Artesia

After days of contemplation & meditation in the musty.. but strangely minty incensed vapours of a puddust temple; apparently we have a convert... However she was eager to get started; and lost a thumb in the process of getting started on the one missing from the end... ..and yes, she is equally well versed in the ways of the polo... also beware Garth Vader; polo's are to light sabers, what black holes are to stars..

Yeah.. i was tempted to stuff a joint in there.. but i lack the weed ;) ...dont ask about choice of baccy types; it'd end up being mentol whatever was done. ...Spool them up on a small bit of elasticated string & slip them on your wrist as a easy reach, portable, sugar fix dispenser... Just don't go in no swimmin' pools or tropical rain forrests... ...Maybe place them on the end of a pencil & use innertia to make a small insult weapon. (...er Assult Weapon) ...Attach abit of fluff to a pin & turn the packet into a deadly blow dart gun; with the assistance of that funky tree frog you found in the rain forrest.. ...oh yeah.. and its already in rain forrest camo' ...The hole was the result of Nestle expanding their employment policy. The hole is an inspection hatch for severely weight challenged hamsters given the job of quality control. ...Members of the local bee colony cover their holiday time.. But the little buggers keep on sapping off the sugar; thats why the hamsters get the bulk of the work... They tried to employ magpies to do the whole foil wrapping thing... but that didnt work out so well.... ..Guess what they use the joe bloggs hamsters & their wheel spinning obssessions for... ...ya' see, these days they are busy exploiting animals in more humane ways; they even get their own cute little hard-hats & badges.. Just dont go trying to figure out the name of the bugger who just screwed something up.. it's major eyestrain. They would get lickle lab coats, but most of them have fur & arent that fussy anyways.. ...They leave the old business to the cosmetics industry :) (Artesia is no longer a stoner.. - but some wonder...)

the scent that pervades everywhere - ultra fresh and minty smelling... If you dont eat them, you could of course replace the magic tree air-freshener in the car with said pack of mints; surely they would remain fragrent for longer. And, hey... they are ready to go for hanging from the rear view mirror - what where nestle thinking when they put the whole in the middle ? ..maybe they had a secondary marketing point in mind; incase the natives didn't view them as (poor) sustanance ?

ur welcome :)

If you are new to building circuits on breadboard... or have a nightmare of a time getting a circuit layed out on one.. the following approach maybe helpful to you.... the following example is of a MBHP DIN board (yup, i ran out of pre made PCB's) Firstly it is probably easiest to use the breadboard variety which has copper strips split into pad sections which cover 3 holes each.. this will save alot of cutting tracks with drills..etc. The below example did not require any track cutting. Secondly keep in mind that attempting to produce all of the connections on the breadboard itself, creates far more work, confusion & opportunity for errors than many of us have the patience for. It is best to limit the connections directly produced on the breadboard.. to those which are simple.. ie: those which occur in groups.. for instance connection points, resistor arrays, & power + data lines where viable. Here's how the DIN Board was done: Stage 1 (ic sockets & basic connections): Start by soldering the chip socekts bridging over two sets of tripads. Then solder the connection points j3 -j10 on the next set of tripads to the chips they connect to. Bridge the connections from the chips to the connection points, where they connect directly - as per circuit diagram. With regards to j1 & j2 - which carrys data + power into & out of the board; add the connection points for these right next to where they connect to, on the first & last chips (IC1 pins 9,1,2,15,16 - IC2 pins 10,1,2,15,16) (this saves alot of re-routing with cables; just for the sake of having them grouped togeather in one connector). Stage 2 (resistors & their +5v supply): With j3, j5, j7 & j9 connect the earth connection of each chip (pin 8/vss) to the respective earth pin of each 'j' connector by soldering a 'L' shape on the pads. Next solder in place all of the 'pull up' resistors r1-32 (one leg) next to the 'j' connectors. Following this connect all of the loose legs on the top side togeather in one long row (as in second picture). connnect the two rows of resistors togeather on the top side as in 2nd picture. Next solder in place r33-36 (connects to pin 10 / SER of each chip). Connect the 2nd leg of each to the top side rail created by the other resistors. Next solder a wire (use one of the resistor leg trimmings) to the resistor rail & then to pin 16 (vdd) of IC1 - this will now hook the resistors upto the +5v they need. Stage 3 (earth connections): Next connect the earth connections for j3, j5, j7 & j9 togeather with wire links. Then connect from each of these points to the earth connections for j4, j6, j8 & j10. Stage 4 (serial chain connections between chips): Connect pin 10 (ser) of IC1 to pin 9 (QH) of IC2. Connect pin 10 (ser) of IC2 to pin 9 (QH) of IC3. Connect pin 10 (ser) of IC3 to pin 9 (QH) of IC4. Stage 5 (SC & RC Connections): Connect pin 1 (LD) & 2 (CLK) (two sepperate wires) of IC1 to pin 1 & 2 of IC2. Connect pin 1&2 of IC2 to pin 1 & 2 of IC3. Connect pin 1&2 of IC3 to pin 1 & 2 of IC4. Stage 6 (capacitors): This was probably best done at stage 2 ! :) Solder in place c1-4 each connecting to pin 15 & 16 (VDD & CL1) of IC1-4. Use 100nf or so, i chose to also use one 100uf electrolytic capacitor out of my own preferences. Maybe also cover the resistors on top of the board with a strip of insulation tape to prevent +5v touching the inputs ! All should now be finished ! :)

Another thing you may or may not know about... Found out that oberheim implimented a firmware mode to allow two matrix 1000's to be chained togeather to make a 12 voice monster ! (thus a solution which is probably comparable to the matrix 12 voice) ...another neat function of this mode, is that the oscllators between the two synths can be gradually detuned relative to eachother for some extra 'fatness' :) ...needless to say, i will now -definately- be picking up two of these when the opportunity & money conencides :) ...and of course if anyone has 1 or 2 of these which they are looking to sell (not too likely i guess) ..maybe we can talk ...just send me a msg. Additional: some notes about maintanance with the matrix 1000; aparantly there are occaisionally some occaisional oxidisation problems with the curtis filter chips in this unit... http://planet0.planet-zero.org/wiki/index.php/ObMx Additional 2: (manuals & programming guide) the below link has some useful documentation for the matrix 1000: http://www.overacker.com/oberheim.htm Manual: http://www.overacker.com/synth/ob6/obm1000.pdf Programming Guide: http://www.overacker.com/synth/ob6/Matrix%206R%20programming%20guide.zip

neat :))

Ever had leds in projects which were too bright, dim or poorly matched relative to eachother ? Built a little tool for matching the intensity of different LEDS side by side... when the resistance is set to a satisfactory level.. it is mesured & a suitable fixed value resistor is used for the intended application circuit the led will be used in... This tool, as is.. also allows in circuit mesurement of led current & colour selection on bi-colour leds... (without lots of time wasting thumbling with resistors, batterys & leds by hand..) It occured to me that it might be more useful to have this as a permanent desktop 'widget' in a box of its own.. so... some plans for a proper version will be provided soon. For those of you who might want to build this as is... Here is a discription of the above circuit.... * The 5v power for the circuit is provided by a simple 7805 regulator setup (as seen in MIOS projects). (The connection chain for each led tester circuit is as below:) * +5v power> 120ohm Fixed resistor > 10K Variable (linear) Resistor > Circuit breaking jumper > 'LED' socket +V ('LED' socket -V to ground) * In parallel with the 'circuit breaking jumper, some wire hoops are fed through the strip board as test points for the multimeter mesuring in milliamps. the two pairs of vertically orientated jumpers are for selecting which led's circuit current is being mesured. * led test socket is just a section of IC socket broken off... 4 pins worth (dang.. this post probably belongs in 'tips & tricks' ?)

cool :) notrons are a nice bit of kit.. once got to play with a ver 1 ...fun :) if i ever happened across one of the ver 2's for a price i could afford ..i got admit ..i'd be tempted. Yes.. now you mention it ...i can see the similariys on the feature ..probably where my idea bubbled up from digesting allsorts of random things over the years. ....mind it would seem that the modulation possibilitys are fixed to the available waveforms ...can you program your own out of curiousity ?

:) (pm Address for a 'mint' {gawd thats a bad pun} pack of polo's) ...next up ...time to find someone on the web dressed as kermit; looking mennacing with a toothbrush in one hand ...and a chicken in the other... ....it will be found ....But im not that bored ;)

hi, The tubing was bought from a local store that specialised in all things plastic. You may also find this stuff sold at fish shops, garden centers, car shops or maybe a hydroponic gardening specialists (though most of their tubing is big chunky black stuff. As for a universally reliable source ..ive no idea ...just keep in mind its a general purpose tube for liquid transfer. ...anywhere that goes on at this sort of scale ...may sell it.

western Baked goods, Eastern Entity.. Enrolling for a job with subway ? beats a trekkie convention... Shudder ! Ahh yes, the Otaku ...the japaneese have way cooler sounding words for such things than we do.. 8) * Artesia admits to being a passing fan of trek, starwars, anime.. along with many other querky things that people in comic book conventions get into punch'ups over (likes to keep his horizons broad) - although has yet to catch the deadly "paraph(inalia)itis"

http://www.saiyaman.info/gallery/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=17 Of all the strange things you stumble across when googling on the web for Information on Random Shows... This had me the most vexedest' of all 8)

On the note of transparent tube lighting around switches... have now equipped all the switch elements for the mbsid & mbseq with a slither of tube & led. The most effective away of illuminating the ring (for me) is pictured as below.. Putting the led on an angle betwen 90-45 degrees to the shaft of the switch proved most effective for optical coupling. By trimming a small section off the plastic at the base, the ammount of light that works its way to the top tripples. I found that the finish of a clean knife cut provided on the exit end was sufficient for good illumination... sanding or filing the end just resulted in a inconsistent appearence. (the shift in brightness on one side is no where near as obvious as here - also by cutting more smoothly & closer to the base; this can be avoided) Btw, normal cynoacrylate superglue is useless for attaching the tube to the switch shaft.. it just works its way into the switch and jams it ..no matter what you do. also hot glue gun glue (although bloody excellent stuff for projectwork allround) ..is useless at adhering the two plastic types ...will try some abrasion & a tiny dab of araldite to prevent the tube slipping on the shaft over time. ...also for some fun ...ever wondered what 77 (12-15mcd) Leds pushing out a rough total of (1.2cd) 1,200 mcd for 5 watts in looks like ? Makes a pretty good chill out room light :) ....and WHAM ! :) ...has no problem lighting up the back garden either. ...Though id probably advise getting some luxeon lumileds instead. For three reasons.. A: they come in 1-5 watt sizes for one 5mm size chip B: it's a hell of alot less soldering C: it's usually cheaper. I had 3,000 of these from a ham radio show a while back for an unbeleiveably cheap price :) Further notes on luxeon lumileds ..for the same 5w that the above array consumes; a single 5w lumiled produces 100x ! the output at (120cd) 120,000mcd. (even the 1w one produces 45cd). Be warned those really are quite hazardous to stare into ..talk about condensed light - even the above array is quite painful... see: http://www.luxeon.com

Crome fader caps are uuuuugly ! (..or at least in accordance to my tastes) ..infact ..sorry to say that most 'chromed' plastic looks awful ...even if it does manage to fool ..it's just makes you feel cheated when you realise its not a nice chunk of aluminum between your fingers..

:) Jeepers ! ..that guys catalog is HUGE ! ...wouldnt of liked to have spent all that time putting it togeather ..cut n' paste' & all... Wish id known about it the time i sold a FUBAR Roland SH-101 ..might of actually got the parts i needed to get it working... ahh well...

Therezin... indeed the topic thread keyboard does not have midi ..let alone much more than a transistor. point being, for the record ...its probably the cheapest thing anyone could ever stick MIOS in ...bar an egg carton with tinfoil on ;] ...I may just do that at some point for the 'artistic' irony ;)

welll.. firstly that would be a entirely different project alltogeather... Not only would it require lots and lots more programming.. but it would also probably would not work with the existing 18f chipset.. and before you know it ..it becomes a case of writing all the code from scratch for a completely different chip inferstructure ..if someone else wishes to start a project to allow open ended tinkering with AD DSP DA tinkering ..they are welcome to do so :) ..Frankly i am more of a designer than a programmer.. i am neither experienced enough, nor patient enough to take that route. Please understand the intention of this box of tricks is to quickly enable the possiblity of mixing audio signals in the analog domain by MIOS. Converting them to digital & then back again just to do abit of mixing seems abit overly complicated & will more noticebly degrade the sound than streight forward analog mixing. also isn't it just a tad of a diversion from the original intention ? With regards to DAC and ADC conversion... i have the stuff kicking around here to protype some really high quality, affordable modules capable of 24bit 192khz conversion with noise floors exceeding -120db (Burr Brown DSD1796 & PCM4202) ..which may prove useful to people here. However, currently the concept is being held back by ready availability of chips (namely Cirrus CS8412) that convert from SPDIF to the plain PCM used by almost all DAC's.. Maybe this could be implimented simply with a PIC ...however thats beyond me right now. ...maybe someone could help ? :)

As mentioned above; the design shifted over to 'pot in a chip' ...namely the pga2311. Has already been coded up to work with mios & tested by Pilo :) There is also a 4311 ..which is a 4 channel version in surface mount form - im keeping this in mind for heavily condensed channel control. Theres no reason why upto 32 (or more) channels couldnt be stuffed onto one DOUT size board ! ..only thing is how much space all the connectors would take up.. ;) ...would be good when mixing to alot of side chains & effects sends though. Have got the chips now.. when ive got a moment i will be making up the pcb traces for a standard size module. Will build the unit, Get it working under exhisting firmware - then spend some evenings digesting all the documentation on MIOS... and try from there to Develop the GUI. The most awkward bit will be coding the Graphical bars. which will require the creation of custom characters not available within the display rom. From what i can tell this has already been done with mbseq. some of the graphing stuff done on there is not from the standard character set.

christopherwilliamparr http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/20-x-4-Character-LCD-Module-with-White-LED-Backlight_W0QQitemZ5853871454QQcategoryZ50423QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem here's the displays the guy was selling on ebay ^ he will do other ones on request ..as i did with him. ...should talk him into becoming a request supplier on the board ;)

given that the actual microchip is aa good way in the middle of that lump of plastic ...it wont hurt to take a file to the plastic at the side of the pin & clear away some of it to allow for a good solid connection to the remainder of the pin.

hey :) They were bought privately off some random guy on ebay.. Passing details onto you rn... To see the full line of displays from winstar; goto: http://www.winstar.com.tw/product.php ....yes the tinge should compliment uv led nicely ;)

Well... 4 sids have been benchtested with the 1khz test program.. working ok so far ..and sidplay is feeding the High voltage sid music collection through one of them ok right now. Which is nice to hear after all these years.. without a massive tapeload time :) However the main sid program is giving me some fun right now ...having trouble loading the bank presets into it.. they appear to send in two of the apps used ..and then on use the presets appear to be empty. will try another program or two to upload the data.. i seem to recall having similar fun with the mbfm... Also... really like these winstar lcds iv'e got hold of recently.. sharp, clear & are sold as inverted blue... however come out as a really lush purple tinged blue - with the text coming up as a pale blue/grey. What supprises me.. is some really awful quality lcds have been built into alot of commercial equipment in the past (false economy corner cutting...) ...yet the quality of whats generally available these days is quite good indeed :) Note: the board parts, lcds & backlights (to an extent) that Winstar & Crystalfontz use are interchangeable/compatable for the most part. I had to fix a display n' do some part switching :) Either they used the same reference designs ..or they source certain parts from the same people (or C.F. buys W.S. OEM Parts).. I found it particularly curious that both pcbs had -identical- trace patterns.

yes good point, had half thought about headphone section... but forgot about it... No need for that to be midi controlled ;) ..so a small (op)-amp circuit piggybacked onto output rail; with a no thrills resistor pot for direct volume control should suffice.

In the time i have built & been using the already quite impressive MIOS MidiBox Sequencer. Afew things came to mind with regards to possible feature enhancements... I will cover some ideas which frequently appear on other 'common' midi sequencing/manipulation devices & some possibly new ideas to suggest... A Random Related Deviation: Probably the best creatively equipped, commercially produced sequencer, was the short lived Latronic Notron. It was produced on a small scale & dispite its quite amazing feature set, it did not last too long :( I've recently located some detailed documentation for the notron & will study it in more detail soon (see links below). I expect the documentation will be a really interesting read for anyone working with, or developing midi sequencers. I'll add anything interesting i read to this post later on... Some pictures of the two revisions, of the sexy beast ;) New Version & original: A sound on sound review: www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/jun97/latronicnorton.html Official Documentation: http://www.synthservices.com/notron/notron_v2.pdf Other Documentation: http://www.technomage.freeserve.co.uk/notron.htm #1 Some Simple'ish ideas which should be acheiveable with the exhisting hardware: * 'Musical' Fast data scrolling function: The following would be useful for acheiving good results quickly; whilst leaving the option to fine tune later to users preference... Jump between number based data values according to 'golden ratio'/'fraction' rules. ie: number deviders of 0.25, 0.33, 0.50, 0.66, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.33, etc... When note scrolling - Jump by octave / or through notes of various scales. Jump Along Note Table by 1/2 (1/4) or full bars. * Variable Portamento & Slide. Pitch slides up & down rather than jumps from note to note. Also option to bridge/slide one 'note' to the next. Note: for synths which do not accept portamento; sending pitch bend signals could get close.. if not in itself provide an interesting accidental effect, where a full slide range is not possible. * Basic Accenting Automatically Slide notes up/down at end of note. Modes to slide up/slide down/Random/Relative to next. * Note 'Echo' roll off, with variable fade off over given step lengths. also variable pitch slide up/down. (maybe even echo out into sucessive cord progressions - will eat resources, i figure tho) * A 'scroll through' cord function on each note. The ability to select one note (or several in a sequence) and scroll through 'cords' to apply to each note. (saving this as a memory patch might be 'interesting' however) * A curve table to (destructively) apply an adustable ammount of increasing values to a modifier (ie: velocity) between two pre selected beat steps. This tool would allow rapid creation of 'snare rolls' & many other things which depend on such patterns of progression. without all the tedious tweaking from one knob to the next, to get it sounding right. ..would just be a case of tweaking 5 knobs start/end level, 'curve hump', curve hump centerpoint & curve centerpoint level. * Basic Gating Gating acheived by muting with a 'square wave' whereby negative number values invert the muting behavior. Adjustable 'puse width'. Possibly allow the application of a timing curve against the 'square wave' which decreases on/off value incrementally over a defined period of time. Maybe allow Gater values to be modulated by a Curve Table - ie a 'groove/swing' type pattern. * 'infinate' scrolling: When scrolling through data values/notes; allow an option, which can be turned on&off, for wrapping back to the lowest value available when the highest is reached. * Copy / Clone Function: Select beginning & end points for copying (as done with editing selections). Press paste button once to place copy immediately after 'copy end point'. Press again to paste after first paste. Manually select different paste start point. Additional useful feature would be to have button combinations to paste inverted data/reversed data/add to exhisting data/subtract from exhisting data being pasted over... Re-selecting pasted data set to quickly fill a section with the same pattern. is useful for taking a basic key pattern; then applying a series of modifyers over entire length of pattern. Thanks to the mbseq :), the last bits on an idea i have been working on for the last 4-5 years; to further the potential for computers/techology to be a creative tool have fallen into place. I am really not sure to do with it now.. Though im determined to make it happen somehow... More to come sometime soon.. thanks for reading :)