DavidBanner

next question(s): How much room do I need to leave between boards when I am arranging them for a production run? I.e. multiple boards on 1 sheet and the board house cut them down....

or you could just get yourself a set of ears! it only takes a few secs cueing in the cans to hear if something is out of key....

my pleasure! glad I'm helping..... yes - you got it! If you are using smashTV boards you don't need to worry, everything is connected to the ground where it needs to be and you'll see the Vs point on the various J connectors. one bit of advice, don't mix and match digital and analoge ins - i..e don't wire a DINX4's ground to an AINX4 ground....

yup, sure is lots in fact, do a search and you will find....

have a look at http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_core_v3.pdf The Vs (ground) is connected from Pin 2 of the Voltage Regulator to J2 and the rest of the ground points will run back to that. They still do, if you are building a full blown studio then this is probably the most important 1st step, I've seen people rebuild thier studios cause they missed this step. And ask SmashTV about Radio Towers spitting out volts to ground he knows all about that 1st hand....

I need silkscreen work done too! any suggestions most welcome

apart from the cost factor, those buttons are latching, you need momentary for midibox stuff....

welcome to the board! a little word to the wise if I may: it's all here in ucapps - what you are NOT going to get is what you asked for! don't get me wrong, the info is here, but no-one is gonna serve it to you on a silver platter - to do so, would be to rob you of much knowledge and fun what you will get is help with specific implimentation issues and tech problems. I had the EXACT same questions when I first found this place (ableton, control, I followed a link from a Sasha's maven google), but I did the homework.... brd's, schematics - all here, except for the control layers - that's down to you. I'll give you as much help as I can and where my knowledge runs out there are some seriously clued up ppl here to help you - just give me/us the reasons to help you.... this place is all about putting the work in, TK set this place up to push ppl to learn more about electronics than they ever knew they could and that ethos is defended with a passion, your post (albeit innocently on your part I'm sure) could be seen as lazy, spend the next few weeks reading everything on the site and the forums and ask questions of things that are confusing you. It's normal to get a brain melt down (well for me it was normal) from info overload, stick with it and you'll find yourself knowing how to do things you never dreamed you would be even a week ago ;)

that's not a bad idea! shall we set up a new page on the WIKI?

LMFAO - nice one Wilba

Including the bit where the Sink accused SD of filting with Optmus Prime?

and for anyone who doesn't know and love SD - he's a lovely guy but you wouldn't leave him alone with your sink

mmmmm, low bit rate drums - very very nice! my favourite is the snare, I've got at least 3 tracks I'd use that on right now.... nice work TK!

golden tips there Seppoman, thank you very much sir!

it is more likely your college education is the culprit ;) either that or you're human like the rest of us

the "clicky sound" buttons are called Tact Switches (for tactile), which are the ones Halluciongen used I'll be very surprised if you find any buttons with the same mounting holes as an encoder, but I think you mean the height right? check the datasheets for the buttons, they'll give you all the info you need most of the nice led buttons are PCB mount, so you'll need to do a PCB or use veroboard if you wanna go down that path. good luck getting your case as thin as that, it'll be a challenge. I've gone for a much thicker case design to make life easier

c is what you seek! it's easy to pick up, especially as there are so many C apps to cut, paste and hack

the only way to get the info you need is to order 1 of each, check 'em out and then you'll see and feel if it is what you are after. that said, I've ordered a lot of their buttons (in fact 1 or more of every button, switch and led that I liked the look of), so if you link me a specific button I can give you a quick run down on how it is if I got one...

I follow that man's work like a disciple! Have been looking at smash's pcbs and diagrams on his site and viewing TK's .brd files and studing, he does beautiful work. I've been studying my WilbaBeast pcbs too - I thought they were lovely when I first got them but moving to Eagle has really shown me what a work of art they really are! The place I'm going to order from is http://www.olimex.com/pcb/index.html, for some reason I thought I'd read 2 sides were 2 X the cost, but on checking you are so right, double sided is the way forward for sure. That said I do need to design a few boards that only need single sides, very simple LED holder PCBs, hence all the questions. woo hoo!! result! ahh ha! fantastic, one less thing to have to go back and do on all the new components I've added to the library. thanks so much for your help, answers and tips like the above are going to mean so many less slip ups on my 1st run. I think I'm getting my head round eagle, now it's time to incorporate all the variables I'm getting from the board house, so much info to take on board it's a bit daunting at first but i'm loving it! one more question if I may: when I'm trying to edit library components and I try to add a trace I get a message saying "the package is in use". I've worked out that it's quick enough to copy the package and schematic to a new library, but am I missing something that allows me to edit the pads?

hey cimo, yeah, I came to the conclusion that the bottom layer was the one to be working on with the tracks while I was trying to get to sleep. just to confirm, if I'm doing a 1 sided job, tracks bottom, silkscreen top on top right? And yes, totally hooked on Eagle, to the point where I couldn't sleep last night for Eagle info running around my fragile little mind...

cimo - would love to see them, I've done mine own so I wanna compare and see if I can pick up some tips :) seppoman - i've been working all day with Eagle and I'm complete convert now! can you please confirm that I'm on the right track with these things I've worked out: a) you've gotta add the drills to all pads in the library files when you make a new component (for the board house) b) when working on single side PCBs use the top layer only c) on single sided PCBs the board house will print the silkscreen layer on the "top" layer (i.e. where the tracks are)?? question: D) how does the solder mask work? do you have to add it manually?

I checked Wilba's control PCB and he's done the round holes.... so round hole it is....

another question - please consider smashTV's encoders as a ref point: http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/images/encspecs17.gif the pins on the sides to hold the encoder to the PCB require a rectangular hole - can I just add a rectangle to the milling layer for these? if so, will most board houses do this without charging more on top?

cheers Cimo - I just read that about 1/2 hr b4 you posted - I'm an Eagle info sponge at the moment

yeah, I think it's by Scatterbrain....