DragonMaster

::) I'm not sure I would need more, but I'll see! (Maybe I'll play the same sound detuned on multiple channels at the time, it's one of the only way to make nice sounds with my Kawai K5, and I need a lot of channels for this)

Oh, OK, you can assign different channels, no problem then! Since the front panel has a quite simple layout, would you say I should have one panel for each synth or switch between them?

Now that I looked at the connections diagram, I see I could switch the DINX4, DOUTX4, etc. between each cores. (Or maybe just DIN) TK, you mean that each cores have to use the same MIDI channels? Now that's an other story... Maybe I could add a PIC to reassign the channels between multiple inputs...

Yup! Have you followed the grounding scheme? Maybe you got a noisier LCD than other people.

Oh, I see... Is there a way for the interface to be joined together for all of them?

The ground noise won't be shared if they are grounded properly, two separate regulators eliminates the noise the PIC and LCD are sending to the power rails. (You could put a 2 ferrite beads and 2 filter capacitor, one of each for the PIC, one of each for the OPL3 and that should work.) Als share grounds in one common point, don't use a wire in series between multiple points.

The YMF262 is the synthesizer, and the YAC512 is the DAC for it. Most sound cards got only 1 stereo DAC, but the chip can support two of them, so you have 4 channels. That's why if someone would have YAC512 chips only for sale, that would be really nice, because when you get used sound cards you already have one DAC and the synth chip.

Are you running the YMF262 and YAC512 from a different regulator than the PIC? (You should if you didn't) Else, I think you'll have to play with 74??? logic buffers to prevent the signals from going to the YMF262 when the LCD is receiving data...

I have a few(6) soundcards with YMF262/YAC512 chips coming on their way home :o ::) I was thinking of putting them all in a single box and control them together with a single interface. Is this possible??? Is there an advantage of running 2 cores / 2 dacs vs. 1 core / 2 dacs? (I'll be using more than one of them anyways...) And just wondering... will I have to use an MBHP CORE and panel for every single FM chips? :-\ (I'm thinking of controlling using a computer only actually, cost reasons)

What would be really nice is to be able to buy the YAC512 chips alone, since we can easily get 1 YMF262 with 1 YAC512, anyone could sell just YAC512? IC distributors aren't cheap...

Anyone got affordable chips for midibox FM or SID? $15 each isn't an option, and I don't have lots of money (high school student) I thought I could start building a midiBOX before next year, I'll have finished high school and have much less time for projects during CEGEP (between high school and university here) Oh, and I don't really have anything to exchange, I just have common parts everyone got : tl072-kind opamps, resistors, etc.

Well... It's a project that I might start to build in years. A C64 is pretty easy to get tho.

Hey, all the posts are double.

Still some?

The only thing is that I don't know if the Z80 can be directly controlled. It's just that when you remove a cartridge while the Genesis is on, the picture freezes but the song continues. But, it certainly can because when I play Virtua Racing, the FM sound representing an engine has it's pitch controlled.

Check is one wire is not broken. Should you have just one poorly connected and you will get strange results(Wrong wire at the wrong place too). I already got chinese characters on my parallel port LCD because one wire broke.

slider motorisé? Mouser # RS60N11M9A08 digikey # PNC100SY-ND cher mais c'est tout ce qu'il y a. pot motorisé: Mouser, chercher motor pot. Sûrement digikey aussi. Pour les faces avant, il y a moyen d'en DIYer une: Acétates à imprimantes laser derrière un plexiglass avec fond noir et écriture transparente. Il faut juste mettre de la lumière en arrière et c'est fait.(Il y a aussi du découpage...) Pas besoin de trou rectangulaire pour le LCD, il va en arrière du plexiglass.

Could the serial port of the LTC with appropriate drivers work? If not, buying or building something similar to a midiLink http://www.dankadata.com/ddd001.html and using the midiLink drivers should work thru a serial port. If you want usb, get a serial to usb controller and plug a midilink in it.

Yeah, DAC drums, that's what I like the most from my genesis. Note that YMamp should be at 24000 bitrate for the drums to sound the most like the real genesis. I don't know if it should be easier/better to use a real genesis with a custom cartridge: -You don't destroy the machine -you have both the PSG and FM chip. -I think it's easier to control the Z80 Here are the sound chips: - PSG (TI 76489 chip) (In my genesis 1 I think it's an OKI instead. Maybe the OKI is the DAC?) - FM chip (Yamaha YM 2612)

Also look at the 3rd post here, http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=5083.0 I already saw new 7812 that were working bad, so maybe the same thing is happening with your 7805, trying a new one from a different brand(Just to be sure it doesn't happen an otehr time) would maybe solve the problem if nothing else works.

is it the bootstrap thing? If not, check at least twice if everything is wired correctly, trust me. I rewired my parallel port 2x40 LCD at least 5 times before getting something that works. One time, I even got burnt by the controller ICs because some pins were connected wrong. You would not want to let your expansive LCD dying.

OPL4 is not the same chip at all, wavetable + integrated OPL3(OPL3 is an extra in this case). An other MIDIbox would be needed, it would play samples and FM.

Actually, you can use any clocks like kwak clock or XO clock normally used to get less jitter on CD players(The kind of upgrades audiophiles do). In the ones I named, only kwak clock is DIY. You build it using a small crystal instead of an oscillator, you give it it's own PSU, and you connect the output pin to the xtal input of the chip (available between one of the osc. pins.). After having built that, you only need one of the 4 pins used by the oscillator. Scheme is available @DIYaudio. Also, if you want just a crystal, don't use the power supply pins of the oscillator, use Xtal IN and Xtal Out pins instead. Add a small ceramic cap on each side and you get the standard clock scheme. You want to feed multiple sid modules? Just install an oscillator on 1 SID module and wire Xtal Output to the other PCB.

And you took the time to install connectors between each PCBs, now that's nice work! The only projects I built right now were on veroboard with CAT5 wire and no connectors, apart from my parallel port LCD which has a male 14 pin on the LCD directly connecting to a 14 pin female on the PCB, the last time I built it without connector and the cooper connections on the LCD PCB went off :'(

Building my midi interface for a joystick port was also pretty long : 3 outputs in parallel with on/off switches and 2 caps per plug, 2 switchable inputs also with caps, hex inverter and optocoupler, also a diode. The thing is that I built that on veroboard and the switches and connectors are mounted directly in the plastic box, I've done point to point wiring with CAT5 on the PCB, and it was REALLY long. Count yourself lucky if you have a pre-made PCB, that's not too hard to do. If you use veroboard, I understand what you mean. Which MIDIbox are you building?