dcer10

Hi all, My sid has decided to stop working all on its own. I checked the PSU board and replaced all the components on it. No change. I tried to measure the power input to the core, it is not 9v or 5v its a constantly changing value which is in the low mV to V range but nothing that I would expect to be there.. Is there a good procedure to find the problems? Ive tested it with multiple C64 PSUs and they all have the same results (they couldnt all be broken and they all worked before, and before the MB sid the voltages are as expected on the actual PSU for the C64). Since power is getting to the core wrong, and it isnt from the PSU board, where to check next? Thanks, John

Hi all, Is there any way to lower the intensity of the LEDs without soldering all new resistors or replacing the LEDs? I chose all ultra bright LEDs for my sequencer, which look amazing, but they blind me to the point that I cant see anything else :) I would love to reduce their brightness without using a texta, or too much mechanical work on it if possible. Could a resistor be put before the board to reduce the current or would that make the ICs not work right?? Thanks, John

Hiya, Im pretty sure its all connected up ok, and the LEDs work outside the circut, and as I said the midi in light works, but no midi out light or thur port or duplicate of IIC1 out. Maybe I will swap with another LTC module I have to test. Maybe something is dead on the board. Im not really experienced enough to figure out what it would be!! Thanks for all the help so far, John

Hiya TK, I did manage to reformat the memory, but it did not solve the skipping after 1 bar problem, but I did notice that "Sync to master" (what is this meant to do?) was on for those tracks, when I turned it off it worked without skipping! Also formatting the memory got rid of all the garbage in the patterns I was talking about before!! ;D With the 17th track / master track Im still a bit lost as to its usage, how does it relate to changing songs etc? Maybe I should wait for the documentation when you get it ready?? Even if songs wouldnt overlap is there an easy way to chain them? Im also still confused as to using the trigger page where it shows *234123412341234 I cant get it to do anything (no keyboard plugged in). Not a big deal, Im sure it will be obvious in the documentation. As far as Thats not exactly what Im trying to do, but may seem that way. I want to be able to have 2 hands free for midi controllers most of the time, and to be able to smoothly change from one song to the next in a chain without stopping or needing to do it in time. I would like to be able to interact with the seq while it is running in song mode still, thats why I want this seq rather than a PC. As for the use of the events, you are right, and it is not less live at all. I would however like to see note cc cc as an option (I didnt see it there) if thats possible with fixed velocity and length?? This would save me using another track for the 2nd cc when I also need a note event. Also another suggestion I was thinking of is that the "All" button may have better use with 3 states rather than 2.. 1) off (no led no action) 2) on linear (led on, normal action as it is now) 3) on curve (led flashing, action as described below) Say you have a pattern of notes, or ccs or whatever you like and you have a certain curve of values you want to keep, but the ability to increase and decrease while keeping the curve, you would want to move the curve as a group. This would be great for attaching a cc to a filter, and being able to increase the filter whilst maintaing the individual steps interesting elements. See the attached images which show the usage (I should have made the "after turning" images with more than a +2 increase to make it more obvious). An interesting thing is happening when I record the midi events of the seq into my kurzweil in that the kurzweil is playing them back at a VERY fast speed (maybe 4 or 8x) and I have not changed the clock divider from default. Normally the kurzweil sequencer is very stable and doesnt do this, so im wondering if maybe its what the MB seq is sending it?? I still cant believe how cool this seq is, and its not even finished :) Hope these suggestions help somehow. All the best, John

Hiya TK, On the mechanical/electronic side of things, I still cant get my LTC to do midi out and thru, or the out LED. Any ideas on what might be causing this? The in LED works ok. All the best, John

Thanks for the suggestions, Ill download away and see what suits :)

Hi All, I know this isnt really a C programming question but does anyone know a freeware GUI based diff tool for windows thats good? Ive downloaded "Beyond Compare" to try out but is only a demo version. Im finding this the easiest way to keep up with reading about the development changes in the V3 seq by doing a diff on the application code between versions. Thanks! John

Hiya TK, Thanks for the info! re song save: Thats a great way to save! Another excellent interface design choice. re pattern play glitch: UPDATE: The glitch to still be there with the latest version mbseq_v3_snapshot_build64 I will also test this tonight, is there meant to be anything in the unused patterns? All of mine are full with strange settings, most relating to the Aout as in the event menu, and can not be used as normal patterns. To be clear, I have an aout board connected but it has no +-12v psu yet as I am waiting to find a dual rail pcb to suit the Aout and core at once. Maybe this glitch relates to not poweing the aout properly? Its light it on (green). Maybe I should disconnect it? Just to be sure I will reformat the bankstick too as you suggested. UPDATE: Which values should change to do this and to what? Im not sure?? #define BANKSTICK_MAGIC0 0x36 ; magic numbers - if they don't exists in bankstick at BANK_MAGIC_ADDRESS, #define BANKSTICK_MAGIC1 0x2b ; the stick will be ignored until it has been formatted #define BANKSTICK_SONG_MAGIC0 0x7a ; the same for the song sector (or second bankstick) #define BANKSTICK_SONG_MAGIC1 0x5c Re group usage: This is how I am changing to a new group too, but what happens for me is probably related to the bankstick problem I think as the patterns are not able to be used until I copy a "blank" one over an existing one. I did get G2T1 working once, but only once. The selection is easy, but imagine if you select G2t1 or anything else but G1Tx and all LEDs stop moving and you can not edit the track in edit mode (but all G1Tx sounds keep playing) this is what happens for me. re 17th track: I did not understand what the loopback function was for before, I can see what it is for now and will try it out. Can this trigger seperate songs? What I want to do with it is make a bunch of patterns, make a song out of them, repeat until I have lots of songs then chain the songs with the possibilty of having them overlap like a mix, and to be able to replay all of it easily (without needing a PC to record the output!!) Ill try loopback mode and see how it works for me. re layer definitions: Its not really whats missing, but not wanting to scroll thru the menu to get to a combo which may suit as along the way the cc events are sent out to the sound modules and changes to the sounds are made which I dont want, so its more that I would prefer to define the ccs etc for layers as needed. I do like tho the idea of groups of useful layers too, so I was imagining having the best of both ie set 1 can have anything you like selected, all other sets are pre defined. This is not a big deal tho as I can just stop the seq and select a layer, but it makes it less live. 7) - 9) all understood now, thanks! Excellent if you can make the random function work!! re midi router: I wrote a bunch of things I would like it to do, then noticed your changes in the latest version do exactly that already :) re program changes: I dont know about other people but this is VERY important to me, especially to use for a whole live show. I think the best usage would be that a pattern stored the program change and sent it once when the patten was first played (or ideally a couple of ms before hand if possible). This way you could easily control the pattern usage over a song so that when a new pattern arrives its program change is sent before it plays or on the first note allowing for the re use of midi channels within a song. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look at including this as a feature in some way. Do you know about the multiple methods of program selection? If not I will point you to some good examples. Most synths are capable of using the most simple method, but there are extended ways too... Even a simple usage would extend the capabilities of the sequencer very much for me and I hope others too. I could imagine in a pattern choosing track 1, event screen, port, bank number, patch numer (for each track) as the easy way to operate this. I think usage with multiple ports without the abilty to send a program change would be very difficult if writing a long bit of music for a live performance. re morphing: Will check it out after uploading the new version and formatting the BS's. I hope these suggestions are helpful!! PS, the new experimental progression mode is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These are the sort of features I love!! <overly excited rant>Also (forgot to add this when posting initially) a midi multi delay effect which was in sync with the beat clock and adjustable would be awesome to compliment the progression (or any midi note event!) especially if coupled with a note thinner (ie to "thin" events to monophonic, or a given number of voices at once)!!! Using such an effect, particularly if interesting adjustments such as different lengths on different delays, and delay feedback were possible, particularly on chords could be very interesting!!</overly excited rant> :o (probably very difficult to program tho??). Id give away a function key happily to trade it for a midi FX menu :) Fantastic what you have done with the utility menu, makes working with tracks much easier!! All the best, John

Hi All, Ive recorded some high quality MP3 files of a couple of my fav sid tunes using this application and my SID synth. I hope that its not illegal to share these, if anyone knows that it is please tell me and Ill remove them asap. They were put through my Joemeek twin Q on the way to the sound card so there beefed up a little dynamics wise. http://www.dcerecords.dnsalias.com/Cobra.mp3 http://www.dcerecords.dnsalias.com/Green Beret.mp3 - Slight delay added in reaktor http://www.dcerecords.dnsalias.com/The Last Ninja.mp3 Enjoy!! John

Hi All, Ive noticed a few odd things about the V3 seq so far and have some questions.These are just a few to start. Note this is not in any way a criticism of what has been done so far, If I was to write a list of what is excellent about the seq it would be many times longer :) Im just hoping to be able to add to the ideas base of the development, or to be set straight on usage. 1) How do you save a song? When pressing menu, save in song mode it looks like the normal save, is it different? If this is how to save the song it didnt make sense to me. 2) When playing a patten, or song on the first bar it will play the last pattern of the song or last used pattern, then go out of time at the end of the first bar, then play normally. Is this a known bug? Maybe it is due to the memory problem Im having (next paragraph)?? 3) There seems to be several odd memory problems. When I added the memory was all tested to work, the first pattern was ok, the rest all had stuff on them and could not be used (easily) to make new patterns and also had malformed characters on the screen for the layer assignments and outputs, some other outputs not normally used could be selected but when the encoder was turned back to the normal outputs you could only select the normal output ports. I made a blank pattern up and copy it to a new location before using a new location each time now, which is more work than needed. Is there a way to erase the patterns etc quickly or reformat the bankstick manually? 4) Using groups seem to be hard to do. Usually when I select G2 T1 the indicator LED is not moving even when I select a pattern to play in G2T1. I have to copy over my "blank" pattern to use it, and sometimes this doesnt work. I have had very limited success with using more than group 1. Im sure this is a mis use on my part, so maybe someone can walk me through the process?? 5) How do you access the 17th track? I assume this is to link songs and record changes made to an overall master song? This may be the most important feature for me as I would like to be able to make a whole live show using only this sequencer for the midi source if possible. In general I would like to see the song mode expand as much as possible. One thought is to allow for more song steps for more detailed songs?? 6) How do you define your own types of layers? There are several choices, but they are still limited. Would it make more sense to allow the user to select each layer type individually as a new custom layer type at the end of the list? 7) What is the trigger button and how is it intended to be used? The screen seems to show a series of numbers which I can not seem to make do anything. 8) Random function. It would be great to have a random function to fill in the layer you are editing for notes, gates, cc etc, perhaps random or random to scale?? 9) Midi router, I think this could use a pep up so that midi inputs could be routed to outputs in a more defined way. This could almost have its own post if fully explored :) A simple router with easy use would be best in my opionion. 10) How do you set a program change to the track without wasting 2 layers? It would be awesome if each pattern could have a program change on each track which is sent the first time the pattern is played, and could be set (and would be by default) to off for people who dont want one sent? Would this be possible? I know many synths use many methods of program change, so maybe a few could be supported? Program change messages would greatly increase the usability of the seq for me. Even if they were stored in the song, or something like that?? 11) Morphing. When I try to morph one track in a pattern to another track in another pattern I get interesting results which is good, but when the value is aproaching 127 it always just plays a series of the same note on every 16th step, is this the expected behaviour? Theres lots more I want to talk about too, but this will be a good start! Thanks :) John

Hi TK, In regard to your last post on this topic I did just what you said and built a box with 8 buttons, one encoder and a 2x16 LCD and uploaded the midibox 64e application to it. I am having a lot of trouble getting it to do anything for two reasons: 1) I havent used the application before so Im not sure what to assign to the buttons for best usage 2) I have not been able to customise the asm code as the layout is not familiar to me. I have used the applications for the sequencer and sid to customise, but for this application I dont understand how to define the pin as in other applications it is SR, pin and in this one it mostly talks about just the pin? Would it be possible for you or anybody else to help by suggesting the best layout of the minimal surface (photo and fpd files attached) and to suggest how to modify the asm to suit that layout? Here is the SR/pin info for the design if it helps: First 4 buttons l->r (under screen starting with the red one) SR0, D2 SR0, D3 SR0, D4 SR0, D5 Rotary encoder SR0 D0/D1 Bottom row of buttons L->R SR0, D6 SR0, D7 SR1, D0 SR1, D1 Im happy to write the modification myself if someone can explain where I need to make the changes, and why as I would like to make a bigger one in the future. I had posted this info some time ago in another post, but no reply came from anyone. Thanks in advance! John Midibox TC.zip

Hi All, I have lots of questions / bug reports etc on V3, is there somewhere that any current difficulties etc are listed so I dont blurt out a million things that are already known? The bugs might not even be bugs, they may be how im using it. In any case, id rather look at what is known before saying what they all are and wasting everyones time :) I have read the changelog and todo section in it, the wishlist and other posts I could find about V3, so am I missing something to read? Thanks, John

Would it be possible to connect up the current banksticks to the PC somehow and read (convert) the sequences and songs from then to be edited in cubase etc, then exported back to the bankstick? I dont really want a different kind of bankstick, just the ability to read its contents on the PC and do something useful with it :)

Hi All, I was just thinking how great it would be if there was a combination of HW and SW to be able to have a bankstick reader for the PC, connected up with USB or serial which would allow you to put in your fav bankstick in whatever form you use it ie mine connects up with a 9pin dsub and to be able to extract its contents and do something useful with them. It would be great to access and visually manipulate midibox stored data on a PC, without the limitation of it needing to fit within midi... Examples would be able to convert midibox sequencer patterns and songs to midi files which you could edit in your favorite sequencer application, or to have a vitrual midibox to visually interact with your bankstick data ie sequencer application emulator on the PC with a more cubase looking layout where you can see your songs laid out visually and edit them and save the song back to the bankstick etc (as an alternative to using the UI on the midibox itself, not a replacement!). Not that the seq, or any midibox is lacking in control, but this would be a handy feature for some people with a cut back CS, or no CS, or who wanted to visualise their song layouts etc. Im sure some application could be useful for the SID and other midiboxes too. I know there are tools to do this via midi to some degree, but the output files are not able to be used on the PC, only stored except the midibox controller editor, which is great!! Im just imagining the ease of editing a song on the pc and then loading the output up on a little black box with a play button at a gig.... I guess it would be a big task, but may be one worth thinking of for any developers out there!! I guess that all of this could be done by just recording the midi events out of the sequencer, but you cant put that whole song back in when you have played with it :) Im trying to get away from using the PC/Mac with music any more, but if I had to use them, this would be a good way. All the best, John

I have fitted a new encoder, it was not an easy thing to do :'( , but the problem is now resolved with the datawheel!! Next time it will be easier as I removed the PCB it was mounted on and mounted it on the front panel for ease of changeover later should it break. Im also getting a midi in light on the LTC now too! No midi out tho, TK I put the m0 line to IIC1 m0 as you said, is there any other reason this might not work? I dont recall ever seeing the midi out light come on?? Getting there!!! Also I was wondering, when using 4 IIC boards, the midi in is only forwarded to the IIC1 output, which means my midi controller wont be able to interact with instruments on IIC2-4. I know that this kind of routing is complicated, but are there different ways to do this? I wouldnt want my midi in to go to all IICs all the time but I cetainly need it to go to more than one in total. Ideally if there was a selection in the midi menu allowing midi input to be forwarded to a particular IIC at any time that would be cool, or even better if this could also translate to the currently edited channel regardless of the port or input channel (as an option). Ie all input goes from any input channel to which ever output channel you have selected, this would be cool also if you could then have it to allow input on any channel to match the 16 tracks when they are selected (or any combination of them) in the mute menu so you could control say all 16 tracks volume from 1 midi controller regardless of the output channel. Anyway, thats just a potential usage suggestion, not a programming request :) How I like it may not suit anyone else, or be possible, or may be too much to ask to fit into this already mamoth project!!! For the time being I have pushed all of the computers in my studio aside and have the sequencer hooked up in a little rack with a K2000vx, an emu proteus, and a novation drumstation with a Kenton Control Freak SE as the controller. All the outputs are being mixed via the K2000 insert cables and mixed into the headphone outs. The sequencer is routing all the midi very nicely, and I dont have to listen to any computer fans any more!! I havent enjoyed making music this much in a long time!!! I see what you mean now I have V3 theres no going back! Ive hardly even managed to touch upon the pattern or song modes yet, but its still a beast!!!! Will there be detailed usage discussions anywhere? I have a lot of particular questions about the actual usage of the seq? I know there is a bit in the wishlist, but im still a bit lost on some things, just a few are: Group usage, ie I can use group 1 easily, but by track 5 I get no indication that the seq is playing nor can I edit the same as group 1. Usage of the 17th track for recording , what will be possible, and how to see this feature Adding program changes to a pattern or song Theres heaps more, no doubt with more use my list will grow shorter, but for now can comment on any of these? Thanks again for the help so far!! John

Hi Thorsten, I have changed the ID properly now, and it worked as you said for the IIC and upload with feedback!!! Thanks!! That is very odd in that all of the step encoders are connect up the same ie ,middle pin earth outer pins + - and they all work perfect???? I will try to swap the cables how you suggest, and if that wont fix it I will try swapping the encoder, if thats possible, I didnt make it easy for myself to swap the encoders :{ Thank you!!! John

Hi TK, Thanks for your answers. Thats ok, for most situations this and a bigger merger would do ok for me, Id like to know more about the midi router project when the documentation is out. Thats a good idea, I never thought of that! There is an atari in the house somewhere too.. :} I guess I would need to assign my F4 button in the asm as it doesnt do anything now, but I like the usage of the mute button for this, less work for me too :} Excellent, I will get it all hooked up then as soon as my power board is ready to supply the Aout and core. I decided with your advice to not use it at all. So if CV out 1 from Aout matches up for notes with gate 1 from J5 that sounds ideal. Thanks for the clarification. I did this already before uploading V3 seq application, and the IIC outs are all working , any other ideas on why it wouldnt make an upload request or provide feedback? I guess its the same problem as to why I need to go into each track and set IIC# before any notes find the output. I get the following: def [available] Int [available] IIC1 [available] IIC2 [available] IIC3 [available] IIC4 [available] Lbck [enabled] Aout [enabled] Ideally if def was IIC1 that would make more sense for me. The red LEDs come on the IICs as expected, I set the IDs as shown in the image on the IIC page. With the LTC, is the connection 1:1? I checked the earth pin on both sides and worked away from it [for pin order]. Its hard to see as the PDF orientation is hard to determine and I have mikes PCBs which are not labeled. I will check this all again tomorrow. When I swap Vpot1 with the data wheel Vpot1 controls the data change without any skipping, and the datawheel changes the vpot1s usual setting jumpy as shown in the video. I wired the encoder up so the middle pin was earth, and the outer two were in a way that turn right goes up, left down. Its from smashs shop. I hope its not the encoder as removing it from the panel would be difficult to say the least!!! As shown from my other encoder problems in the past, it may be the board not the encoder. Moving the encoders to a new board/SR/pins didnt help tho. Is this the same as what I already did for the change id application? Should I do it again? Thanks for your help!!! John

Thanks TK, looking forward to testing it so let me know when its ready and I will test it if you dont have sync devices. All the best, John

Hi All, To add a bit more detail I swapped over the datawheel encoders to a new SR but im still getting the problem of the encoder being unstable and not always doing what you want. Its only the datawheel, the others are fine. There is a video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joqISCjdlVc Showing the behaviour. I cant get any feedback from the core when uploading an application and using IIC1 or I presume any other IIC port. I am getting midi events out of each IIC as expected. The LTC module is not working at all, it is connected to IIC1. No LEDs are showing midi activity, and also no duplicate of IIC1 midi out, or the midi thru are working. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, John

Hi All, If anyone is confused about how to add sync to their seq I have put a guide in the wiki, as I am a newbie myself I encourage people to edit it to become more accurate! http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=sync_4_newbies Also I have put it in the wiki too but for readers of this post: Usage: On my TR-909 you turn it on, I always put it into pattern mode, then pattern write, then hold shift and press tempo mode twice which will activate the sync in, then you need to press stop/cont as the sequencer wont send this message for you, then press play on the seq and it should be working! It would be great if a couple of pins were made able to send start/stop/continue messages from the core, anyone know how to set this up?? This would avoid confusion and give extended use ie if you pause in the middle of a bar you can then keep going on the drum machine or TB-303. Thanks, John

Hi All, I have enabled the Aout, but im confused of its configuration. I want to have 8 channels of the CV/Gate. It used to be that the 8 cvs would connect from the Aout board, and some gates from the Aout and some from the core. Now it seems that there is 8 gates on the core, would they match up with the CVs if I only used them? The wiring seems easier to take all of the gates from the core. What would I put in for these sections of the asm? ;; use PORTA and PORTE (J5 of the core module) as trigger output ;; NEVER USE THIS TOGETHER WITH ANALOG POTS - IT WILL CAUSE A SHORT CIRCUIT! #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_J5_GATES 0 ;; additional gate triggers are available on common digital output pins of the ;; DOUT shift register chain - they are assigned to AOUT channel #16 (Note C-1, C#1, D-1, ...) ;; define the shift registers which should be used here (each provides 8 gates) ;; Note that SRs assigned to this function cannot be used as LED outputs (exclusive function) ;; Allowed values: 1-16, 0 disables the function, all other values invalid and not allowed ;; Note: depending on the shift registers you are using, you have to adjust ;; the DEFAULT_NUMBER_SR value at the top of this configuration #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_DOUT_GATE_09_16 0 #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_DOUT_GATE_17_24 0 #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_DOUT_GATE_25_31 0 #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_DOUT_GATE_32_39 0 #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_DOUT_GATE_40_47 0 #define DEFAULT_ENABLE_DOUT_GATE_48_55 0 ;; if set to 1, the DOUT "gates" will send 1mS pulses ;; useful for analog drums #define DEFAULT_DOUT_1MS_TRIGGER 0 I dont need any drum triggers - they wont fit on the rear panel :} Also is there a way to set up the default port in track event menu? Currently it goes to the default port which must be the midi out on the core I guess? I need to manually tell it to use IIC1. Also my IIC boards are not putting any midi out. I will need to check the wires before I get too worried! When connecting up the bankstick from the switch I mentioned it says something about it being defined as a 32K device, is that normal? Seems like an error message?? Also my LTC module doesnt seem to be working either, no lights and no midi. Im using it to duplicate IIC port 1 and provide a THRU and in/out lights. Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance! John

Hi All, So far so good, the 4 IIC modules are working and passed the loopback test, I have also managed to upload the new V3 sequencer application without any problems so far!! I was hoping that my problem with the data wheel being a bit unstable would go away, but it has not, I may try moving it to another SR to see what happens :} Ive also now fit all of the IIC midi outs on the rear, so I have now 7 midi jacks inc the LTC clone out and thru, and the sync out! When you combine that with 8 CV outs and 8 gate outs, thats a lot of connections, what a machine! TK you are a genius, this box fills the roles of many boxes!!!! On another good note I can now use the banksticks so I have access to the pattern and song modes for the first time ever!!! Also, out of the 50+ 24LC256 chips I have I tested each one to get rid of any duds, turns out 8 were fried and now live in the bin, all the rest were good so Im making a few external boxes with 8 banksticks each and have a switch on the rear panel to choose int/ext. This is actually working! Using the same 9 pin Dsub as the bankstick I've forwarded on a VS and 4 pins to the Din board and I may make an external remote for channel group selections ie 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16 via 4 buttons - would use leds too but my dout is full and case is full. These connections can pass thru the external bankstick box to another Dsub which can connect up the remote box. This way the ram and remote box can be connected in any order without any problems on the rear Dsub. Is this nessecary or can this selection be made in the menu?? All the wires are connected I just have to make the remote box now, but I will only do it if its the only option. I havent made any actual use of the seq yet as its still in bits on the bench, but Im looking forward to it! All the best, John

Extra shots

Hi all, Just in case anyone is interested, I have replaced the core with a V4 core from smash and it solved the memory problem instantly. All of the front panel is working 100% but the data wheel is a bit iffy in regard to moving evenly and always in the right direction, but step 10 & 14 work fine now. I am upgrading the sequencer to V3 to see what its all about. I have just built up 4 x IIC boards, added the new core, the 8 chip bankstick and am drilling out the back panel today to accomodate the connections from the IIC's which Im still a bit confused about but im assuming that there will be at least 1 new midi out for each board, i just dont know if using the midi out from the core will be possible too?? Im thinking I will need 7 midi jacks on the back being in to core x 1, out from each IIC x 4, IIC 1 out duplication via LTC x 1, and midi thru from IIC 1 x 1 = 7. I have 4 already so just need to make room for 3 more and now also the 4 extra gate outs from the core to support the Aout. Im a little confused about this too, would you use the gate outs from the core only or mix with the ones from the Aout? I guess I only need 8 to match the 8 CV outs from the Aout so extras arent required as I dont have room :} Also, how are others approaching the 4 channel group buttons? I dont want to drill some messy holes into the front panel, and I dont think they would fit anyway, I dont know where to put these new buttons! Heres a couple of shots of the progress. Thanks, John

Thanks for all of your comments! With the datawheel I do have a matching datawheel knob but I liked this one better. With the LEDs I would have liked green, but I couldnt find them in ultra bright, which all of these are. With the TR-909, sorry to upset you all :} I was actually thinking of selling it, but at the moment I cant bring myself to do it. It is in perfect condition literally and comes with the original box w/ original cast foam etc, manal, original boxed memory cart inc instructions. If I do ever sell it I will put the link on the forum I promise and give midiboxers the opportunity to buy it if they want. All the best, John