13rian

wow, that ebay seller really does have some great stuff. definitely gonna be spending some money today. BUT, because i said i would take pics this weekend, i did. So here are some pics of my Kaoss Pad 1 on the bench, in case anyone was waiting to see them. Based on the possibilty of getting cheap resistor based parts i don't think i'll pursure the KP XY hack any further. Especially bc it's a fully functional toy (once i put it back together). the images are big, and this is slightly off-topic, so i hosted them elsewhere.... http://13rian.com/KP1 CN3 is where the connector was for the FFC to the pad. The gnarly looking scrapes on the underside of the PCB are from me cleaning out some solder that got messy when i removed the connector. Don't worry the connections are intact, i tested them. - b

forgot to mention - i didn't measure anything IN the box yet (like voltage on the 4 conductors), i'm sure that could shed some light on what is going on in there. maybe after i take some pics, you can make some recomendations as to where to start. - b

i should have explained what i DID try, and maybe this will also explain what I do and do not know about what i am doing.... i popped open the case and desoldered the connector (the pad of course uses an ffc and connector). Secured the pad and connector, measured resistance values between most of the conductors with and without pressure on the pad. I was expecting results like you mentioned (10k +/- just about anything), but was a bit confused by what i found. I couldn't really figure out which pole was which even. I'll test again this weekend and post my results, and take some pics too. I love the KP technology and have been trying to use one of these XY's for a while, I actually prefer the on/off function when you do and don't touch the pad. I don't use it so much for long term parameter control. I mostly like to use it as a trigger with XY expression, like a 2 dimensional turntable. - b

i opened my KP-1 and took some measurements, unfortunately I couldn't figure it out. There are 4 conductors, the lights are housed beneath the glass and so the 4 conductors are all related to the pad functionality. I have not yet reconnected the pad, if anyone has any tips on how to properly figure it out, I would be happy to do it this weekend. - b

theoretically that sounds fine. and i suppose that's one thing they be built-in with V2. I might toy with that on my own, but i definitely think that more than one osc per string would be a lot more fun. maybe 4xSID, with 2 osc per string/channel would be enough. It would certainly be constructable onn the hardware side with the current MBSID boards. - b

thanks again. having not completed my first MBSID (my smash kit was missing some components and i am working on the optimized PSU still) I don't have a deep understanding of the functionality yet, so this forum has been an invaluable resource. it sounds like the locking of midi channels would be the best approach. for the most part i will be running one patch on the SID. i have a reaktor patch dedicated to my other hardware synths, and basically it allows me to make presets and morph between them by morphing between reaktor snapshots and sending all the necessary CC's. I am hoping i can get the SID working in a similar fashion. With this setup I don't really need banksticks, built-in controls, or an LCD. I do of course have controls that feed the reaktor patch but that's more of a global thing. so this entire conversation has shed some light on the problems i will have with addressing the array of SID modules, which i'm glad i am now aware of. After reading more about V2, it definitely seems worth waiting. If the MultiMode is implemented as described on the wishlist, I could even get by with 2xSID, one oscillator per string. But with a small stack of SID chips here waiting to be used, it's more likely that I will shoot for 4 to 6 SIDs :) Either way I can finish my rookie 1xSID in the meantime and try to wait it out for V2. Thanks again everyone, you've been extremely helpful. - b

thanks gang. i barely have time to solder and practice, so i'll most likely wait and see what V2 has going on.

So as I am completing my first MBSID project, I have begun thinking about a 6 channel SID for my midi-guitar rig. 6 channels are necessarey for getting individual pitchbend per string. I know I can power up to 4 CORE/SID boards with a PSU, but what are the chances that I could build a PSU that would run 6x CORE and 6x SID? Any ideas? - b

excellent. thanks. - b

i should point out that this is most likely my error. i don't really know what i'm doing, but i have tried my best and can't figure out what's going on. i know i am testing the right pins because one of my PSUs only has the four pins, so i use that as my guide. i am NOT so sure that i am using the meter properly, but i don't see how else it would be done. sorry for the lame question, but i'm afraid it won't be my last :) - b

I populated my first CORE and SID boards today. I basically followed the map laid out here - http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/mbhp_coreR4d.html and then when finished, I was worried that I had not done anything like this - http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_core_v3_1.jpg Is this possibly built into the recent SmashTV design? Thanks for any help. - b

I have 2 different PSU's from c64s. Both say on the brick that they provide 9VAC and 5VDC. I salvaged the connector from a c64 so I plugged each one in and tried testing the voltages to be sure they were functioning. My results were not what I expected. First PSU I measured 0.32 V on outer pins (should be 9?) and 0 V where there should be 5 V. Second PSU I measured 10.7 V on outer pins and again 0 V where there should be 5 V. I'm sure I am doing something wrong, the second PSU was powering a C=64 running Prophet64 as recently as last week. I assume that to test AC I set the meter to the wavy line (~) and to test DC I set it to the 'solid-line-over-the-dotted-line'. Am I doing something obviously wrong? Thanks. - b

So i was going to post a question, but this is closely related so i'll start here and see where it gets me..... I am building my first mbSid and i want to add in 2 additional toys to the box - a roland phaser and an mxr delay. each of these fx boxes has an on/off and 2 pots for parameters. is it possible to replace these pots with a voltage controlled resistor? without using motorized pots - i actually prefer no pots at all and only want midi control. any tips or ideas would be very helpful. i have been using the miditron made by eric singer (http://eroktronix.com) and it has been very good to me (working on my 4th miditron device) but i discovered this midibox project while searching for a way to use my c=64 sid chip and now i see myself spending a lot of time here as well.... thanks. - 13

Hello - New here as of today. I have not read enough yet to really know much about the midibox world. But i do know MAX. So if you want to put several itmes into a list in MAX use the object "pack" or you can look at the "zl" help file for tons of zl objects. "unpack" does what you'd think - it takes a list and outputs to seperate values. I plan on building a basic midibox for my sid chip (i still have my old c=64) with MIDI jacks and no controllers or screens. And then to build a controller in MAX, because I build my entire live rig with homemade midi controllers that go thru MAX anyway. I'll be back soon with tons of questions :) - 13