iceberg

I'm looking at building a controller for 2-3 MC-303s Here is the deal, when the MCs are in module mode they have to be externaly sequenced and all functions are controled externaly. No biggie, for now I'm going to use a Yamaha RS7000 for sequencing as I'm mor interested in building a MB controler than a MB sequencer. The MC-303 uses NPRN MSB/LSB for most of the controls of the sound. This is what the manual has to say, and I dont undersand how this si suposed to be structure, all I understand is that these messages must be sent to the controler. H is designation for hex numbers which the will ALL be. NRPN MSB/LSC (Controller number 98, 99) [table][tr][td]STATUS[/td][td]2nd BYTE[/td][td]3rd Byte[/td][/tr] [tr][td]BnH[/td][td]63H[/td][td]mmH[/td][/tr] [tr][td]BnH[/td][td]62H[/td][td]llH[/td][/tr] [/table] n = MIDI channel mm = upper byte ll = lower byte and one example is the cutoff frequency: MSB: 01H LSB: 20H MSB: mmH TVF cutoff frequency (relative change on specified channel) mm: 0EH-40H-72H That is pretty much taken from the midi implimentation part of the manual. I tried to set this up on my Emu XBoard25 but could not figure it out, the guys at Creative/EMU tried to help, but no luck. I figure that the XBoard isnt the best option and I will either return it or just use it for another instument. If someone could explain this to me, and what I may want to do as for as designing a MB64 controller I would appriciate it. If you want to look at the manual it is availablefrom roland, or I can send a jpg, but the pdf they send is pretty crappy quality to begin with so sending a jpeg of it may not be best but I will accomodateanyone wiling to help. Thanks in advance.

Ok, since what I am wanting to do is automate some sweeps it might be feasable to use an lfo then correct? What Im thinking is a 4-6 second period or at the most a 2 second period, thats .5hz at the most, but I was thinking of letting the lfo go from 0-4hz . Any further input, anyone have a good inexspensive lfo design, since it's being used for sweeps not audio tone generation they dont need to be that high end.

Ok, I understand that. What then is the difference in using an LFO and me just turning the knob back and forth at a continuous rate? Is there a solution to this? I am asuming you see what I want to do at this point, basicaly automate fading back and forth w/o a computer and motofaders.

Ok, that is what I thought but wanted to be sure. Here was the original before the thoguth of LFOs to control things: 5 voices each with 8 push button encoders so that they could 16 parameters per voice thats esentialy that is 24 digital inputs for each voice times 5 is 120 digital inputs, then the 8 main buttons makes the full 128. Then I wanted to have a strip of 16 or 32 LFOs that could be assigned to override any of the 80 encoders. What do you think of the feasability of this? I have not yet decided on the LFOs to use yet so if this is a feasable controller idea I am open to suggestions on LFO modules . For the main pannel I was thinking of going plain with guide pins so I cna use vinyl overlays so that if I decide to reconfigure things i dont need a new fron pannel, just a new vinyl. I have not had time to show the layout that I had in mind as I spent 3 days working on a car. Please let me know if anyone has suggestions or advice. Thanks for the help so far.

Ok, originaly I was going to try to build a MBseq, but I decided to use an external sequencer for now and just build a MidiBox controler. I'm wondering with the MidiBox63e design can you have analog inputs such as pots, or in my case LFO's to control parameters along with the digital encoders, and does this have an effect on the number of digital inputs? This is being built as a dedicated controller for an MC-303.

When I was talking about the analog pots I was meaining sliders for the seq part. so you see the flow of notes insted of an actual notaton on the lcd screen. When Im doing live stuff I dont think I have EVER looked at a lcd screen except to load in new banks of params. So what Im talking about is the old slider type 16 step sequencers, the rest of the controls can be rotory encoders, that is not an issue. Though if someone has a better ide that doesnt involve having to look at the lcd to see the note value Im listening. Looking at the MC-303 it seems it ties one note to the next so it's using more portamento than anything else I would asum, or a combination of that and pitch bend.. If I wanted a standard controller, Id just use the RS7000, but I cant do the things I want to with it for the MC-303. So this is a custom controller mostly for the 303. This is definatly still in the muddeling around with concepts stage so keep the ideas comming.

I am looking into building a monster. Mostly Sequencer and partly controller.. Here is the basic idea: I want to be able to sequence upto say 7 tracks of a Roland MC-303. (note on, glide, velocity /level etc). I also want ot have 7 sections with the realtime modifyable options (cutoff, level[this was mentioned in the seq part], resonance, pan, attack, decay, release, lfo rate, lfo modulation). I really dont want to have to switch parts to modify the sound of one I want to be able to tweak as much as I can with knobs right in front of me. At this point I have not decided what I am going to do about the rest of the parts, I have an RS7000 and a Emu E5000 Ultra that are very capable of the drums. I say this because I dont like that the 303 doesnt have seperate outs for the drums, actualy I dont like that the mc-303 doesnt have seperate oute for each part, but I only paid 100 bux for it, and I cant build a TB3031 for that let alone 7 3031's. I'm also considering at some point adding a MS2000 and a Waldorf Microwave XT to the mix and would like to controle them as well. Now I read the bit about why to use rotory encoders insted of pot sliders, but I'm doing all acid, trance, and acid trance tracks and being able to stee the pattern laid out the way the sliders are might be more advantages, again Im asking for suggestions on this.. I am not sure how glide is achieved via midi or how that would work on a seq, I was thinking a button for note on/off and one for glide on/off so any fader/encoder with a note on starts a new note and any following with a glide button would be part of the glide with the next note on being the end of the glide. Again suggestions on this. Im just explaining whats going throug my mind so you can an idea of how I think and work. For drums I want 16 step live sequencing on each drum inst. normaly 4-6 tracks for the stuff I do. I am very very very fond of the old TR-909 way of doing this so I dont know if it would be better to build a seperate seq for the drums or incorperate it into the same sequender. The reason I say that is it would be hard to tweak an acid beat with one hand and edit a drum pattern with the other if it's all on the same seq. So with that I ask for everyone's thoughts and suggestions, and any questions you have about what is going on in my warped insane head. Thanks Bryan

Yea I wasnt expecting it to be hard only pointing out you will hear the sidstation in the new album when it's released on May 3rd, I dont know what track yet. If I ding out I'll be sure to let you all know. I'm trying to get a message to Trent about this nice little site. Not that he probably cares but hay.

Ok, I know it's not a Midibox SID but a sid none the less. In this pic of a famous studio you will find a sid station. For those of you who do not know, this is Trent's (of Nine Inch Nails) studio.

XCircuit looks nice, I may try to get it to compile on my SGI. Does it have a circuit simulator or is an alternate app needed?

I think a better choice would be Richie Hawtin. Not only is he one hell of a talented individual, but the SID sounds would be right up his ally, especialy if you have ever seen his Live DFX909 performances. Oh, and he's a geek to and Im pretty sure it would get modified like his 909 and various other analog equiptment. On a side note, he has hair now, it's freaking weird cuz I dont think he's left his head unshaven in like 15 years.

Nice, the Miss Parker+ definatly is feasable. For a MidiBoxSIDx4 I would need one for each channel. That and the status page states that the midi implimentation has not yet been added, is this information out of date or is it expected soon? The reason I ask is that the only time computers ever get used in my music is to record. That plus Im moving to a totaly FreeBSD and IRIX computer cluster with only an old mac laptop for portable use, but it's an old 3400c and not suited for music.

You should have replied; nope, no paper towles either, and proceded to dry you hands on his shirt. :)

Another solution was suggested and Im looking into weather it will actualy work or not. Since I have the Emu E5000 Ultra, it was suggested that I just buy and install an RFX-32 and the option 4 in and 8 out boards. I have to download the docs for the rfx-32 and see if I can get multiple dsps on a single channels in real time and then figure out a place to get one real cheap. Or sell mine and buy an E4xt which has the RFX-32 already in it. If anyone here is familiar with this unit and cares to commen it would be appriciated. I know I could then use a midibox64 to control the effects on the E500U. Thanks

This seems to have been discontinued and at the moment there are non on ebay in the US. How many effects can you assign to a single channel? Im looking at having chorus, flange and distortion on at least one channel. Some times I use phaser insted of flange, but I get some good industrial sounds

Maybe I am missing it on the site, but the Miss Parker doesnt seem to have documented schematics.

The only old sound card I have has an es1869 on it.

Absolutely nothing to do with anything on this board, but Im in calss and just whent to the restroom and I see som many people do this in an ineffective manner. In order to reuse contamination, first unroll an appropriate ammount of paper towling if the restroom doesnt use a hand dryer next turn on the hot water to a good hot temperature that wont burn you. You dont need to and shouldn't wet your hands before applying soap. Why? Chemestry. The carbon chain of soap is going to bond with the oil and dirt first this way insted of the water. once the bond is made the soap can be washed away with the contaminets. Now DONT TURN OFF THE WATER!! so many people do this, that handel is germy and filthy! Dry your hands with the towling and use the towling to turn the water off. If there is now towling, you can use an elbow. I haven't figured out how to get out of a bathroom that has a handle that needs to be turned without recontaminating yet. Best is if you have long sleeves to use them to protect your hands. Now you all think Im crazy, and you are probably correct. but my hands are clean, are yours?

fall

I am glad to see this review and all the positive feedback. Im in the process of trying to sell some SGIs and some other networking stuff that Im not using just to buy these boards. I was going to buy them even without reading this, as I've seen SmashTV post a lot and I just asumed if he was still around he was reputable and the products were good. I dont know how soon Im gona have the money to order, but Im dieing get this going. I'm very impressed witht he pricing too! I compared what it would cost to actualy buy the parts from mouser and it is cheaper to buy full kits. For this alone SmashTV should get a big roun of applause, standing ovation prefered. I plan to make my midiboxSID into something that will be my primary sound module backed up by a Emu E5000 ultra all sequenced from my Yamaha RS7000. As good as the MidiBoxSeq is I still prefer the RS7000. Now you all gone and done it, Im so excited about doing this project now Im gona have to push the isue with a buddy that is suposed to buy this networking stuff. Even the giddy school girls have stoped to look at me. <checks to make sure he didnt wet himself> Power to the people, who needs large corperations to build a synth!

So Im gathering all the stuff to build my 4xMIDIboxSID and I am thinking I want effects too. So Im going to outline my plan and ask for suggestions. Im not any good at designing circuits so Im hoping this sparks an intrest if it is even feasabel. So 4xMBSID is going to have 8 channels (pair of channesls for each module), I want to have individual outs, plus a master combined out with levels for each channel. Pretty simple that's just an 8 channel mono mixer, you can get a schematic for that in a Radio Shack hobby guide easy. Befoer the mixer however, I want to add in a seperate effects unit for each module, some common effects taht would be useful: reverb, chorus, delay, phaser, flanger. My idea was that it might be possible to have a single 8 channel DSP that could be controled by a core module so that the mbSid has 5 core modules. This way you could control the effects by midi as well as encoders. The problem I have with a rack mount dsp, is that you have to manualy switch between channels you are editing the effects on, there are not knobs for the effects on each channel. I would like to be able to have individual knobs on each of the 8 channels, and a wet/dry control for teh individual outs so you can control the ammount of effects send to the individual outs in case there is a need for additional effect or compression on the individual channels later on. Is this even feasable, and is anyone willig to help me figure out how to do it? I only know the basics of electronics, but for something like this Im willing to learn as much as needed as long as the information can be attained from a library or on the net, I cant afford a project and an abundance of books both. With the sid modules, and the FM Module that is comming soon and a DSP/effects like this, you could build a unit that would just crus all those expensive grove stations out there. I'm only begining to realise the potention of the midibox, and I thank EVERYONE here.

It should be noted the 808 and 909 are very different, the 909 from my understandign isnt fully analog, where as the 808 is. Though you hear people talk more about the 808, the 909 is more common in techno music. I personaly like the 909 better for trance, and the 808 better for minimal/acid. I dont actualy have either but as far as using samples those are my preferances. Now if you want to GIVE me a 808 and a 909... :) I do hope to one day build one of Trevor's 9090s as he put a lot of work into it and they are very nice.

I think I had more fun looking at the gallery and reading the subtitles than I would with the actual device! :)

You could easily use the midibox to control one of Trevor's 9090s. http://www.introspectiv.eclipse.co.uk/ I would like to build one some day, but I just dont have the money for all the parts right now.

Thanks, untill now I had only seen advertisements and what not. I have been using a cheap radio shack iron for a while, I will probably pick up a $60 temp adjustable weller and a cold heat, as I think it would be good for some of the car stereo work I some times do. Thanks for the info definatly helped!