Digineural

I sent you a pm. Thanks, Dan

Your right, I read the spec after the last post and it does use PWM to control the force.

I ended up grabbing 5 samples of the Burr-Brown DRV101 SMD variations and 5 DRV102 from TI. Using a schematic in the spec sheet and some inspiration from MIT I built a small board for my samples. A single driver dev board and a 4x board to share voltage supplys. I dont think I'm going to have a problem triggering the solenoids but I want to make them velocity sensitive as well. For that, I think I'm going to have to regulate the voltage supplied to the solenoid using a vpot. But I dont know yet so I'm digging around for research. I throught about the beaters using an striker but theres too much mechanics involved for me to reasonably feel comfortable doing on my limited budget (translates to "married"). I really just want to mount the solenoid via a bracket to the drum head and position accordingly. I think I'll end up using the core to read MIDI messages and proxy controls to the driver chips and vpots (again not sure here). I'll probably start testing within the next week or two. Thanks for the input. Any help is grealty appreciated.

I'm not sure if any of you have seen this before but this is sick. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Any idea as to what type of solenoids these are? I have got to have one of these setups at least for an 8 piece kit.

I actually use a line 6 pod and found that when switching to DSP on a pc that there is some unwanted latency. Maybe its my sound card but I prefer direct hardware. But if you do try this out, let me know how it goes. I'd like to minimize my rig as much as possible.

Nice find. :) I've been tooling around with using the QT511 from Quantum Research for an encoder but I'll have to make some MIOS changes to get it to work. Right now I'm using my arduino to see all that it offers.

If you really want good traces its best to go with a 600dpi minimum. Anything less will compromise the integrity of the board design. Even in my experience with 600dpi there are times I wish I had better resolution. When the traces melt together I usually score the traces/pads with a hobby knife. If you can, expand your design or try using jumpers to get to tight spots. Its not a preference but thats just the way it is sometimes. I also bought a Brother HL-2040 just for PCB printing which isn't the best in terms of toner density but does its job and for $90US, I can't complain. Good luck

I agree this is a great idea. :D I'm actually looking to do some of this myself for these 10k slide pots and those 2X20 BG Micro LCDs. Not a huge ordeal but its really convenient when your planning the orientation of the boards and you want to cram a lot into a small front panel.

You're right Sasha, its not a good idea. ;D I just got sick of burning my hands with desoldering wick and getting trashed from the fumes. The closer you get the board edge to the actual part, the more it will feel like a breakout board. I usually glue the board down to mouse pad material of the same shape to isolate the bottom and connect right to the legs if possible.

I've used this technique also on a number of projects but it really depends on isolation and the number of layers. Typically, I can get way with old RS232, PSU and VReg sections. If I need to isolate an SMD part, I just take the board over to my belt sander and sand the board off the part. Pretty effective for SMD vregs and resistor arrays.

I decided I am going to use the same core as a portable brick with female sockets like the arduino and bootload from the PC. Should have been the obvious move from the begining. And it wasn't really about the money, I just dont have the time to keep soldering cores, I have a cnc machine and arcade that are collecting dust.

Ok, shoot me down. It should give me an excuse to learn new things and you cant put a price on that ... unless your an overpriced university. ;) I'll get back to you guys soon with something working.

I'm thought of something I might try if anyone is interested as well. Since I only use one MIDIBox at any given time, I thought that it would be cool to build a backplane for the CORE and bootload settings from a compact flash card depending on the system I intend to use. This way I would only need 1 core for my many boxes and usually 1 outlet. There are some obvious MIOS changes and a new mcu required to manage the hardware bootload so I think I'll start with a small hardware bootloader. I know this is a long shot but has anyone tried integrating CompactFlash or SanDisk with their box?

That would be http://www.pulsar.gs/PCB/a_Pages/1_Menu/overview.html. I bought the same laminator (toner applicator) as a dual purpose gift for my wife ;) and have yet to try it out.

I just got my SID frontpanel in for this enclosure two days ago. I also got two of these cases for free when I asked for one. I guess that justifies me starting another MB project when I finish with my SID.

I thought I saw this in the forums before ... http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=3495.0

This might be a good place to start. At least you could get to learn the coding side without touching too much hardware http://www.booyaka.com/~oncken/ http://www.harmony-central.com/Computer/Programming/ Thats a little clue ;) You might want to start with assembler first or at least C/C++. Part of the problem with marrying DSP to the MB projects is complexity. I think once you get a good idea of how the ICs work and how to interface them programmatically with the MIOS, you may be able to then create a DSP module for the MB project. You may also notice audio quality changes when going to DSP. Although DSP quality is getting better, there is nothing like pure analog tone. I greatly support this idea. :D I think this expansion is in line with TKs vision (correct me if I'm wrong) and I'm all for it ... I'll try to look more into it and see how I can help. My wife is going to kill me ...

I never tried printing to a PDF from eagle. I use deskPDF @ work and it ususally prints to scale. Assuming I set the margins not to autofit. I'm buying large PCBs now so I export to image first and arrange all the patterns in Adobe Photoshop first so that I can maximize the number of prints per board. The best way to test your board sizing is to print a copy and try to align something like a DIP socket in the holes before you etch.

It looks like this has been explained but to further specify. The light blue box is the ground plane of the bottom board. Its not required but help save some FeCl (or whatever else you use) during the etching process. If you want to delete the ground plane, select delete and click the ground plane border. This will create a triangle that you can again click on a line and the GP will dissappear. Here is a process I use before I print to get optimal results as mentioned here as well when I print. Turn off all the other layers. In the upper left corner of the There is a button that has 3 colored squares overlapping it. Click it and make sure only the following are selected: * Bottom * Pads * Vias * Document - i recommend changing the with to 10 so that it doesnt touch any traces, although in most cases its not necessary. Then click the RATSNEST button (it looks like an X with dots). This will show the ground plane. If you dont have a ground plane and want one, click on the polygon, select the layer it is for (usually bottom or top) and set the isolate to around 24 or 32. Then draw the box around the area you want to create a ground plane for. To view the top only, deselect bottom and select top. Print with the options SOLID and BLACK selected. You should print the top in reverse (mirror). I going to suggest you use the PAD and VIAS layers. They're quite necessary during soldering and the copper hole left after the etch will make it easier to drill. BTW I dont agree with using pirated versions, but if you do have one you already figured out you cant use it to save or print. Also, exporting to the clipboard gives you lines in your image; however, you can export the displayed layers to an image in 300 or 600 dpi just fine. I admit I did use this for a time to get bigger boards done. But now that I am a professional programmer, irony kicked in and I've gone legit. ;) Good Luck ;D

Turn off all the other layers. In the upper left corner of the There is a button that has 3 colored squares overlapping it. Click it and make sure only the following are selected: Bottom Pads Vias Document To view the top only, deselect bottom and select top. Print with the options SOLID and BLACK selected. You should print the top in reverse (mirror). Good Luck

I got a spare one but I just stripped all the parts a few days ago so all I would be able to send is the bare case and the bezel for the IO and power. The power led is still attached. I'd be more willing to trade for it. PM me

I'll take a stab at it when I get home from work. Thanks

I'm having a wee bit of trouble with the encoders still. :-\ My current MB64e (really 16 encoders) is only semi functional as I was able to get only the menu bottons working on the first DINX4 board. Shift registers 2-4 have nothing connected yet. On the second DINX4, I have 16 encoders from SmashTV. I have tried various encoder defines and I cant get them to work at all. I double checked my boards and the voltages and connections are ok. My current setup is: [pre] MIOS_ENC_PIN_TABLE ;; encoders 1-16 ;; SR Pin Mode ENC_ENTRY 5, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 1 ENC_ENTRY 5, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 2 ENC_ENTRY 5, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 3 ENC_ENTRY 5, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 4 ENC_ENTRY 6, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 5 ENC_ENTRY 6, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 6 ENC_ENTRY 6, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 7 ENC_ENTRY 6, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 8 ENC_ENTRY 7, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 9 ENC_ENTRY 7, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 10 ENC_ENTRY 7, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 11 ENC_ENTRY 7, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 12 ENC_ENTRY 8, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 13 ENC_ENTRY 8, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 14 ENC_ENTRY 8, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 15 ENC_ENTRY 8, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_DETENTED2 ; V-Pot 16 [/pre] Is there something else that I need to do to get them to work?

This is a rather interesting concept. I recently build a sound booth in the back of a local facility and ran a snake to the front where the speakers were and ended up spending $500(US) for the booth and snake alone. This methodolgy could have saved a ton of money considering the few rack components I was using. On that note. Do you plan on MIDIfying any other rack components other than the preamps? It would be rather interesting to use motorized pots or encoders to remotely control guitar amps, pedals, etc as well ... assuming the individual units have enough space. UltraVNC may be too slow for realtime and the wireless network will make it work even slower. Then again, it may not be noticable unless your a realtime truest. I think there would be some noticable latency though when routing audio strickly through a PC. You may want to consider a server or something high performance. Either way, I'd be rather interested in your results.

I'm having a little difficulty understanding the importance of some defines in the the MB64e application I understand that the following is setting shift registers 5-8 to be used for encoders 1-16. [pre]MIOS_ENC_PIN_TABLE ;; encoders 1-16 ;; SR Pin Mode ENC_ENTRY 5, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 1 ENC_ENTRY 5, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 2 ENC_ENTRY 5, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 3 ENC_ENTRY 5, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 4 ENC_ENTRY 6, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 5 ENC_ENTRY 6, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 6 ENC_ENTRY 6, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 7 ENC_ENTRY 6, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 8 ENC_ENTRY 7, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 9 ENC_ENTRY 7, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 10 ENC_ENTRY 7, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 11 ENC_ENTRY 7, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 12 ENC_ENTRY 8, 0, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 13 ENC_ENTRY 8, 2, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 14 ENC_ENTRY 8, 4, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 15 ENC_ENTRY 8, 6, MIOS_ENC_MODE_NON_DETENTED ; V-Pot 16[/pre] However I'm not quite sure what is being defined here [pre]#define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_01_08 2 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_09_16 3 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_17_24 1 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_25_32 4 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_33_40 8 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_41_48 10 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_49_56 11 #define DEFAULT_DIN_SR_PIN_57_64 12[/pre] Should this defined before the encoders or can this be left out? Please Advise Dan