toneburst

Any UK-based MIDIBoxers have a use for this? In pretty good condition. I've grabbed the SID out of it, and the board is on its way to landfill, so this is literally just the case. Might be handy to someone wanting a housing for a MIDIBox project, or just something to practice their DIY modelling skills on. I prefer the older Mk.I boxes, but someone out there might need one of the newer, larger enclosures. It's pretty light, so shouldn't cost much to post. Also, I'd just like to take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year, and a successful 2007! Cheers guys! Alex http://www.toneburst.net

How are you finding the S950 Mr modnaR? I have fond memories of the S950's older brother, the S900. First sampler I ever used... ah.. happy times.... Surprisingly nice sound considering it's only 12-bit, as far as I remember. And you can reduce the sample-rate right down for really nice digital grunge. I have heard that the displays on the old Akais are prone to failure thought, so you're right to think about replacing it. Alex http://www.toneburst.net

7?! For £25?! How'd you manage that then? What's the P&P damage? They're heavy beasts... Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Very impressive! I like the 2-tone look too. Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Nice job! What did you use to cut out the blanking plates Sasa? Alex http://www.toneburst.net

That's true about inkjets. Laser printers tend to use a halftone screen process. The dot density remains constant, and is fixed to a strict grid, but the diameter of the dots is varied. Laser printers are much more precise that inkjets, which tend to spray dots around a bit randomly (albeit very small dots, over a very small area). Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Weird... they'd essentially have to print a white 'base coat' then print colours on top, in that case, so they'd need white toner. Printers work by laying down dots of coloured ink at varying sizes, so unless they're printing one or more of the colours at maximum dot-size (so the dots overlap), the ground they're printed on is always going to show through. Having said that, some printers are obviously capable of printing onto coloured materials- I'm thinking of coloured prints onto fabrics, for example. But this is done using a silk-screen or similar process, and I'm pretty sure they have to print a white base first if they want to have graduated tone in the print. All conjecture, of course, but it sounds convincing, doesn't it... ;) Alex http://www.toneburst.net Incidentally, shameless self-promotion, I know, but check out my website; I've added a nice little QuickTime video of the kind of thing I'm intending to do at my live gig in January. :)

Printing light grey isn't going to work. Laser printers don't use white toner (though it may be possible to get specialist white cartridges for them), so to print light grey they rely on the paper being white, and print very small dots of black toner to give the effect of a light grey. On a black background, unofrtunately, you'll get nothing. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news :( Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Hiya John, sorry to hear about your accident. The new case looks good though. I'm impressed you did all the drilling yourself- must have taked forever! I'm planning to drill my own single SID front panel, but it's only a Step A, so there's not much to do. Plus it's a plastic case, so should be much easier. Sadly, I don't have much time to spend on MIDIBox stuff at the moment, as I have a few other little projects on my plate at the moment. I'd really like to get the 'SID Uno' done before the end of the year though. Anyway, I hope you get your new synth working again. Cheers, Alex http://www.toneburst.net

make that a year Mr modnaR (in my case, anyway). ;) Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Thanks for the kind words DavidBanner! Actually, I'm also suffering from a lack of time to devote to electronic tinkering at the moment, as I'm supposed to be preparing for a gig in the New Year (my first for years). I'm hoping to use audio (from Ableton Live) and video (from Arkaos on a 2nd laptop, triggered from Live), so there's a lot to prepare.... Alex http://www.toneburst.net

'was'.... I haven't finished yet.......... Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Oh, really? :( I was just thinking: I've been working on this project on-and-off for months now. I must be one of the least sucessful MBHP builders out there, in terms of time spent vs. results achieved. I mean, I'm so far managed to kill 1 Core board, 2 LCDs and a PIC, and still haven't even made the 'Step A' interface or got my single SID synth in a box..... Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Hiya, think it needs a bit more than 40V- says 100V in the datasheet for the display I have. I've just wired the data terminals up anyway, and it works fine. Perfectly readable without a backlight in 'normal light' conditions. Helped me work out that I did indeed trash one of my PICs, when I reversed the 14 and 5V to the Optimised PSU. It now just sits there and gets very hot. Fortunately, my other PIC is fine, so at least I have one working Core/SID combo. This is getting expensive..... Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Hiya, looks like my cheap display doesn't have a builtin inverter. I tried connecting a battery, then a 5V wallwart PSU and nothing happened. Then I Googled the name of the EL driver mentioned in the datasheet (NEC NEL-D32-46) and found a forum thread about the display. The consensus was that the NEC NEL-D32-46 is long extinct, but that I'd definitely need some sort of external inverter to generate 100V at 400Mz to kick the backlight into action. Inverters seem to be about £20 new so unless I can scavenge one from somewhere I'll live with the display being unilluminated for the moment, I think. Looks like they're relatively large components too (basically a largish capacitor I think- like the ones used to kick-start fluorescent tubes + some kind of timer make the current alternate), so it should be easy to tell if an EL-lit LCD module has one builtin. Like PLED displays, the EL film also suffers from having a limited lifespan, apparently. Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Good plan Mr M! Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Blue gel film in front of it maybe? Worth a try. See if you can track down a lighting company and get them to send you a pack of coloured lighting gel samples then try different colours in front of the display. Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Mornin'! I'm not sure. It's not entirely clear in the docs, but looking at the board, there doesn't seem to be anything obvious on the underside of the PCB between the backlight terminals and the EL sheet. There could be something on the top though, under the metal LCD housing. The only thing you can see on the bottom of the board are a few surface-mount bits connected to the data terminals at the other end, and the logic ICs. Am I likely to damage it if I just try just connected the 5V from the Core to the EL terminals? If I blow the backlight it's no great tragedy, as long as it doesn't take out the LCD display itself.... Alex http://www.toneburst.net

My replacement rectifier order just arrived- apparently it had been delivered to the wrong place... I now have 5 shiny new ones, so no need to use 4 diodes. Now to desolder the broken one. My SmashTV Core board is such a mess, what with all the stuff I've desoldered and resoldered! Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Hiya Mr modnaR! How's it goin'? Err... it may have, actually. I've downloaded the datasheet from http://www.datasheet.in/datasheet-html/L/M/0/LM032L_Renesas.pdf.html and it it does appear to have terminals for the backlight on it. There's mention of a 'power-supply for EL' on page 2 which seems to run off 5V. I can't work out if it's saying there's one fitted already, or if you need an extra one. Whatd'ya think? Alex

Hi John! Good advice! I've just picked up 2 new displays on eBay- one Optrex 2x20 with an LED backlight and a really cheap EL-lit 2x20 model which cost me £4.50 inc. P&P. I know I won't be able to use the backlight, but I'm not worried really, as I'm pretty sure I'll be able to see enough for testing purposes without it. Cheers mate! It just occured to me- it's not the regulator, but the rectifier that I think I trashed on my Core module. That doesn't usually get hot, but this time it did, so I'm guessing it's dead. My order for a replacement still hasn't turned up :( Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Hiya Cool. Might have to invest in one of those then. I've just bought a really cheap EL-backlight display for testing. Having trashed 2 more expensive LCDs recently, I thought it might be an idea to get a really cheap, expendable one until I know everything is working OK. I know the backlight won't work, but I should still be able to see well enough for testing. It was £4 from an eBay shop. Cheers, Alex http://www.toneburst.net

Would this display be suitable for connection to a MBHP Core module? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fantastic-20x2-character-high-quality-OLED-LCD-module_W0QQitemZ230052780628QQihZ013QQcategoryZ26206QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem Alex http://www.toneburst.net

I just got a quote for laser-cutting the panels for the top from 0.5mm PETG plastic. £70! I won't be doing that then (at least not with that company)! I'd still have to drill all the holes in the bottom sheet of acrylic too, so I think it would be better just to try to get the whole thing machined from one piece by someone like Schaeffer or Micheal's company. Alex http://www.toneburst.net

I hadn't thought to test that. I'll check when I get home. Don't think so.... I actually have a potentially more serious issue now though, so I can't test this just at the moment. The night before last I accidentally reversed the 14 and 5V connections from the DIN socket connected to the C64 PSU and sent 14V to the Core board, trashing my 2nd LCD, the voltage regulator (it DID get hot that time- verrrry hot), and maybe my PIC too. :( I have a new regulator and LCD on order now, so I'm waiting until they arrive now before I move on to making the DIN1X board. I'm desperately hoping that when I replace the blown regulator and LCD, everything else will still work. No idea how realistic that is though... Alex http://www.toneburst.net