Skunk

Hi Thorsten, demo 6 is hot, especially the second half! Brilliant what you got out of these three tiny Yamaha chips! Other synth freaks need a big rack synth to get this sound... Cheers, Skunk

Hi Halucinogen, where did you get these nice back-illuminated knobs for the VPOTs? And how are the LEDs mounted? Normally the body of the encoders has a diameter of at least 12mm, so are the LEDs mounted arount the encoder, or...? Cheers, Skunk

Incarnation, this is exactly my intention to implement. Doc is right, but have a look on Mackie Control C4 (which brings you additional 4 VPOTs per channel). I'm currently trying to find out the C4 MIDI implementation. Unfortunately Cubase doesn't support it yet. Be patient, it'll take some time, but there is a chance for a nice solution... :-) Cheers, Skunk

Hey guys, stop complaining! I think Twin-x and TK have done a great job changing the servers (which is always a painfull task). It's much faster now than before and I think there is no problem at all for everybody if the server is down for a while. If somebody can't live without the forum and the MIDIbox stuff for more than 10 minutes, then he's invited to book a more reliable server and pay for accordingly! This is a DIY forum (which has to be cost optimized somehow) and not a high security missile range of the US forces with 100% security and availability. :-) Cheers, Skunk P.s. Twin-x, don't care about the complains. Your investigations to support TK and the forum are highly appreciated!

I got the message that the server is down. Two hours later it worked again.

Nearly all ICs rated for 5V work with a +- 10% range so 4,5...5.5V max, but your PSU should deliver +-5% over full load, so 4,75...5,25V -- just to be save. Same for the 12V. 11,5...12,5 is fine. Cheers, Skunk

Has anybody experience with the latency on Digidesign MIDI I/O? Thanks & Cheers, Skunk

I agree to Steven_C regarding self-made faders. A fader is a "hi-tech" part and just a handfull suppliers have them in their portfolio. I won't spend money on DIY faders. The chance for good results is nearly zero. I think the better way is to look for reasonable pricing for standard faders and use them. They have to work for a long time -- reliable --. The Mackie problem seems to be an exception in the P&G quality history. I know P&G from military applications, and they always delivered excellent quality. As I said, I'll sort out that issue with P&G Germany. Give me a few days... Cheers, Skunk

Hmmm, interesting post in the keyboards forum. Never heard about such quality problems with P&G faders. As far as I know, Mackie is using the PGFM3200 models which are only available for OEMs. I'll contact P&G in Germany to find out more, and will let you know as soon as I have more details. Cheers, Skunk

I'd better go for a joint approach to use standard motor faders from P&G, the PGFM8000 series. This is by far the best quality/reliability, they are used in all professional equipment, and it could make sense to negotiate a special pricing with P&G for a bulk order. Does anybody have a good contact into P&G? Cheers, Skunk

Congratulations for such a fast web site! There is no time anymore to walk for a coffee before the next page wakes up. It clearly shows again that super trouper graphical toys are not always the best solution, but simple text based layouts are much faster. Cheers, Skunk

Speed looks great. test file transfer ~90KB/sec average on a 768KBit DSL line, Germany Cheers, Skunk

Tja, simple Regeln für den DIY-Bauer: Primärschaltregler-Selbstbau: Finger weg, wenn man nicht 100%-ig Ahnung davon hat. Und um Himmels Willen kein Aufbau auf Lochraster-Boards, das geht meistens schief. Primärschaltregler sind nicht trivial und können bei falscher Dimensionierung leicht ein kleines Feuerchen verursachen... :-) Sekundärschaltregler-Selbstbau: ok, aber man sollte mit Induktivitäten und deren Eigenheiten umgehen können. Trafo + Linearregler sekundär Selbstbau: nahezu problemlos, aber bei Strömen über 5A kann's mit der Regelung u.U. auch ungemütlich werden. Was sich ganz gut eignet für die größeren Midi-Boxen sind Schaltnetzteile ohne Lüfter, die üblicherweise im Industriebereich eingesetzt werden (nicht die billigen Fernost Open-Frame Prügel, sondern die gut "verpackten" und mit Berührschutz). Die kosten zwar gut Geld, sind aber dafür unverwüstlich. Übliche Ausgangsspannungen: 5V, +-12V, 24V, neuerdings auch 3,3V. Ciao, Skunk

Hi, ich finde nach numehr 2 Monaten ständigem Stöbern im Forum als Newbie immer wieder Fragen bzgl. der PSU. Eigentlich sollte das Ganze kein so großes Problem darstellen. Zu allen Bauteilen auf den Boards gibt es Datenblätter (auf den Webseiten der jeweiligen Hersteller zu finden), in denen üblicherweise sowohl die Maximum Ratings als auch meist die typischen Werte angegeben sind. Man addiere die Werte Max Ratings der Teile auf einem Board sowie die der angeschlossenen Funzeln --- äääh, LEDs -- und sonstiger stromhungriger Bauteile wie Fader etc., gebe noch eine Sicherheitsmarge von ca. 10-20% dazu, und schon hat man eine Vorstellung, wieviel die zu beschaffende PSU liefern sollte. Ich werde mir in den nächsten Wochen bzw. Monaten mal die Mühe machen, eine solche Leistungsbilanz für die einzelnen Boards aufzustellen und in's Forum setzen. Thorsten, Doc u.a., die schon erfahrene MIDIboxer sind, haben auch bestimmt pragmatische Erfahrungswerte für verschiedene Konstellationen, die man als gute Entscheidungs-Grundlage verwenden kann. Ciao ciao, Skunk

The 800mA is max rating and could happen under certain conditions. I'd take it serious and calculate with the 6.4A @ 8 faders -- and look for strong cables between the PSU and the faders and a very clean ground wiring. Typical current could range at 300-400mA only per fader, but you never know... In my current evaluation for a LC24 I'm calculating with a 20A @ 12V PSU -- which withstands all "electronic earthquakes"... :-) Don't take it as a joke, it's serious power calculation resulting out of some bad experience with "cost saving" PSU ideas in the past for other electronic equipment. A good idea is also a power distribution as POL (point of load) -- means first PSU stage down to 15V for the full amp range, and then smaller 12V regulators per 8 fader strip. But this is a professional PSU application which needs good calculation of all parameters. Cheers, Skunk

Wire Wrapping is a professional prototyping procedure that works fine, but you need an expensive tool (the "wire warapping pistol") to do so -- and you need everything on corresponding wire wrapping sockets. This is more expensive than soldering on finished PCBs or simply wiring on vector boards. I used wire wrapping in my former company for all protos and it worked fine. It's very flexible if you want to rewire something. And: the boards get ~2 cm thicker due to the wire wrap posts. Cheers, Skunk

Thanks guys! The reverse engineering idea was my first thought, too. But a "dry swimmer" pdf version of the C4 MIDI implementation eliminates the need for donations from you guys for "educational purposes" ;D and saves a lot of money. I'll start to search for a C4 owner... Best Regards, Andreas

Does anybody have detailed informations about the Mackie Control C4 MIDI implementation? I tried already to find a pdf users guide on the web, but no success yet. Why? Control C4 clone as add-on to the LC24. Just evaluating... Cheers, Andreas

Adam, go for cutting the plastic tubes and just close the ends with tape. This is by far the safest way to avoid bended leads. I'm working in the semiconductor business and know some of these nice packaging pitfalls for SMD devices... ;) Btw: thanks for your investigations to keep that FM chip baby running! Was a good idea to avoid a lot of used chips dying during the desoldering process. It won't be easy without professional tools -- or you need brilliant nerves and a very quiet hand... Cheers, Andreas

Interesting comment regarding MOTU drivers for PC. I'm currently considering to buy a MOTU Timepiece AV (for PC usage), and never heard about this driver problem. Regarding alternatives: does anybody in the MIDIbox community have experience with Digidesign MIDI I/O and SYNC I/O. In the paperwork it looks pretty interesting. Nevertheless it's not a cheap solution, I know. But professionals seem to use it as a robust equipment for their daily work. Cheers, Skunk

Seems 87$ is the usual way to keep small qty requests out of the game. I think guys like Behringer are OEM customers and have even much better purchasing conditions than the 32$. Won't be surprised about 20 bucks for a few thousand pcs. Cheers, Skunk

Adam, I'd order four sets -- post to Germany. Price for a set sounds pretty good. Cheers, Andreas