adamjking

Hi RodNeon, I've done all my boards like others have descibed above (solder bridging/wire interconnects). I'm new to electronics too, but here is an example of how I've done it: http://members.optusnet.com.au/adamjking/images/core.htm Cheers, Adam

I'll take two sets thanks, postage to Australia. Cheers, Adam

Hi OzMax, I'd be interested in a 20x4 display. What parts do you have (any SID chips)? I live in Melbourne btw. Cheers.

RIP Darrell, and the 3 members of the audience who were also senselessly murdered. What a fucked up world where you can get killed performing at/attending a gig. RIP

Hi Smash. I'm interested in the switched encoders, but am only after a small quantity (about 10). I will wait until they are added to the store before making my small order. Cheers.

Hi, I would just get a straight through serial cable and use it with a female connector on the JDM. When I first built my JDM, I too had a cable with two female ends and thought I could use a male connector on the JDM. But it was a null modem cable and the pins are indeed twisted. Avoid the possibiltiy for confusion and just get a new serial cable.

Justin, I am building a dj-mixer type controller. I need pots for the faders (is there an encoder equivilent for sliding pots??) and the eq knobs (finding cheap encoders in Australia is also very hard - pots can be had for $0.50 each). I need the encoders for jog wheels. Thorsten recommended building a 64e for people who want to mix pots and encoders. Cheers.

Hi All, I am building a Midibox that uses pots and encoders, and following Thorsten's advice am using the Midibox64e application. I am wondering if there is a way to set the pot modes (normal/snap/parallax) for the 64e like you can with the standard Midibox64? Cheers.

Thanks Thorsten, That change does make the midibox react the way that I had imagined (whether that's a good thing or not ;)). The question was more a hypothetical as the program I intend on using, terminatorX, doesn't have midi out capabilities. But.... I was thinking: what if you are using the hardware to control the program (using momentary buttons) and you turn something on (eg: mute) with the press of a button. Then, for whatever reason, you use the mouse to turn the mute off - this would leave the midibox still registering it as on, while it is really off in the software (and requiring two presses of the button to turn mute back on with the hardware). Does that make sense?

Thanks TK, Looking at the ini file, I managed to change it so that the LED on the DOUT does react to the incoming MIDI events. Only thing is I thought it could do both - that is, I thought you could toggle a parameter 'ON' on the midibox, but also turn it off with the PC by sending the 'OFF' value from the software. Is this possible, or did I interpret it the wrong way. I thought you'd be able to: Assign a Note/Channel value to a button. Press the button on on the Midibox, the event registers as 'ON' and the corresponding DOUT LED lights up. Then, be able to send the Note/Channel OFF message from the software, the event registers as off on midibox and the corresponding DOUT LED goes out. Is this possible, or did I misundertand it from the start? Cheers.

Hi all, I've completed the DIN module for my MidiBox64E and am just doing some testing. The DIN works fine in that I can send MIDI note on/off events (the events are captured in MIDI-OX and the corresponding DOUT LED's react). I can also assign the events to buttons by sending note on/off messages from MIDI-OX and having the MidiBox in MIDI Learn mode. However, if I turn one of the buttons on (in toggle mode) I cannot turn it (and the DOUT LED) off by sending the same note on/off from MIDI OX. I thought by default the MidiBox should respond to incoming MIDI events. Is there somewhere in the MidiBox64E code that this needs to be turned on - or is there possibly a configuration problem or a hardware short? Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers.

Thanks Justin, have just sent an email to you.

Hi Thorsten, I'm not sure if this is covered anywhere on the midibox/ucapps site - but is there a section with links to tutorials/tips/how-to's/etc for writing applications? I know this is mainly a hardware site, but for those of us with programming skills who (inspired by this great work) wish to create programs for interacting with their hardware, a list of resources for using MIDI/sound with Java (for its cross-platform abilities) might be a good idea. What do you think? Cheers.

Jimminy, Have you thought about taking some closeup photos of the boards and uploading them to the web. It might help others to be able to look at the boards themselves (are they PCB's or homemade boards) without you having to physically send them? HINT: If you want good detailed closeups of the bords, try laying them on a flatbed scanner.

My only remaining question is: how do I use the backlight without overloading the regulator? Does attaching a heatsink to the regulator make much of a difference? I have a small heatsink attached to the regulator and am using a backlit LCD and never had a problem (this is for a MB64 with 9V/1A power supply tho).

Hi Memon, I'm not sure if you've used it or not, but terminatorX http://terminatorX.cx does pretty much exactly what your project does. It runs under Linux/FreeBSD and allows you to "scratch" digital files with a mouse. Fans of the program (including myself) have modified turnatables to hook up to a mouse, as seen in the gallery http://terminatorx.cx/turntable.html. I am now working on a full MIDI controller mixer/turntables for use with the program ;)

Hi Thorsten, I probably should have researched this more before I started building everything, but just to confirm... I'm building a midibox with pots, buttons, leds, an lcd and I want to use 2 rotary encoders for jog wheels. So far I've built the core module (PIC18F452), 2 x AIN4 modules, 2 x DOUT4 modules, LCD module and a minimal LTC module. I'm working now on the DIN4 modules for buttons/encoders. What is *currently* the best software to use to make this setup - or is something like this not supported yet? Cheers.

Hi Thorsten, I probably should have researched this more before I started building everything, but just to confirm... I'm building a midibox with pots, buttons, leds, an lcd and I want to use 2 rotary encoders for jog wheels. So far I've built the core module (PIC18F452), 2 x AIN4 modules, 2 x DOUT4 modules, LCD module and a minimal LTC module. I'm working now on the DIN4 modules for buttons/encoders. What is *currently* the best software to use to make this setup - or is something like this not supported yet? Cheers.

Hi guys, I'm creating all my boards from scratch on vector/prototype boards and have a question for any electronics experts. When linking up components, is it best to use wire links or have a long solder track? I would prefer to create a solid track from solder where possible as it would be more secure, I'm just wondering if there are any bad side affects due to noise or whatever. Any advice, or does it not matter?

Wilba, Futurlec sounds like a good idea, only problem is that I find that their webiste lacks a lot of product details. We'd need to know/specify exactly which encoders we want.

Wilba, I'd sign up for some except I'm looking for the encoders with built in switch. Can they do a bulk order for various encoders?

As another Aussie searching for cheaper enconders, I second this motion ;) At the moment I'm looking at the ALPS encoders at Farnell - but the $20 price tag is putting me off!

My Results: Direct Feedback (Note: I had to make the direct feedback loop after MIOS had booted, or else it wouldn't boot - is this normal?) Min: 1218, Max: 1257 -> 0.97 mS / 1.00 mS -> +/- 0.015 mS Jitter SBLive 5.1 Platinum (via Joystick Port adaptor), Win98, Feedback via MIDI-Ox Min: 2567, Max: 2725 -> 2.05 mS / 2.2 mS -> +/- 0.075 mS Jitter SBLive 5.1 Platinum (via LiveDrive MIDI ports), Win98, Feedback via MIDI-Ox Min: 3058, Max: 3188 -> 2.46 mS / 2.55 mS -> +/- 0.045 mS Jitter SBLive 5.1 Platinum (via Joystick Port adaptor), RedHat Linux 8.0 (ALSA 0.9.6 drivers, 2.4.22 kernel w/low latency patches), Feedback via qjackctl Min: 2090, Max: 2533 -> 1.67 mS / 2.02 mS -> +/- 0.175 mS Jitter

Hi All, I have a question for Thorsten (or anyone else who develops under linux) - what program do you use for the code upload via MIDI? I see in the FAQ's that you've listed tools for code editing and PIC burnig, but not for the MIDI sysex upload. Is there an equivilent of MIDI-OX for Linux, or can it be made to work in WINE/Dosshell/Dosbox/etc? At present I have a dual boot Linux/Win98 PC and need to boot into Win98 to use MIDI-OX. Cheers. ???

Thanks DriftZ - I like the look of the transparent cap as well! Looking on the Farnell site, it looks as though they sell just the switch body for about AU$ 4.10 (Part No. 3FTL6). But when it comes with an LED, the price goes up to about AU$ $9.01 (eg Part No. 3FTL620). Couldn't I just buy the switch bodies, transparent caps and buy LED's seperately in bulk? The body (3FTL6) can still accept LED's can't it?