid for their orders and it's time to actually get the batch made. People are still invited to PM me if they want these PCBs, as there might be a few spares left over, and I might get some extra ones made.

Great stuff, goule! I am interested to know how you connect the ribbons (soft pots)... whether you put a resistor between the wiper pin and ground and treat 0v as the "untouched" state, or some other method.

I chose 20x4 because it's got a good size. The standard 20x4 display has narrower characters than a standard 20x2, it doesn't extend on the left/right sides (i.e. the PCB is as wide as the bezel) so this makes it fit nicely in the frontpanel. Plus, eventually I will make use of the extra two lines on the display... ;D

My only advice is, check out the knobs discussed in this thread: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9558.0 and if you like them, join a bulk order that will be arranged soon. ALBS.de have a lot of other kinds of encoder knobs (without pointers) so you could order them directly. Also, don't complain too much, the US can hardly be the worst place to get electronics parts, Mouser might not have knobs but they have practically everything else at reasonable prices. Here in Australia, you either pay a huge markup from local distributors or import everything.

Ich kann Deutche nicht, I just fake it... ;D

;D Fair enough... I just think most people don't like the same things I do.

Ist das es? ;D siddump.zip siddump.zip

They knobs have been used on an MB-SEQ: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=2608.0 This is the easy way to illuminate the knobs... surface mount LEDs, three per encoder (in series), 12v supply, panel hole wide enough for light to shine through to knob, and also (important) some cardboard "boxes" around them to stop light shining through the LEDs on the panel! http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=8389.msg63060#msg63060 I have plenty of LEDs to spare, by the way... ;D But now I've gone and got you all excited about illuminated knobs, AGAIN! Doh! IMHO it's not really worth all the trouble...

Yeah you can illuminate clear knobs, if that's what people really want to do, I thought that's what I really wanted to do until I put the MB-6582 together and discovered it was way too glary...

More things people should know before they order the control surface PCB: You can't build a box exactly like mine, but it will be pretty close. The PLED display I used is no longer made, you will have to buy a 20x4 LCD (see specs). The stock of the knobs I used has run out, but some more might be made, or you can use similar knobs from ALBS.de which don't have a pointer mark and have a nice soft-touch feel. There will be a bulk order for the panels to fit the PacTec PT-10 case. These might be silk-screened instead of paint-filled engraving.

This thread is closed, move to the new thread: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9560

I am closing the sale of the spare PCBs for now. This is to simplify my management and to make sure that people on the list for spares have some relative certainty that they are getting a PCB and can join in bulk orders. If you have not ordered PCBs yet then please wait until I post here that I am accepting orders again. There is a 99% chance that I will arrange another batch of PCBs and sell them here again. The responsibility is on you to watch for new posts on this thread. ************ This is the new thread to discuss the ordering of MB-6582 PCBs. Information about the PCBs, required parts, specifications, etc. can be found here: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=wilba_mb_6582 There are plenty of spares available for this bulk order. You just need to contact me to get on the list. Base PCB is US$20. Control Surface PCB is US$20. 7-pin DIN Socket to go with base PCB is US$2. If you have not yet ordered PCBs, then this is what you need to do: Read this thread entirely Read the notes here Contact me by email to confirm your order. Do not post your order here. My email address is Jason.S.Williams@ I HATE SPAM gmail.com When you email me, tell me which PCBs you want (number of base PCBs, number of control surface PCBs), your MIDIbox username (if you have one) and your PayPal email address. When I am ready to send you some PCBs, I will send a PayPal invoice for PCBs+postage. This is different to the original bulk order where people paid for PCB production in advance and only need to pay for postage.