el-bee

Yey, the Dalbani-supplied 2SA733s turned out to be crap, hfe's are between 150-215 in the batch I got. Luckily these weren't expensive.. Can anyone suggest some other source _than_ Mouser? What about replacements? If high gain is the only critical value for these trannies I'm thinking these shouldn't be too difficult ones to find a replacement for.. say, BC559 has a max. gain of 800 (although 125 typical) and seems, at least at a glance, to match some of the other specs as well. The x0xb0x wiki suggests 270-310 for the p-model you can buy from Mouser. What about the k-model, anyone know where to source those?

Afaik the boxes use custom sysex for transmitting params.. Have you checked out Organix' Midi Expansion Kit? With this upgrade installed you can use any standard midi controller to program your JX3P.. Or better yet, build your own custom Midibox PG to go with the JX ;). I bought one of these for my JX3P; it was dead easy to install and worked flawlessly all the way until I had to part with the synth. The guy who bought my JX3P hasn't had a single negative word to say about the mod either.

Well let's see how it goes, I haven't yet given much thought on the appearance of my unit-to-be anyway (what housing to use etc). I just liked how your test buttons looked and started immediately thinking if these would be available :). I do have some industrial-grade switches/buttons in store I could use for this project, if nothing else they'd at least be of the type that basically lasts forever in home use.

Sasha, if you could offer sets of those buttons how much would they cost? Is it a full set with switches/leds/button caps? Jaicen, any chance on sending money to your Paypal bulk order for those buttons if Sasha makes them available for everyone?

And now I have the rare parts from Dalbani as well, around 23GBP for 2x 2sc2291 (4.5/ea), 4x AN6562 (0.82/ea), 2x BA6110 (2.48/ea) and shipping. And in case you're wondering why the item amounts are doubled, I usually order some extras of rare parts for possible later repairs. This has been proved to save from some extra hassle every now and then ;). Sasha, thanks for having strength/will to carry on with the project despite people backing out! I was already wondering wtf I'm gonna do if there weren't any PCB order but I already have the rare parts. I could etch some boards myself, but I'm not _that_ big a fan off that process ;) .. Since you asked about the Electronicsic order, it was sth like 37USD with shipping included. This got me 2x LA4140, 24x 2sc536, 3x 2sc1583 and 4x 2sk30A. On to the not-so-rare parts, hopefully my collection of recycled parts will provide most of the other stuff required :)

A bit of update from myself.. electronicsic.com shipment came in the other day. It took 9 days from purchase confirmation, one of the fastest shipment I've had coming in from stateside. And with the current rate of USD against EUR I can't really complain about the price either ;). So, now I have some 2SK30(Y)s, LA4140s, 2SC1583s and 2SC536Fs for the b0x.. Still waiting for the stuff from dalbani, they didn't have all the parts in stock so shipping has been put on hold until they have everything. One thing I was wondering, can anyone tell what's the difference between the (Y) and (O) model of 2SK30? Can you for instance use one to substitute the other? If (Y) could replace (O), this would of course save me from the trouble of sourcing the latter..

I'll test out www.electronicsic.com and dalbani.co.uk for the rare parts, let's see how it turns out.. :)

So was there some group buy for the rare parts?

I had some weird idea of building my TB3030 with a keyboard.. although at first it seemed a fun thing to play around with (I mainly compose by recording clips I play on hardware synths), it really doesn't yield 303ish results. So, a second box with a built-in sequencer would be more than dead on :)

I'm interested

While at it, why not check out Viznut's speech synth on Atari 2600 and VIC-20 ;) .. Robotic Liberation (VIC-20) http://www.pelulamu.net/pwp/vic20/pwp-liberation.zip <- demo exe http://www.pelulamu.net/pwp/vic20/pwp-liberation.ogg <- song http://www.pelulamu.net/pwp/vic20/pwp-liberation.lyrics <- lyrics in case you can read ;) http://www.pelulamu.net/pwp/vic20/pwp-liberation.mpeg <- video grab of the exe (Core) (Atari 2600) http://www.uta.fi/~vp79799/core_by_wAMMA.zip <- demo exe ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/mirrors/breakpoint/2007/RealWild/BP07_RealWild_wamma_and_pwp_core_XViD.avi <-video grab of exe

Dug up my copy of the Elektor magazine, made a quick pdf scan and uploaded it to my diy-folder.. Get it here http://kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/DB50XG-standalone.pdf. Will remove the file after a few days so anyone who wants this, better be quick ;)

Elektor Magazine had an article about converting DB50XG to a standard midi sound module in issue 7-8 / 1997.. Their add-on board added PSU, output amplifier and midi connectors to card. I know I have this magazine somewhere, but no idea where exactly :/.. I guess you could also buy a pdf version from their website. Makes me wonder where the hell did I stash that DB50XG card I had, it would make a nice Midibox project.. ;)

Yeh just came across some other posts about digital pots :)

What about replacing the pots with digital potentiometers (ie. DS1803, http://www.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm/qv_pk/2779) where applicable (suitable sizes available etc)? Anyone tried this? Using these would probably need some code on the midibox side and the panel controls of the synth would be rendered useless :(

Came across this and ordered one for my JX-3P immediately.. http://organix.inque.org/jx3pexpansionkit/ Not a direct PG200 replacement, but something that'll make the good ol' 3P understand Midibox.. ;)

You could always coat the board and/or button contact surface with some graphite spray. I've used that (namely Kontakt Chemie's Graphit 33) for fixing old console controllers, works fantastically. You need to make a custom spraying mask or tape/cover the areas where graphite isn't wanted though..

Alternatively there's http://www.angelfire.com/geek/srlabs/diner.html .. Slightly more options with clock outputs etc. Haven't tested this myself since Colin Fraser's converter has been more than enough for my use. And really simple to build.

1. Clean install win98se and strip to bare minimum with 98lite (www.litepc.com) 2. Install drivers (ASIO etc). 3. Install your favourite softsynth and make it autostart on bootup 4. Add knobs etc. with the Midibox-project 5. Box the thing up with a case of your choice 6. Enjoy your new hardware synth :D

Are you using purified water in the tip cleaning sponge? Tap water has impurities that will burn to the tip and make it dark.. To me, grinding a tip sounds a bit too hard a treatment (damaging the tip surface). A light brushing with steel wool or a fine steel brush followed by some flux and tin has worked for me.

I built the avr-syn.. All in all a fun little project although I experienced some really weird midi problems (random lazy midi response) which, after much fault-finding, suddenly just vanished to thin air. The project also served as a test item for some labelling, milling and construction techniques. Pictures here: http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/AVRSyn/ The whole thing is built mostly out of scrap parts, the only items specifically bought for this one were the pots+hats.. The provided documentation was a bit so-so, but you could work around the not so obvious parts by comparing the schematics with the other documentation. One thing I really missed were clear instructions on how to remap the pots and switches for the panel layout I chose. I suck with software and am too busy with other stuff to start learning. With a little remapping the cabling could've been a whole lot cleaner and easier to do. Also, for some reason the AVR osc was not programmed to rail mode.. being a total n00b with AVRs this one threw me off-track for a while during the fault-finding sessions (at a glance looked like the crystal osc wasn't working correctly).

I'll post this link here in case anyone didn't figure out going 'directory up' from the links I posted about my SID-box :) http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/ Plenty of stuff but no tracks with sounds from the SID-box at this point though :( .. The mod/gm-section has some tracked chip tunes tho.

Finally managed to add the minimal control interface for this one.. Ended up sanding/repainting the case on the same go since there was some pretty ugly file marks next to the screen cutout (was too lazy to sand them away when initially making the box). Pics: Fitting out the board/measuring buttons http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2-Control_Assy1.JPG Completed board http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2-Control_Assy_Upper.JPG http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2-Control_Assy_Lower.JPG (encoder wiring is the wrong way around in this one) http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2-Control_Assy2.JPG The final product http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2_1.JPG http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2_2.JPG http://www.kewlers.scene.org/bitchard/diy/SIDV2_4.JPG And yeah, I should REALLY look into programming some patches :) Ta ta, .Arto.

TL: ok thanks for the pointer.. a somewhat direct result of browsing this thread too quickly :) Stryd: No prob with the project being long-term; I find myself constantly in the same situation, trying to share my free time between with various projects etc. I rechecked your initial post on this thread and noticed that I had totally missed the thing about the track length options you're planning to implement; these make the project too versatile compared to what I've been planning to put together :(.. They'd make a useful extra but would require a more complex user interface. And that's not the thing I want to end up with. So I suppose I still have to keep looking. Or start learning the goddamn pic-programming! ;) The design I have in mind would be more like a 'basic drum sequencer' thingie for jamming and sequencing drum patterns quickly on the fly. This could be used with whatever selection of drum sound modules (eg. mix/combine your favourite kick/snare/etc. designs from the net), integrated into existing drum machines (soup up/replace a crappy sequencer from some old drum machine) or designs (eg. combine with Trevor's TR9090). I first thought that the firmware side of this could've been done simply by stripping away excess code from the existing one but obviously some of it would need to be modified to fit the stripped structure and the redesigned button/encoder/indicator/screen layout etc etc. For instance I've been thinking that there'd be no need for sending midi data (except sync clock and memory sysex dumps) or having song sequencing functions (patterns switchable/chainable on the fly should be enough for everyone). Oh well, one thing at a time.. Maybe I should first complete the full list of required functions and the way they could be implemented most intuitively. It's still a bit of a work-in-progress with all the other projects going on (like fitting up the 9090-boards for testing) ;) .. Nevertheless, if some other person reading this thread is interested in making/modifying the code for this minimal drum seq thingie feel free to drop me a line or three.

DIY x0x-style seq, just the thing I've been looking for to pair up with Trevor's 909-boards! \o/ TL, any chances of making some functional suggestions for the sequencer firmware? The thing I'd like to see would be a few non-x0x playmodes (pingpong/random/reverse).. Unfortunately I have no coding skills whatsoever so can't participate to that end no matter how much I'd like to :(.. However, hardware is a totally other thing; I'd be interested in drawing a single-board version out of this mbx0x-thingie.. Any need for that? If so, what other MIOS-modules will be required? 1xDOUT and DIN maybe? I've also spent quite some time trying to figure out different ways of making a sequencer panel UI as intuitive as possible, so can share my pointers on that too if needed..