Wilba
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Posts posted by Wilba
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As in real life communities, people in the MIDIbox community will have different opinions and different levels of zeal (you know who you are, guys!)
Every so often, the "non-commercial"-ness of MIDIbox and what it actually means gets discussed (bitched about?) here or on other forums. Labels like "elitist" get used. People complain about a right to sell whatever they make. Even relative newbies to MIDIbox get all preachy and express righteous indignation about the mere suggestion of the MIDIbox user not being the one who soldered their MIDIbox. Oh the huge manatee! etc. etc. So take it all with a grain of salt, basically.
To address your specific question: while a pre-built Core might save the first time newbie a bit of hassle having a known-good board they can plug in and play with ASAP, if that newbie didn't have the tools or skills to solder even a Core module, then what exactly would they do with the Core anyway? Surely they'd want to interface it with something and need to do some soldering eventually.
So it's not a "price of admission" as you put it... just an assumption that the newbie would have to do some soldering to build their MIDIbox project. Can you give me a scenario where a newbie to MIDIbox would not need to do any soldering at all? i.e. they just plug in a Core and that's it?
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I wish troubleshooting was this easy all the time :thumbsup:
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The sammichFM base PCB (and MIDIbox OPL3 module) require a crystal oscillator, not just a crystal. A crystal oscillator actually outputs a clock signal (it has semiconductors inside), whereas a crystal is used in conjunction with other parts to generate a clock signal.
I don't know what part you are using, and even if it is the right part, desoldering it from a C64 could have damaged it, just like desoldering any IC or transistor can damage it. I recommend you get the right part. For reference, it is Mouser part 815-ACH-14.31818EK
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Any suggestions? Perhaps it is the 74HC595 IC at the bottom, as the four leftmost switches of this component are also non-functioning and these four don't appear to be connected to the dual 74HC165 at the top.
IC1 (at bottom) is 74HC165
IC2 (in middle) is 74HC165
IC3 (at top) is 74HC595
Thus there is no "dual 74HC165 at the top". You probably have the 74HC595 at the bottom and a 74HC165 at the top, where they don't belong. Thus LEDs and switches don't work.
Protip: 74HC165 are for digital inputs (switches), 74HC595 is for digital outputs (LEDs). The 74HC165 usually has resistor networks on either side to "pull up" switches connected to ground.
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AFAIK SmashTV is working through that list, and isn't going to update it with every order... plus it's such an old list that I bet half the people on there will not proceed with an order because they either got a PCB/"kit" already from me or fussylizard, or aren't interested anymore.
FWIW I get approximately 20%-30% cancellations... i.e. for every 50 "pre-orders", 10 to 15 will cancel, not reply to emails, or not pay.
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You could make something to add a feedback pot, using two male plugs, a female socket (for a cable) and a dual gang pot (100K-500K).
Wire up the female socket and male plug, as if you were making a cable extender... that goes on the audio out.
Add another cable coming out the male plug, attach the left and right wires to the two pins on one side of the pot. The two pins on the other side go to ground. The two middle pins (wiper) then go into the male plug going into the audio in. So basically the pot attenuates audio output going into audio input... you can leave it in all the time and turn the pot fully one way to turn off feedback.
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Hmmm... that idea might not work so well... it will be 1mm thicker than the stock panel.
I probably should wait until my beard grows back and scratch it a bit before going ahead with that. Consider it Plan B.
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I can get two top-panels cut out of 2mm clear acrylic so you can sammich the artwork in between if you like. :tongue:
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Great job on both, but extra kudos on the MB-FM... very nice layout redesign.
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I recommend Inkscape.
Here's the top panel in SVG format. Dimensions are accurate, but cut lines are offset 0.1mm to allow for laser kerf (what gets burned away).
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I have some. PM me.
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I don't think we've ever had this kind of offer before... offers to pay someone to solder MIDIbox PCBs (which goes against the "non-commercial" licence) but not "code this for me and I'll pay you".
Perhaps there are some programmers here who would like to help you but don't want accept payment. Instead, perhaps they could make this a project that everyone could use, and then maybe you can just donate to MIDIbox development and/or webhosting as a contriubution/thanks.
This idea could quite easily merge with other live playing "toys" like arpeggiator, delay (see ), transpose/octave shifting, velocity curve tweaking, etc.
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MOAR KUDOS OM NOM NOM
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Siempre has the same display as "recommended" by me (I guess)... it's the Optrex C-51505NFQJ-LB-AJN
I have tested mine and it works but I didn't fiddle with brightness control much... I don't remember if the brightness pot did anything or not. I do know from past experience that the Optrex STEP displays are different to normal LCDs... I'm guessing they like a straight 5V supply on the backlight and not any fancy current limiting.
I'll do some more tests when I get back home next week.
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Entschuldigung.
One of three useful German phrases, all you need for a trip to German-speaking countries.
The other two are "Danke schoen" and "Zwei Bier, bitte!"
(I blame nILS, he never told me it was such an insult.)
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und - speziell für diesen Anlass aus AU eingereist - Wilba.
nicht ganz richtig... aber es ist nur ein Grund für mich, Doucheland *cough* Deutschland zu besuchen :tongue:
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New pre-orders will have to wait until August for delivery.
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I recently discovered a 9V DC 300mA plugpack worked perfectly.
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I'm still selling kits, without SIDs... but there's a long wait.
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Great job Antix!
Can you post photos of the inside? We all like seeing what is "under the hood" :D
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Do the LEDs blink while the sammichCSTest app is running? They're supposed to cycle through, what I mean is, do all the LEDs go off for moments like when you run the MB-SID app?
No response from buttons/encoder could be a bad solder joint on the "SI" (serial input) pin of the J8/J9 header... the "SO" (serial output) pin is what controls the LEDs.
I suspect that if both LEDs and buttons/encoders don't work, the problem might be related, so check all pins on J8/J9 and where it connects on the base. There could be a short between pins, or a bad solder joint.
In email, you wrote: "When I try to "Query" the device in MIOS Studio it just reboots! Same if I try to upload the firmware. Funnily enough I can play notes via MIOS Studio on the SammichSID....." Has this problem totally gone away? What did you do to fix this, if anything? A lot of the time, problems are related, so it helps troubleshooting to know what else was wrong.
Check you have the 74HC165 and 74HC595 in the right places. Try swapping the 74HC165 and test again with the sammichCSTest app - if the one closest to the header is dead, but the other good, swapping them will make half the buttons work.
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You can start with MIDI Troubleshooting guide: http://www.ucapps.de/howto_debug_midi.html
The sammichSID base PCB has the same parts as a Core8 module, just positioned differently, with the JMI/JMO headers in series.
Feel free to ask any questions about how to do some of these tests, if it isn't clear enough how they can be done with sammichSID.
And finally, sorry to hear you're having such trouble - I think 95% of builds work perfectly, and yours is one of the rare cases where it doesn't... it could be just one bad solder joint or a faulty/broken part, but it's fixable, eventually!
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Regarding backlight, perhaps replacing the BC337 will fix this, and checking the joints for the brightness potentiometer.
Regarding MIDI not working, check you have shunts in JMI and JMO, check the 6N138 is installed correctly... also tell us if you get the "upload request" from the sammichSID (this proves MIDI Out is working).
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You may have a faulty encoder. If the problem persists after cleaning up solder joints, the best solution is remove it cleanly (chop off pins above PCB, desolder pins one at a time) and replace it with a new one, which I can post to you.
Baffled by overly zealous DIY ??
in Miscellaneous
Posted
This "software oriented talent" should be motivated enough to contribute to MIDIbox that they don't mind a tiny bit of soldering.
Just like the electronic musicians here who are motivated enough to build a MIDIbox don't mind a bit of soldering (and often learn how to solder in the process).
There is no expectation for newcomers to learn advanced electronics theory... just solder some parts.
I agree that pre-built Cores would be more inviting, but not really required, all I see is a lot of effort to help a few hypothetical people. If the idea of doing some soldering and the result possibly not working is enough to send people away, oh well, that attitude isn't really ideal, is it? Much better is the attitude of someone who is willing to give it a go, even when it isn't their strong suit. This is a DIY electronics community! It's not unreasonable to expect people to know (or want to learn) basic electronics skills like soldering, avoiding blue smoke of death, and not electrocuting yourself.
Similarly people new to electronics are encouraged to continue when they solder their Core module and it works. Or it doesn't work first time and maybe with help from the forum they get it working. As I said before, at some point you need to do some soldering to "finish" a MIDIbox project, and for many people, the process of building a MIDIbox project is a learning experience in electronics, soldering, programming, case design.... if it was a university course, the first "lesson" would be solder the Core and upload your "hello world" app.
I will bypass your vague assertions that MIDIbox Core modules should be more Arduino-like... because it's like saying an apple should be more like an orange, thus making apples more attractive to orange-lovers and tasting like shit to apple-lovers.
Oh, her's a flower (cos nILS seems to think trolls eat flowers): :flowers: