defred

An additional question : When connecting the core alone (no AIN, no DIN connected to it) there should be no MIDI message from the box right ? Is there a special problem of having the power plug near the midi plugs ? still checking... thanks all. defrd

Hi there all, I finished my mb64, uploaded application, everything fine, seems to send correctly controlers or notes, BUT :-/ many random events were displayed by midi-ox ! the funny stuff is that when tapping on the box it triggered them ??? So I figured it may be a grounding problem, so checked everything that needed to be grounded, and add a ground connection on the box (metallic one, my first elctronic natural initiative ;) is that allright ?). Still random stuff. One pot seems not to work, so I re-checked all my solder (these box end up in an electric spider-web no ?), nothing new, and this pot don't work. I just started the investigation, so what are the known sources of that problem ? I thought it could definitly not be a software issue. Do soldering issue are known for this ? The question is : can it be anywhere ? So knowing that I'll concentrate on specific point. Thanks to everyone experienced the problem for hints ! It kicks building a Mbox !!!!! defred

Hi there all, I finished my mb64, uploaded application, everything fine, seems to send correctly controlers or notes, BUT :-/ many random events were displayed by midi-ox ! the funny stuff is that when tapping on the box it triggered them ??? So I figured it may be a grounding problem, so checked everything that needed to be grounded, and add a ground connection on the box (metallic one, my first elctronic natural initiative ;) is that allright ?). Still random stuff. One pot seems not to work, so I re-checked all my solder (these box end up in an electric spider-web no ?), nothing new, and this pot don't work. I just started the investigation, so what are the known sources of that problem ? I thought it could definitly not be a software issue. Do soldering issue are known for this ? The question is : can it be anywhere ? So knowing that I'll concentrate on specific point. Thanks to everyone experienced the problem for hints ! It kicks building a Mbox !!!!! defred

thanks uclaros ! the big pushes are indeed quite long travelling, but testing them with my ohmmeter the contact is coming really early, not at the end of travelling, hope it will keep that way ! and I've choosen these ones because its for live purpose, and I'm sometimes getting very hard with my buttons :P So I preffered good bouncing pushes to avoid cracking them during a set. (moreover they were the cheapest at my electronic parts dealer !) Note that the trigger pads (not present on the picture) will be made of tact switch like you talk about. So I will see the difference, and change my system or not !!!! defred

Hello all, I'm now in the cabling session of my box, and of course I have several questions about it. This post is a sum up of all my current problems and question so its rather a large one. :-/ My box has a single AIN module, I guessed I need to connect it to the core like this : AIN Vs-> Core Vs AIN Vd-> Core Vd AIN A0-> Core A0 AIN A1-> Core A1 AIN A2-> Core A2 AIN A3-> Core A3 and left the Core A4, A5, A6, A7 with nothing on it, is that correct ? No problem with the three other pins that don't change wether you have 1 or 2 AIN. In a flash of extreme smartness I figured that potentiometer are "sided", I mean there is a mini and maxi postion, so in order to avoid inverted pots (do we care ?) what is the correct wiring of it ? I measured the pots resistance and mounted them so they are in the right way, but as I'm starting soldering power supply to it I don't know where to put the 5v and where to put the Grnd ? I know this is a newbie annoying quesion, but I couldn't guess with my documentation. Next some bankstick issue, I want to add 2 build-in banksticks to have 16 bank capacity, looking at the "8 bankstick diagram" I figure I could connect my two chip as if they were the two first of the chain (A=0 and A=1) is that correct ? Now some software application questions : I've downloaded the "midibox64_v2_1" applications files, get "perl" and the "mplab ide". By default some buttons are dedicated to menu navigation, as I have no LCD I want to use these buttons for other purposes (i.e. bank change) is there a special modification to make in the original asm file ? Same about the bankstick CS option, if I have 2 bankstick connected I thought I need to have -1 option, is that right ? Well that's all (and enough) for now. Forcoming thanks for your help !!! defred, totally dedicated to the box before total dedication to music.

A step further ! Will make good pictures when finished. And I will never again make a metallic Mbox, It's too much work for an average result ;) (but cheap and solid) This will definitly be the MBC2004 VLC (I love making funny names like the big japanese brand do) defred

Hi there all ! Some of my songs are available on my website (under music/songs), also some videos I made with my Vj (I'm a graphic designer, nobody's perfect ;)) feel free to check it, none of them have been made with an Mbox, but soon it will !!!!!!!!! http://defred.free.fr Comments are welcome, donations are welcome ;D, remix ideas are welcome ;). keep up the good vibes ! defred

bon ben j'ai bien avancé... :o Désolé la photo est "webcamesque", de toute façons elle est pas finie, je piquerais un bon appareil quand elle sera complete. a plus, bonané ! defred

Hi there, just a little bitmap to show you my project. Will use this sweet thing to control Ableton Live, it will be like a super MPC. I'll post some photos when terminated. If you see a bug in my design tell me so, its my first box, I might have missed some ergonomic issues, thought I've spend lot of time to get to that project profile. (black lines are deco and mean nothing) catch'ya all soon ! defred

Yo les froggies, je suis déjà passé par là choper des infos, ben je vous laisse le bitmap de mon projet. MBC 64 VLC (midibox controller @ very low cost), 43cm x 23cm x 8cm, boitier métal issu d'un vieux capot de PC. 4 faders, un crossfader, une vingtaine de potard, une matrice de pad pour déclencher des séquences. Au fait, elle est conçue pour devenir mon interface avec Ableton Live, et ainsi devenir une sorte de méga MPC, 4 boutons de changement de bank, pour avoir 4x16 triggers ! 8). Si vous connaissez pas Ableton Live, penchez-vous dessus c'est un des softs les plus hallucinant que j'ai rencontré (tellement que je l'ai acheté). Voili, je posterai des tofs une fois terminée. catch'ya all soon ! defred

Pour moi c'est bon j'ai finis par faire marcher ce diabolique JDM. :D :D :D Je poursuis donc la construction de la box ! Merci en tout cas, le service est cool. a plus defred

PICs under groove contdition !!! :D :D :D Thanks a lot for the leads Thorsten, I couldn't wait so I tried at my father's house, changed the cable, under XP with icprog+correct driver = Successfully verified, Reading ok. I might have missed something in my various cable test. "Morale de cette histoire" : I'm not soldering that bad ! So happy Chrismas time, bring out the champaign !!!!!!! and a lot of thanks to all for the support, Im beggining to feel home in this community. Will post project bitmap soon. Fiestas ! Chicas ! Y mas que todo MUSICA !!!!!!!!!!! defred

okay, thanks for your time Thorsten, I'll be loosing it up a bit for the "foie gras" time. I'll get back for a more conscious check of this JDM after Christmas. So thanks, and merry christmas !! defred

I'm still confused about that "code protect" feature. What I think I've understood is that the 10K pulldown that goes from Vss to RB5 (18F PICs) is here to disable this protection. Am I wrong ? The LVP features and the code protect are the same ? I read in some post that people "simply" turn off code protection, where/how can I simply do the same ? thanks, I keep checking... but I think I'll soon try to find a MB fan here in france to burn my PICs... (hate to be delayed in my project, especially this one ! :) defred, full of hope.

Salut, j'ai lu quelque part sur le forum francais, qu'un des modérateur pouvait bruler des pic pour 0 franc (hors expedition), est-ce toujours vrai ? j'aurai besoin qu'on me programme 3 pic 18F452 avec le bootstrap loader, passque j'en ai marre de perdre du temps avec ce JDM. So mista moderator, can you help me ? merci, longue vie a la midibox, may the jdm be cast to hell defred

well, thanx wizards ! Even TK the Grey came to support ! ;) here are the readings I get from the JDM for now : jdm standards test : Mclr = 13.5 V vcc = 5.2 V clock = 4.9 V (peak) data out = 4.7 V during reading : mclr = 13.5 V vdd = 5.1 V during programming MCLR = 13.4 V vdd = 5 V It looked acceptable to me regarding the JDM page and posts on the forum. But not to my machine. I've disabled one of my com port to be sure, but I'm not certain wether its the "hardware first" com port, I'll check that out. New various questions : Is that easy to destroy a pic using the JDM and a PC ? ;D Is that easy to check that a PIC is destroy ? :-/ Does the "sample chip" from Microchip is really the same than the 9 euro one ? :P In the JDM page there's a quote about the Icprog hardware check : data in box enabling by itself when data out is enabled, is that bad if the data in box never toggles during my tests ? Also a mysterious doubt in my blurry mind about the geometry of the bc347b, to be sure once for all : when facing the flat face of the transistor I got from left to right the collector(1), the base(2), the emitter(3) ? To clear things up I'm burning several pic for the future projects I want to do with this hardware plateform. Also going to build right after mine, a midi box for my friend Vj that plays arkaos on stage with me. (And I was quite sure to destroy at least one) Well thank you all anyway for your help and your marvellous MidiNerding activity. defred (I'm positive about cables, components seems ok, circuit seem ok checked many times but being resoldered here and there, it's a case pc...all looks fine... sniff sniff)

Hi all, I mounted a JDM module to burn the boostrap loader once for all in several 18F452 that I own. Guess what ? the 0000h stuff came to me. Amazing. So I checked the whole circuit several times, read all the JDM related posts here, read the "ever the same" check  advices people gave, read also the weirds solution to specific problem. The voltages I measure are correct. I've been doing and re-doing the whole procedure found in the JDM page. The circuit seems fine, solders ok, the 10k pulldown is "18f connected", icprog tried with various setting according to advices, screenshoot, clues... Still no success. the whole thing is done under w98, tried on XP (with drivers ok, etc, etc), the same. So I decided that I could have burnt the transistors while soldering. Replaced it carefully. nothing. now a specific question : icprog seems to read the pic (but it seems also to read something when nothing is connected on the port !!), I get a load of zeros, is that the normal behavior or should I get only "FFFF"s like a blank buffer ? also should I "play" with the invert options ? I'm not in a hurry, but I'm damn impatient for that thing to work to keep on building my box !!! I know about all the vital checks to do, I guess I'm looking for a magical formulae. Might the wizards show me the path ? defred

Hi all, I'm beginning my M64 VLC (for very low cost) and wondered what physical size the faders could have. I've seen some 100 mm course that are quite big for my minimal design, and my mixing desk ones are only 60 mm. So can I use either 100 mm or 60 mm course faders ? thanks, might be a post/faq on this but didn't found it. defred

I see, but actually I am doing a minimal Mbox64 core+ain+din+bankstick that's it. I'll see this later, always possible to insert the option. sorry all for my bad scan of the forum (there's tons of posts !) you can erase the topic, since it has been already discussed, I will find it. thanks.

Hi there, just had the idea that it might be possible to use an USB link with a PC to get the 5 V required by the Midibox hardware. no ? yes ? The idea is, of course, to use it with a good laptop computer, headphones, anywhere ! thanks. defredoo

Hi there to all ! As I'm planning to build a low cost M64 (mios based) to control Ableton live, I was wondering If any of you had the chance to see somewhere "MPC style" square pad/button. Let me explain, I have no use for velocity capable push button of course, I'm planning to create a 4x4 buttons matrix to launch sounds/patterns in Live, and I wish these buttons to be sufficiently large to be hit without errors (maybe not as large as the MPC ones !) What interest me the most is to have the "nodelay" type of feel provide by these pads. Are there such type of pads in simple version (open- close, normally open) that would be like 2 cm sided ? Can this be achieved with standard electronic mini-push and a smart "soft cap" ? Or do I have to kill an old yamaha cheap-home-arranger to get them :P !!!!! thanks for any hint ! defred "apologizing for aproximate english-electronic-vocabulary"

Salut, salut, je me posait des question en regardant la gallery de midi box, quel interet d'avoir des Interrupteurs 2 positions ? de même avec un bouton poussoir que ce passe t'il si on maintien la pression ? je me doute que le paramétrage permet d'en tirer parti, mais lequel, car ça va modifier ma commande si je décide de poser des interupteurs. merci pour vos infos... defred

Yes ! merci bien, me voilà tout encouragé :) juste une question pour l'instant de quel "smash" est-ce que tu parle, je n'en vois pas la trace sur ucapps.de ? de toute façon je pense acheter les pcb chez mikemachin (qui pratique des prix assez raisonnables) mais ton smashtruc m'interesse quand même, si il y a une url je suis preneur. a plus

Salut a tous, je tourne et retourne autour des projets midibox depuis un mois, j'ai reçu (merci le forum) 3 pic gratos de microchip, et j'ai fini de conceptualiser le controlleur de mes rêves (dans l'optique d'une construction very low budget). Donc c'est une M64 low cost (pas de lcd, pas de diodes, 32 pots, 32 boutons), j'ai l'intention de l'utiliser principalement pour mixer dans Ableton Live, mais ptet aussi d'en construire une pour un pote VJ. Donc voici une serie d'interrogations qui me bloquent si vous avez des réponses ou des pistes à explorer merci d'avance pour vos infos : - je veux 32 potards et 32 boutons : si j'ai bien compris il me faut le Core module (of course), un module AIN4 pour les 32 potards et un module DIN pour les 32 boutons. Est-ce correct ou bien est-ce que je peux coller des boutons sur un deuxieme AIN4 ? (plus cool de monter deux fois le même module) - Les potards : donc il semble que se doit être des 10k ou 20k, mais a quel point des potards "cheap" rendront la machine mauvaise ? (drole de question certes...) - On me dit ici et là que la programmation du PIC c'est du gateau quand on est developpeur, mais sinon c'est super galère ! Quid ? - J'ai pas le matos pour créer les PCB, quels solutions : commander les toutes faites (cher), y'a-t-il des alternatives au solutions classiques (insolation étouétou...) ? voilà c'est le début de ma quête pour un controlleur en dessous de 150 euros (si j'y arrive sinon je débloquerais des fonds). merci pour les eclaircissements que vous pouvez m'apporter. defred the deBug tentative http://defred.free.Fr