airmailed

well, it uses 3 pics http://www.retroleum.co.uk/z80-soundcard.html

hi Dave, i'm not much of an expert but i think some kind of inverter circuit would do you for inverting the signal from your gadget before it gets to the dinx, a not gate or something... not sure about the on/off bit

i think rapid have them, http://www.rapidelectronics.co.uk/rkmain.asp?PAGEID=80010&CTL_CAT_CODE=30284&STK_PROD_CODE=M60288&XPAGENO=1 i wonder if these would do? maybe not exactly what you're looking for but they might do the job

from seeing a photo once (on that page with all the yamaha chips) , i think this chip is not surface mount

these guys sell lots of screwdriver bits for unusual types http://www.lara.com/reviews/screwtypes.htm

hi, if you want to, you can ask Martin Walker himself. he works for sound on sound these days, and is active on their forums http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showprofile.php?session=6133ef2cb44faa2a37c83a3d1689efbe&User=667862&What=ubbthreads why not send him a message, i think he'd be interested in what you're doing ;-)

http://www.puredata.info/ i think the main advantage over max is that pd is free, though with max you can create standalone programs (so that once you have a midi-flash thing that works you can turn it into a little program with max, with pd you must have pd installed in order to run pd patches

i've hardly used max but i've used pd a bit, in pd one object to do that is "pack", this combines several atoms into one message, pack can combine numbers and phrases, text etc. if you are using pd you can press the right mouse button when over any object and select "help" from the menu to see the help file for that object, it's also possible to unlock (max) or edit (pd) a help patch and copy the pieces you need for your own patch. if you are using max you can try the tutorial pdf which can be downloaded from cycling74.com this is also quite good for learning the basics of pd, the main difference when making patches is that in pd the name must be typed into the box, in max it's also possible to choose objects from a list, i think going through the tutorial will get you quite far towards understanding how to do what you want

there are objects for pure data which allow communication with flash.. http://www.csorg.org/teaching/installation/tutorials/pd_flashserver.html pd accepts midi input so could possibly be used to mediate between the two, i think it's easier to use the midi port with your midibox if you have it hooked up like that, i couldn't tell from your post...

i've finished soldering the 4 main boards for my dual sids, i used lead free solder (tin/copper mix), the other day when reading the faq at oakley http://www.oakleysound.co.uk/FAQ.htm i notice they say that lead free isn't compatible with hasl, so i'm not sure what to do, leave the boards as they are and hope for the best, or desolder everything and resolder with lead/tin, i'd prefer to leave them but if this means the boards malfunctioning in the future then i suppose it would be better to remake them, but i'm a little worried that traces of lead free left on the boards will mix with the new solder causing weaker joints... does anyone have any ideas which would be best? adam

i guess with free and cheap old pc's with midi available it's not such a big deal for the mac users if apple haven't got java together yet, it makes me wonder if there are any good alternatives though, it seems a shame to be waiting around for apple, i hear that java interfaces with osc (open sound control), so i'm wondering if that would offer an alternative route to communicating with the pic, as long as there is software that accepts osc input and outputs sysex via midi (i think pd only outputs sysex on linux for example) edit: ps, i think another possibility for the mac is to have an option to route the midi data out via a network port, then use another program to read the network input and output it via midi, i am fairly sure a max/msp patch or standalone program could do this, the two programs talking to one another via the computers internal loopback (in the same kind of way that supercollider works). i don't know how much work this is to implement, but if midi output is the only thing that doesn't work on the mac at the moment then this might open the door to use with mac os's prior to tiger (presuming java 1.5 happens) i haven't tried mios studio yet (connection too flaky to download java 1.5), so i don't know exactly what would need to be shifted to a "network to midi" patch/program, anything relating to midi output i suppose, though i suppose there might be the possibility to use several network ports as output from mios studio then map these to midi ports in the other (theoretical) patch/program best wishes adam

there are versions of tcl/tk that also run on osx and windows now, pure data (open source version of max/msp, well, msp is a commercial port of pd) uses tcl/tk for it's gui software, i don't really think it ties in with java at all but it is truly cross platform. as Adam says, it would mean a total rewrite so may not be viable in this case, but for anyone wanting to write cross platform apps from the ground up it might be a good choice in conjunction with something like stk (c++ libraries for sound and midi) which also works on a wide variety of platforms

i hear that tcl/tk is a cross platform language that actually works on lots of platforms, and is supposed to be pretty good for building gui applications, i think it might be a lot of work to port mios studio (and just imagine, porting the whole thing and it still not working on mac) but it might be worth looking at, it's a lot smaller than java too, and tk (the gui part, hooks into perl as well, python also uses it) all the best adam

http://aug.ment.org/lechero/ made from wood would you believe ;-)

thanks marcel i'll try that out.. the other psu is a +5 +12 -12 volts, using a 5 pin midi style connector, it sounds like your advice also applies well here, look for +5 and -5 then use the black probe on the (newly discovered) ground connector to find the +-12v pins all the best adam

thanks Roger, i need to find out which are positive and negative pins on one psu, will the meter show the opposite polarity if i use the wrong probe? (like will it always show positive if i use the red probe for instance?) all the best adam

hi there, i have a c64 psu and some others that i want to check with a multimeter (individual voltages coming from pins), i just wondered if i have to use the positive or negative probe of the meter or if it doesn't matter which probe i use to check the pins? all the best adam

hi Thorsten.. will the new aout module work on a single voltage or does it need + and - voltages to work? best wishes adam

i might be interested in a couple too... are they new?

thanks smash... don't know if this is any help... http://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/2004-12/024992.html

thanks petri.. sounds like a tip for the soldering page... (i tried to edit it yesterday but got a php error.. not sure what was going on..)

thanks for your advice guys, i think i'll take it off and start again, it's probably not worth runing my sid for the price of a new regulator (if i need to get one) yeah i have a pump.. i have had a few peeling pads when doing these boards, it seems that the recoil from the pump hitting the hot pad/trace can strip it off sometimes... (it's certainly also bent some very thick wires) i'm going to get some desoldering braid instead (i did see a warning about burnt fingers when using braid somewhere.. i think the solution to that is to hold the braid with pliers/tweezers) thanks for the wikipage smash, my experiences lately got me thinking to start something similar, looks like you got there before me ;-) i did read a tip somewhere that the green abrasive sponge used for dishwashing was good for cleaning up pcbs.. putting them under running water at the same time.. while wearing a red hat and some ali baba slippers... i've seen some little brass brushes as well..

hi i soldered up a sid board today and absent-mindedly soldered the two outside pins of the regulator before the middle pin... after about 5 attempts soldering and desoldering i got a joint which looks good on one half of the pin but with almost no solder on the other side... i was getting annoyed so i left this solder on and put some extra on the other side of the joint... i'm a bit worried about frying the ic with all this heat (and damaging the pads on the board) so if this joint on the ground pin will be ok i'd rather leave it like it is.. is this kind of joint ok on the ground pin or if i should desolder 2 of the pins and try again?

i think the 303 style keyboard is a great idea.. i had been wanting to put such a thing in my sid but wasn't sure if i could handle the programming.... i think a useful feature might be using the keyboard to control the arpeggiator... and maybe have a "latching" mode, where the keys could be pressed once and send a continuous note on to the arpeggiator (so that they would not need to be held down)... i know it's unsure whether there is room in the firmware for this but it might be a nice touch if it's possible... i have bought some of ken stones steiner vcf boards for my mbfm.. they run on +-12v, http://www.cgs.synth.net/modules/cgs35_syntha_vcf.html i might just include these in the fm without any voltage control.. (just knobs for cutoff and q) i have to see how much 12v stuff i can run from a 250ma supply.. the plan is to include separate input sockets for the vcfs so that external signals can be run through them, i might also include rotary switches so that i can switch the outputs from the fm between each filter input (hp, lp, bp) and also bypass the filters if i want to.... for anyone wanting a filterbox i think these look great for that (i didn't build them yet but have built ken stones passive ringmod which i really like, the mod input is direct coupled so that very low signals... like 0.01hz can be used to modulate the audio)... ken delivers the boards very quick... thats my recommendation ;-)

hmmmm... well i might just leave the socket where it is and saw up a new one... just to be on the safe side... yeah i looked at the sid diagram and the photo of step b with nothing in those sockets on the slaves..