Davo
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Posts posted by Davo
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Nifty! Anyone know if the sources to that are available? Can it be used as a drop-in replacement for a SID?
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Note that there are two sockets on the C1 for SIDs. I'd assume then that "Monster SID" means that the SIDs can be stacked as in the Midibox SID and/or used in a superpoly mode as the Midibox SID hopefully soon will be.
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Would someone please measure how high those things are so I can make sure I get the correct ones?
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They're $120 for a complete kit. That gets you a board, components, 64K SRAM, two serial port pigtails, a boot floppy, and two CDs full of utilities, apps, info, docs, etc. The price includes shipping in the US. All surface-mount soldering (two qfp chips and three discretes) is already done for you.
The whole NES approach also sounds viable, particularly if the second edition of the NES is used for space-saving purposes. I understand that it lacks RCA jacks, but I'm sure one can find the audio signal somewhere inside. The cartridge-based synth discussed earlier is nice and elegant, but its requirement of a TV is a big turnoff.
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I think I might have a solution: a Z180 single board computer. Take a look here: (http://members.iinet.net.au/~daveb/p112/p112.html). I've made a new batch of these boards with the original designer's blessing and am selling them as complete kits. The original audience is old computer buffs, but it seems to have the kind of power and versatility you guys are talking about for controlling the 2A03.
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I'm not TK, but I use gEDA for my schematics and board design. See http://www.geda.seul.org/
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Well, I botched this design by forgetting to include headers to connect the DIN and DOUT modules. :P While going back to put it right, I wondered if things like the application header for the master core are really necessary. Can I get some suggestions on what other headers I should leave out of the master core section?
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very nice! i'd love to have one of these. and if i get it right - you don't have to send your sids' output through that 4chan mixer and in that case you don't need that -12/+12V right?
You don't lose anything by having the mixer, but if you don't want it, simply omit all parts related to it (numbered 5xx). You'll still need +12V if you want to use 6581 SIDs. I've found that Jameco #230535CJ is ideal for a racked midibox synth. It provides +5V for general purpose use and bipolar 12V for running my mini-mixer circuit and the FM module. +12V can be easily regulated down to +9V for running a 8580 SID.
Tried it with Opera, Firefox and IE but still your image link seems to be broken. I even cannot download it directely from this link: http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~dgriffi/pics/misc/quad.png
Try this in GIF: http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~dgriffi/pics/misc/quad.gif
Is anyone else having trouble with that PNG image?
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I'm not sure what the problem is. Are you able to view PNG images?
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The board is about 240mm by 185mm. Solder-side traces are green. Jumpers wires are red. Silkscreening is white.
The SID1 group has all the headers that a regular core board has. The slave groups are cut down to just what's required to be a slave group. I initially wanted to include DIN and DOUT circuitry, but decided that building them on the same perfboard that I mount the front panel stuff would be cleaner and save space. Each SID group is capable of using either a +9V or +12V SID. This is selected with a jumper just north of the SID. In practice, it would be safer to solder a wire jumper into place rather than risk having a shorting block fall off and possibly get put back wrong. The mixer unit requires +12V and -12V and provides a mono output. As the board is now, all these voltages must be supplied externally. I'm tinkering with making it accept +12V and regulate it down to +9V and +5, and somehow get it inverted for -12V. Perhaps that might introduce noise. A seperate regulator board between a +12V power supply may be a cleaner approach. Advice? Opinions?
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I've almost completed design on a quad SID board. This incorporates four core and SID modules onto one single-sided board along with a simple four-channel mixer (to give a mono output composed of all the SIDs). Yes, there are jumpers. Would anyone here be interested in trying out the foil pattern?
Another question, for you, TK. What license do the Midibox schematics fall under? So far, it seems to be BSD-ish with GPL for MIOS and its applications. What license would be appropriate for this board I'm making. FWIW, I have absolutely no plans whatsoever to make and sell these boards, though SmashTV is free do so as far as I'm concerned.
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So, if you can't use shielded cable, how about twisting a ground wire around each signal wire? Perhaps try flat speaker wire?
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Because voltage determines pitch, envelope, gate, velocity, etc; CVs are inherently monophonic. You can get polyphony using CVs, but you must manually set up each additional voice. Peruse http://www.synthesizers.com and you'll find more in-depth discussion of what CV is and how it's used. If you're thinking about running the output of, say, and MBSID through a Moog-style ladder filter, you need at least one CV channel to control the filter. Then you can run whatever audio signal you want through the filter.
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Can you point me to a photo of the unit in question? I think I might have some of the switches you want (got them from Jameco).
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What about those who just wanted knobs. I'm not sure who I'm supposed to pay.
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If you haven't heard yet, Bob Moog died on August 21, 2005 after a brief battle with a brain tumor.
http://www.caringbridge.com/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=bobmoog
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That's the cleanest interior I've ever seen. :D
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For anyone interested, I read a tip in a link for toner reactive foil that Davo posted a few days ago. It involves "wiping on" the etching solution. I'm coincidentally soaking some paper off an MTC display board in the other room, and was going to try it for the first time. If I'm not too tired, I'll post what happens tonight (otherwise tomorrow).
http://www.pulsar.gs/PCB/a_Pages/5_Support/4b_Tips_Tricks/Tips_Tricks.html
-George
Let us know about the ironing process, ok? I have terrible results there, so I'm planning to get that toner-applicator/laminator discussed on the Pulsar page.
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I buy mine at Radio Shack. It's one of the few things worth getting there anymore.
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Too late. Already melted it :D
Well, now you know. (And knowing is half the battle!)
What is TRF?
TRF means "Toner Reactive Film". It's a thin sheet of mylar with a pigment on one side. You lay it over a toner image, iron over it and it sticks only to the toner. The green flavor seals and toughens toner for etching circuit boards. White is for putting silkscreen legends on the parts side of a board. The other varieties (metallic, white-type-Y, grey, and clear) are for making decals. If you want lots of colors, just use a color laser printer.
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Direct toner transfer on Lexan is probably a bad idea. Go to http://www.pulsar.gs/ and read about how to use their stuff to make decals. That way, you can apply artwork to just about anything. If you're tranferring toner directly to the aluminum without doing the decal stuff, you probably won't need an overcoat as long as you apply TRF on top.
I did find paints at the automotive store that are supposed to be baked on. Those are for stuff like painting engine blocks, brake caliper housings, barbecues, etc. I don't know if they're good for aluminum. I didn't check. Also on the primers, make sure the label says that it's good for aluminum. A label that says the paint will adhere to "metal" is not good enough.
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Speaking of front panels. I'm testing some crap with an 1/8th inch sheet of plate aluminum (easy to mill). I was trying to see how well the toner transfer PCB technique worked on metal. I dumped some circuit pictures on different parts of the sheet, smoothed with different grits of sandpaper and they looked great, so evidently it works.
I'm probably doing silver with black print soon, but a couple things I want to try are: Painted (baked on?) metal (maybe steel?) clear spray over the black to protect it (necessity) and also laying my sheet over a heating element, like a stovetop grill range, to heat it uniformly from beneath, while rolling the paper with something(?). Making sure to consistently heat all of the print for enough time is the only tricky part. Looks promising for flat sheet stock like pwx's panel.
For painting aluminum, you NEED the correct primer or your paint will slough off in sheets. Decent automotive shops will have spray cans of "self-etching primer". I got Dupli-Color brand and it worked great. Get some wet-dry sandpaper while you're there. Before you prime, sand the metal with 400-grit to provide more surface area for the primer to bond to. Wash the metal with soap and water. Make sure it's fully rinsed and dried. Shake up the primer and put a very light mist on the metal. It should look like a tiny bit of overspray. That's good. Wait for that to dry (say, five minutes), then do it five or six more times or until you have a uniform olive drab. After an hour or so after the last coat of primer, you can apply your top paint. I used ordinary flat black Rustoleum. Again, do the ultra-light misting with that paint. After every coat is just dry to the touch go over VERY VERY lightly with 1000-grit sandpaper and wipe with a damp cloth. Let the moisture from the cloth dry before applying the next coat. Five to eight coats seems to be good.
I made the mistake of applying a thick coat of black over the primer and wound up with a rough and gooey surface that took two weeks to fully harden. I did that to a chassis, so it wasn't entirely a bad thing. I would have preferred a wrinkly finish, but oh well. BTW, you might be able to find spray paint at the automotive shop specifically designed to give a wrinkly finish. I only found it in red and I didn't buy it.
Now about using toner transfer with panels, I haven't yet tried applying toner directly to a painted surface. I'm right now tinkering with .032" aluminum. Incidentally, this is the same thickness as circuit board recommended for use with Pulsar's toner tranfer paper and applicator machine. Their machine is a specific model of laminator known to work for this sort of thing. The greater mass of metal going through the applicator may cause problems. With your 1/8" stock, you'd be much better off using toner transfer paper to make decals.
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I was hoping for a new line of non-modulars (like the Rogue, multimoog, etc). I don't think he'd have much of a change breaking back into the modular business.
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This is a contradiction in terms. A digital sequencer is defined as a device that records and plays back MIDI events. If a MIDIbox SEQ has the ability to make its own sounds, then it becomes a sequencer with a synthesizer.
Midibox Quad SID boards
in MIDIbox SID
Posted
After having a terrible time trying to get decent results from toner-transfer paper, I've decided to look into sending out to have some Quad SID boards made. Last time I posted about it, there was a decent amount of interest in it. I noticed that http://www.futurlec.com/ seems to have the best prices I've seen for small quantities. If I order ten, the price would be about $36 per board. How many of you are interested in a group buy?