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Afro88

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Posts posted by Afro88

  1. BCF LCD Display project

    in MIDIbox HUIs

    Posted

    Hi,

    I've been thinking about using the Midibox LC with only LCD to act as an intermediary between my BCF2000 and my computer, purely for display purposes. I've tested the BCF, and it seems the midi thru port passes on the sysex information that is used for the lcd display. So essentially all I would need is a Core module with the LC software loaded and 2x24 character LCD's.

    What could I use for power though? Does anyone know the internals of the BCF very well? Is there a 5v rail I could tap into, or would this be a bad idea? Also, would the +5v rail from my computer's power supply do the trick? I'm not too keen on running another power supply purely for the LCD...

    Thanks for any help

  3. C64 power switch

    in MIDIbox SID

    Posted

    I'm just wondering if anyone could tell me what type of power switch the one built into the normal brown C64 is?

    Is it the dual type? If so, how do I connect it up? There are 6 pins. Do I just ignore the middle ones?

    Thanks

  6. Connecting the SID and the Core

    in MIDIbox SID

    Posted

    Wow, thanks very much for the quick replies!

    Regarding connecting the SID and the Core, I will stick purely to the pdf for my wiring, cheers for the advice :)

    Well, at the risk of starting another flame war, it will work fine without bypass caps.  I have been slowly packing them in with new generations of kits as I run out of what I had made up on the shelf, but only because of new builder insecurity due to posts here on the forum.  (I'll happily send you some at my cost if your kits don't have them)

    Nah, I got them, thanks :)

    This has been a sticky issue for me for quite some time, as some would have you believe that every chip needs a bypass cap in every situation.  That's simply not true when dealing with a relatively clean linear power supply (like what we have on the core).  The idea of a bypass on every chip is a product of moving from linear to switching power supplies.

    I have quite a few examples of fully functional designs from respected manufacturers with hundreds of chips per board that run fine without bypass, should anyone feel the need to debate the issue (In private this time please, no more flame wars on the forum because I don't follow the latest basic electronics course study book -theory- please.......)  ;D

    There are thousands of working MIDIboxes around the world without extra bypass caps, and I have not seen one time where a bypass cap solved any issue with a MIDIbox other than a self-created wiring/interference/jitter issue.  Attention to wiring and grounding is much more important.

    Fair enough. Well, since they're in the pack I may as well solder them in as an extra precaution. I pay extra attention to my wiring and soldering now after a few too many frustrating hours searching for wiring faults with my Soundlab, but you can never be too sure...

    No "J3" jumpers required.  My boards are routed like if you had all 5 jumpers there and installed.  J3 is a throwback to before the bootloader days, when you had to burn everything as a hex file with the JDM module or other burner.

    That meant for an update or to put the app on you had to either pull the PIC, or connect the JDM module via J3.

    That's what I thought. I just saw the words "won't work" in the instructions on ucapps.de and thought I should check first. The fact that J3 doesn't exist on the board should been a dead giveaway for me though, heheh

    Now life is much better, with everything but the bootloader done via sysex and MIOS studio.....Thanks again TK!  (whoops and Meeshka for MIOS Studio!)

    Indeed! Thanks to TK and Meeshka for making it as simple as this to make and program!

    And thanks Smash for your time answering these questions, and also for the fantastic kits! :) 1 very satisfied customer over here ;D

  7. Connecting the SID and the Core

    in MIDIbox SID

    Posted

    Hey guys, I've just finished building the first SID and Core modules for my MidiboxSID and I'm trying to figure out how to connect them together, as well as a few other things...

    1) I've been looking at http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_sid_c64_psu.pdf as I'm going to be using a C64 power supply. So... those four pins from J10 on the core go to their respective points on J2 on the SID, and the 2 pins from J2 on the core go to their respective pins on J2 on the SID. But the pictures on the SID documentation show a connector that connects all 8 from the core to the 8 on the SID with no other connections necessary except the power to the SID module... I'm refering to http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_sid_5.jpg here. So basically I'm confused. If I follow the C64_psu pdf is that all I have to connect up (besides the midi port)? Or are there other connections necessary?

    2) Also, I'm using kits bought from SmashTV and I'm not sure if I should do the bypass caps thing for each module. Is it necessary with these boards?

    3) As well as this, do I have to do the jumper thing on J3? I don't even have a J3, but is there something similar I'm supposed to do to "turn off" the programming interface to make the module work?

    I think that's about it... I'm sure there'll be other questions once these are answered though ;)

    Thanks very much in advance

  8. MIDI Box SID blog

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Ok, here are a couple of pics.

    S3500026.JPG

    S3500029.JPG

    Note that there's still alot of work to do. For a start, I don't have the knobs yet, a few options still have to be constructed that are drilled on the panel (fine tune, fm, external in etc.) and I accidentally bought blackboard paint instead of normal paint (hey, it was cheap!). I was thinking of marking the interface with chalk when I discovered my odd paint choice, but it rubs off too easily, and even lightly scraping your fingernail marks the surface. The thing used to work, but since it was my first soldering project many wires have come loose or disconnected entirely, so when I repaint the case and get the knobs I'm going to rewire it too. There are some sounds I did when it was working online here:

    http://www.electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6075

  12. The making of a Midibox64

    in MIDIbox HUIs

    Posted

    Thanks from me too - I find this very interesting. I'm building a SID, but I still find this stuff very helpful. This is exactly what I want to do with my blog (see my sig). Even though I trust Smash TV to deliver top quality goods, it's nice to see pics of the kits anyway.

    Can I ask how you did the designs for the pots and switch boards? Did you use schematics software or something? Please tell you used a freeware program that converts schematics to pcb layouts...  ;D

  13. Detented push buttons

    in Parts Questions

    Posted

    I also emailed Dave Smith about a lost knob on my Evolver and asked him about the buttons on the Evolver.

    He said this in the reply: "On the switches, it is from E-switch, type TL1105SP. Digikey is a convenient place to buy them."

    These buttons are really nice and solid, with a good click to them. I might grab some of those as well. I'm waiting on some sample buttons from mec too ;)

  14. Bended MIDIbox SID engine

    in MIDIbox SID

    Posted

    Holy crap, you rule TK!! The mapping feature sounds really great. LFO's and envelopes too! Amazing. This will be really really handy.

    303 details in a while, that's cool, I'm sure we can all wait as long as it takes for a feature as cool as this.

    Thanks again TK!

  15. Bended MIDIbox SID engine

    in MIDIbox SID

    Posted

    A new feature of the MBSID is a low-cost AOUT driver. The upcoming AOUT_LC module mainly consist of 2 * 74HC595, 36 * 10k resistors and one LM324. The part costs of this "selfbuilt" DAC are around 4 EUR - a nice starting point for everybody who wants to control external analog filters :)

    Would it be difficult to create some kind of midi thru mode in software where midi notes/gates can be routed to the AOUT_LC module to control CV synths? This would be great! I was thinking about building the MIDI/CV converter but it was too expensive - if this is only 4 EUR and could work as a MIDI/CV converter that would be unbelievable!

    P.P.S.: maybe I should mention here that Matze (the creator of the acidcode.de box) gave me a lot of useful hints about the TB303 behaviour and the schematics :-)

    Please, tell us more! :D

  17. Detented push buttons

    in Parts Questions

    Posted

    I'm looking for some push buttons that click when they're pushed, like the buttons on my Behringer BCR2000 or my DSI Evolver or my MPC or pretty much any synth I've ever used. I don't mind if they're square, circular whatever, as long as they feel like these ones. I've got a few buttons ordered from Mouser for another project, but they don't click into place like the buttons on my synths, in fact they don't click at all. I've looked through the pages on Mouser, but, as they say, it's all Greek to me - I can't tell which ones would act like the type I'm thinking of.

    As far as I can gather from other topics I need SPST Off-(On) buttons. Is there a name for the click type of buttons I'm thinking of?

    Thanks

  19. MIDI Box SID blog

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Ah, I forgot about this post - thanks for the feedback guys. Good to know the godfather of the MIDIbox SID project endorses it too :) It will be updated everytime I make progress - I'm currently seeing how atomsize's SID chip distribution goes.

    About the Soundlab, it's great. You can get some really weird and interesting sounds out of it. It definitely oozes with character, it's quite different to most synths I've heard. IMO it's got a more likeable sound than the Fatman, but that's just my opinion. When the filter's resonance is driven hard it distorts in a very nice early Daft Punk sort of way 8). And of course the modulation effects are amazing too. It's a very experimental sounds synth, not something I'd use for creating the more typical synth sounds. It's quite unstable too (unless you fit the tempco's and all that), which is nice cause it makes me feel like I'm using a cutdown VCS3 ;)

    I only use mine in my little home studio, so I haven't put a speaker into it, but it could be a bit of fun to transform it into the portable version. I do highly reccomend this project to anyone with a weekend or so free. It's really simple and easy to build, especially if you're an experienced DIY'er. I'd barely done any soldering before and found it easy enough. It only costs about $70-80 for all the parts and PCB too, so you can't go wrong!

  20. SID CHIPS

    in Parts Questions

    Posted

    .... what is fair? The first ones on the list like perhaps me and Metamorphoses say: "Fair is: First call, first serve". Dräppel and others say: "I wasn't quick enough, so fair is, that I get one or two as well"  ;)

    I think at last it's about business and not just about fairness and since it's YOUR (atomsize's) business, it's your desicion and we have nothing to say as long as we didn't pay a cent. I'm enough happy that you even offer this service.

    I don't care about fairness if I don't get 4 chips even for being 2nd on the list. - What I'll say is: "Shit! I couldn't get 4, I have to look somewhere else for more"

    And If I was last on the list and wouldn't get even one, I'd say: "Shit! I wasn't quick enough, I have to look somewhere else for one"

    Greets, Roger

    Point taken. I just wanted to make a crack at DRAPPEL's analogy and myself being 5th on the list  ;D. But yeah, if atomsize said "afro, you only get 1 chip because your name starts with the letter a" I would still thank him for his service and be grateful that he was willing to sell me a cheap SID chip at all. Chill man, it's all good :)

  22. MIDI Box SID blog

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi all,

    I've set up a blog so I can document my experience building a midibox sid. It's taken me a while to understand how the Midibox thing works, and how I would put it together, so I hope this blog will help out others who are relatively new to DIY like myself. I'm hoping that once I'm done, it will read like a "how to" on building a SID midibox.

    Blog is here: http://diysid.blogspot.com/

    Any suggestions, or if you think this is a good/bad idea, let me know

    Cheers  :)

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