Wilba

FYI feedback of SID output to input is a bit of fun, can make for some nice squelchy filter sounds but is not really essential.

Congratulations! If that was your only problem getting a 4xSID MB-SID going, you've done well!

Futurlec are bad. They were good with a few of my orders, then totally stuffed one up and stopped replying to emails. I reversed the credit card charge even though I did receive 80% of what I ordered, and feel no guilt whatsoever. However, karma might have caught up with me, the sockets I bought are cheap crap and the contacts are already tarnished.... >:(

You could do both, maybe follow this guide and wire the feedback a different way: http://www.bigmech.com/misc/c64mods/ My feedback pots are wired differently so I can ground the audio input just from having the knob fully turned anticlockwise. (I really should draw a picture one of these days!) In that guy's mods page, he does it by passing the feedback through a switched audio input socket, so when he inserts a plug, it disconnects feedback and connects external audio to the SID. But then he also needs special plugs to ground the audio input when he doesn't want any feedback. I don't use audio inputs at all so that idea wasn't that nice for my needs; I prefer to ground the input most of the time and then turn the knob to get some feedback occasionally.

I was just told by ALBS they would prefer all the MB-6582 builders to go through bulk orders instead of each ordering 15 knobs. That's why I recommend people to start up bulk orders in their region. But if you've got a decent quantity of order (i.e. 50+ knobs total, of any kind) it should be OK I think.

hmm... Can you confirm the version of MIOS you have uploaded and the version of MB-SID? MIOS V1.9f was released recently, but MB-SID V1.7303b is quite old (development moved onto using PIC18F4685) and so it still uses (expects) an older version of MIOS, although this is unlikely to be the problem, it's best I ask. Similarly, what version of MIOS Studio are you using? If your Master Core and SID modules connected to that Core work, have you also validated that all the SID modules work by connecting them each to the Master Core? Have you also validated that each Slave Core module works (by stuffing an optocoupler in it, and swapping in the PIC with ID 0) ? FYI when Link is enabled, the Master should be passing some or all (I can't remember) MIDI events through to the Slaves, especially SysEx messages. The Program Change you see when pressing the Link button is normal I think. If you send something to the Master with MIOS Studio it should send it immediately out to the Slaves and you'll see it in the MIDI In window... so you could try sending LCD messages to device 1 via the MIOS Debug Interface (in MIOS Studio) and prove this is happening. Then perhaps connect an LCD to that PIC and see if the LCD shows the messages sent to it. That will at least prove the problem is not the Link mode and the Slaves are receiving OK.

Go to "Knobs - Rotary" in the stocklist. Look for: 863129 Drehknopf DK16-190V3 A.6/4,5 AT=14 schwarz soft-grau 1677498 863120 Drehknopf DK16-190V3 A.6/4,5 AT=14 schwarz soft-rot 3092 863118 Drehknopf DK16-190V3 A.6/4,5 AT=14 schwarz soft-weiß

I got mine from ALBS, the last of their "translucent blue" kind. I think I might put my spares in the flea market soon (I'm using opaque red ones for future MIDIboxen). ALBS still have a few "transparent clear" ones still in stock I think... they aren't making transparent ones anymore unless they get industrial orders (i.e. 5,000 pcs). I wouldn't bother them with a small order for 15 though, you might get ignored. Someone should be volunteering to run a European bulk order of the knobs anytime soon.

Near bottom of construction guide: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/wilba_mb_6582_base_pcb_construction_guide The holes in the MB-6582 rear panel which I use for feedback pots are big enough for 3.5mm stereo sockets, and could be made wider for 1/4 inch stereo sockets if you felt like doing that (they are spaced apart the same as the output sockets).

I can only think of a few reasons why it doesn't work... If you say you've tested each Core then you must have also proved the MIDI In works for each Core. Perhaps you've left the optocoupler in the slaves? The optocoupler must be removed from the slave Cores since they're tied directly to the master PIC's Tx pin. Have you connected the MIDI In/MIDI Out as connections between the PIC pins Tx and Rx, or as connections of the MIDI In/MIDI Out sockets? Have you followed this diagram for wiring? http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_4xsid_c64_psu_optimized.pdf

I cannot take credit for that, TK did it all when he rewired his MB-SID control surface to use the switch/LED matrix of the MB-6582 PCBs. I plan to do a similar thing with my MB-SEQ control surface, so it's great that someone's done a lot of the code changes already.

You could try a tantalum capacitor, these are much smaller but (from what I heard) can have the same effect of suppressing noise and smoothing out ripples. The problem is mainly that there's a shared 5v supply to the shift registers also. If you were able to have separate 5v and ground supplies to the SIDs and shift registers, this would have the same effect of reducing digital noise.

I found grounding D0-D3 on one of my displays didn't work for me, but leaving them open worked.

If using PIC18F4685 (MB-SID V2) you must leave D0-D3 open for 4-bit mode to work. This is best done at the LCD end, and leaving the IDC connector attached to all 16 wires of the ribbon cable where it connects to J15. But you've done the opposite, so leave them open at the Core end. Make sure there's no bare wires that can touch each other or anything else (but in case you still need them for an 8-bit workaround mode later, just tape them up individually.

Sorry... :-[ It was a brief comment on how it wasn't ugly before and now is ;D and did not really want to get into a big argument about which font is best. What was there before was OK as far as I recall.

The sale is now closed. You can still place orders with me, I will let you know when SIDs become available.

Probably it's a collection of little things... the way you manage a patch library and then edit one patch and get it to work in realtime on the synth, it was all a bit unintuitive and in addition I had heaps of problems getting it to work. The actual patch editor GUI (at least for MB-SID V1) is nice. I want to do a MB-SID V2 patch editor but I am thinking adding it to MIOS Studio would be better (at least not have to fight the JSynthLib architecture and bugs).

I was just quoting Voti... the tactile switches come in laag, hoog and extra hoog ;)

I really don't want to be as picky as stryd_one ;D but who turned on the ugly switch on the wiki?

The datasheets show these as 9.5mm and 20mm length (from base to end of shaft). You need 13mm length. So one is too laag and the other too hoog. ;D

When I read the topic title, it reminded me of what I say when I use JSynthLib... "Forking JSynthLib!!!" I personally don't like the interface at all, although the concept is good.

See control surface parts list: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/wilba_mb_6582

As far as I know, SmashTV has already bought what is required or had it in his stock already. Pre-paying isn't required.

You are posting in the wrong thread http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9829.0 and they are all allocated to pre-orders or confirmed orders. Please contact me to go on a pre-order list, some might become available from this batch, or you can get them from the next batch.

All LEDs being on could be some configuration problem in the firmware. All LEDs going off when you lift it could be a faulty ground connection. If you've got two separate problems, you need to isolate them... Try this: http://www.ucapps.de/mios/dout_enc_v1_3.zip You can then test whether the DOUTs are working, you can turn on one LED at a time with the encoder. Read the main.asm file for details.