RoyalScam

OK Boxers! I won't even pretend that I understand micro controllers at this point, but I'm pretty sure that this may be the next big thing since the lighted push button switch. I somehow stumbled onto this doc and thought that someone here with better chops than I might find this as fascinating as I did. I didn't know that an LED in it's reversed biased state can actually be used as a photodiode, according to this doc a device can be made using the LED as both an indicator and input device. I believe that this is being used in this video; http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6431755676396318073 And the paper describing the circuit is here; http://www.merl.com/reports/docs/TR2003-35.pdf Whaddya think, Sirs? RoyalScam

I received my two PCBs and chips in SW Florida today, just in time for the hurricane. I won't be playing with my toys for a little while anyway. Thanks! Scam

Howdy! I'm glad to see you've solved the problem. But after reading this post I just had to add my .02; I can't speak to the software side of the issue, but anytime I have this type of problem, the first thing I do is clean and lube the pots. ( CAIG works well ). Also the low line voltage, perhaps, but I was thinking more along the lines of not enough current rating on the transformer. When I test my projects, I am lucky enough to have a 12 volt 36 amp power supply ( I used to do a lot of car audio repair) Before finalizing my design I measure the current load of my new project, and then design the power supply ( transformer and DC supply ) with a little overhead. Scam

I've downloaded kiCAD because of this thread. I've given up learning EAGLE too many times now, perhaps I'll have better luck here. I hate to be one of those guys, who jumps into a forum with no skills and wants to add a feature as in "design by committee", but I have to ask. I'm currently building a MIDIBOX FM and thought it'd be nice to have some holes(pads) down the side of the pic, so that the interconnects could be on top of the board (through hole ) as opposed to soldering directly to the IC socket pins. Even if the core were not to be used with the MB FM the holes wouldn't need to be drilled. Thanks for all this GREAT work. Scam

I really like this one a lot! There are many here who use this equipment professionally, I, unfortunately am not one. I build simply for the joy of the build and if I can make some music with these things so much the better. That being said, I believe you can get no better compliment than to say it looks like a toy because we sure do enjoy playing with them! It remind me of those 300 in 1 Electronic Experimenter's Labs so many of us had when we were kids. Great Job! and have LOTS of fun with it! RoyalScam

Got my PCB's today in Southwest Florida, and they are a thing of beauty! Thanks Ultra! Scam

A great big THANK YOU to Wilba! The chips and caps arrived today, I just don't know how he does it, the man is a machine. Thanks RoyalScam

I hate to ask this, and I really don't mean to offend, but is the synth plugged into an amplifier, or have you just connected speakers to the outputs? RoyalScam

I agree with smash, if r1 and r2 are supposed to be bleeder resistors then they would need to be at the output of the power supply.(worst case 13v/3000ohms=.0043A or .056W I don't think the resistors blew). But there's some other problems. The power transformer outputs 9 vac and 5Vac at the two secondaries. That'll be about 12.6 Volts and 7 volts after the rectifiers. (it's been awhile so correct me someone if I'm wrong) Full wave bridge rectification is the ac x 1.414. also in your circuit as shown above, you have a 9 volt regulator supplied with a 7 volt source, and a 5 volt regulator supplied with 12 volts, switch the secondaries or the regulators. Also the way the two supplies are built, they are separate entities, you have a ground wire connecting to both supplies via the led, pick one side or the other not both, although I don't think this would cause a problem. More than likely you've gotten your gnds and B+ crossed somewhere and perhaps shorted the supplys' outputs or wired them in series. My buddy Willy once told me... "Hey go for it, Chicks dig the sparks!" Have Fun! RoyalScam

Hi All! I've been reading about the MIDIBox project for some time and have been fascinated with the whole project. It's been close to 15 years since I've actually built anything electronic, and I decided to see if I still had the chops, so to speak. Late one evening, two weeks ago, I realized the I had just about everything I needed to complete the PIC Burner, so it was time to get off my backside and see what I could do. First I created a PC board using the toner transfer method, etched and drilled it(no. 60 bit was too large, 1/32 would have been better), fixed all my bad traces assembled and tested, it worked! I guess I'm not so out of the game as I thouhgt. While waiting for a shipment of PICs and a few other goodies from Mouser I bulit an OptimizedPSU and set about etching a Core and SID module. This time around using a 1/32 bit, and a hotter iron for the toner transfer. My boards were looking a lot better. When the PICs arrived I popped one in the burner and it worked first time out of the box! I then set about to put the bootstrap on all my PICs, just becaused I could, and it failed each time. Two days of head scratching until I finally tried my main PC. Success each time! The PIC Burner and my very old compaq laptop just don't like each other. Now for the Core. Built with no display programmed via MIOSStudio, wonderfully. Now for the display.....that was three days. You see, I don't really get started until about 10pm I get off work at 8:30 to 9 and I need some time to decompress. So it's usually about 2am when I'm finishing up with the soldering iron. You really should be in a fresher state of mind when doing these things, I must've gotten that darned LCD wired backwards 4 times. Current score 1 PIC Burner 1 PSU 1 CORE module 1 LCD display. Now for the SID. I completed the SID module last night, DL'd MIDIBox SID sucessfully and no sound. So, what to do? Tonight I DL'd the SID interconnection test, realized my mistake and fixed it(two wires in the wrong position on SID J2), loaded the test tone app, and BEEP! I was so happy. I've now been amusing myself with the MIDIBox SID app and a MIDI Keyboard controller. Also, I've been playing with the SIDPlayer app, and JSynthLib! Too much fun! It should be noted that MIOSStudio and my MIDI Keyboard controller do not have a fine enough resolution for the modulation wheel, I used MIDIox, that worked very well. I can't thank you enough, my passion for electronics is back, and I can't wait to get started on all the other projects in my head. For now though, it'll be a control surface perhaps 4 SIDs, I have them, but I may make two units for my nephews for thier Christmas presents this year, we'll see. Also a MIDIMon for me, And I just scored the chips for a MIDIBox FM! There's no stopping me now! I'll be ordering up a bunch of Banksticks as well. The coolest bit, when you want to change the device, just fire up MIOSStudio and change the app, how cool is that! TK you're the best!

You're absolutley right! Somehow I forgot to paste the link, http://vulcan.ece.ucsb.edu/ece189/tutorials.html Same as your second link, although I like the first one better. I'll try cutting the Toner sheets as you said, sounds like just the ticket for a small project. Thanks and Sorry, sometimes I type faster that I think. RoyalScam

I was experimenting with Eagle and GiMP today to see if I could print a whole page of board layouts, so that I could save some toner transfer paper. I am going to redo this so that I could print all the board layouts for one project on one sheet. Tell me what you think. http://www.upload2.net/download2/Z3QKdo9lDjnKhjd/MBHP_CORE_V2_FULL_PAGE_REVERSE.zip.html Regards Royal Scam

First time post, long time reader. I was recently looking for info on how to print multple copies of PC boards on one sheet of paper using Eagle. No luck there, I had to export the board as .bmp and use the GiMP to recreate the page I wanted. But during my search I found these tutorials and they did help me understand Eagle a little better, perhaps they'll help you as well. Enjoy! Royal Scam