cchocjr

Awesome! I just got the last major bug worked out of mine, thanks to the help of this forum (TK, especially). This is an amazing project to be a part of! Best of luck, Charles

There IS a dot on the array, and I made sure to put all of them in---completely the WRONG F###ING WAY! I switched the two resistor networks associated with the shift register in question (because taking the networks out was a total, self-inflicted, pain-in-the-ass), and now it works like a charm! I hadn't even noticed those dots! My [limited] experience with resistors had me thinking that, since these networks had the word "resistor" in them, that, like resistors, it didn't really matter how you put them in. I stand corrected. Thanks Steve and TK so much for your help. This synth sounds like a dream, TK! You've done the weirdo-electronic-musician community a service that we can never repay! Now its time to start thinking about a stereo MB_SID! :) Thanks again, really. You have no obligation to help me at all, and yet you help more than many commerical synth companies every do. You rock...so hard! Charles

With the shift register out, I get 5V from both the Select#5 and the Menu buttons normally, and 0V when I press each one down. Charles

Doh! No, I meant the PIC. Those (accurate) measurements were when the PIC was out, not the shift register. I'll try that. HOWEVER, I've already swapped the shift register out twice. Charles

With the PIC out, I get 5V on both of the problem D inputs. So is my PIC bad, perhaps? ccjr

Okay. The 'Select #5' and 'Menu' button DIN connections are at ~3.3V when not pressed, and they go down to ~ 0V when pressed. Hmmmm. Charles

Steve, I'm using Smash's Core_R4 and Smash's Din_R3. I'm using Control Surface A w/ rotary encoder. The 6 buttons and 1 rotary encoder are all hooked up to J3. Encoder is on D0 and D1; Menu is on D2; Select 5 through 1 are on D3 through D7, respectively. They are all connected to J3, Vs. TK, I'll try to use the MIDIO128 app to make sure that everything is square. Thanks all, Charles

Sure, no problem. They should be attached. I haven't *intentionally* done any custom stuff to MIOS or the sid app, but something weird could have happened. Thanks, Charles cs_menu_io_tables.inc mios_tables.inc cs_menu_io_tables.inc mios_tables.inc

Steve, The strange thing is that, aside from the Select 5 button's behavior, my synth is working just fine. I get the tone from the SID when it detects the bankstick, I did the interconnection test earlier on--troubleshooting a different problem. I'm pretty convinced that the error is located in the path between the core and the din module, I just can't seem to locate it. I'll keep looking, Thanks Steve and TK for your feedback, Charles

Okay. Put in my first bankstick--the formatting process executed perfectly. While I was soldering the connection for the bankstick, I double checked my soldering between the DIN and the CORE module, and I can't see any errors. I could be missing something, but by now I've quadruple or quintuple-checked them. I switched out the shift register as well to see if that could be it, but it is still behaving in the same strange manner. As I've said previosly, I'm using the most recent SmashTV boards. Can someone verify something for me? I have the J9 of the CORE soldered to J1 of the DIN. On Smash's Core module, the 5 connections are in the right column, but on his DIN module, the SI connection is on the left column of J1, while the other four connections are on the right column...right? I'm going to try and reload the SID .hex file and see what happens. Thanks, Charles

Okay. Here the sequence... 1. apply power 2. press 1st select button (although pressing any the 5 select buttons accomplishes the same thing) 3. scroll w/ encoder to end of main page 5. press 5th select button 6. this sends me back to the main menu page, w/ 'OSC FIL LFO ENV MOD ->' visible 7. if I select 'OSC' w/ select 1, then I'm taken to the OSC submenu, it is as it should be, complete with '->' at the far right. 8. if I press the 5th select button, then I'm taken back again to the main page HOWEVER, the '->' is no longer visible at the far right. Furthermore, I cannot scroll. 9. now, with no arrow visible, if I press the 5th select button to select MOD, then it works. At this same point (i.e. after step '8'), if I choose one of the other four select buttons, then the arrow returns and I can scroll again. However, pressing the 5th select button does nothing. Weird. Charles

Sure will. I'm going to say, off the cuff, that this is the correct sequence, but I will double-check later tonight or, at the latest, tomorrow. Thanks, Charles

TK, I'm using the latest MIOS and Sid releases. I'm using the '6851' .hex file. I'm using a 4x20 LCD. Rio, as far as the button values, I'll have to wait until probably tomorrow before I can get that. But, FWIW, I'm using one of the pre-compiled setups that came with the latest MB_Sid release. I have made *no* modifications. All of my modules are SmashTV modules. I currently have the 6 buttons and 1 rotary encoder all wired up to J3.

The #5 Select button is behaving peculiarly. If I am in a submenu (i.e. the OSC sub-menu), then it operates as it should. However, if I am in the main menu, then it does nothing. Currently I scroll over to the right one so that I can access what I was attempting to access (i.e. the MOD menu) with the Select 4 button. I have observed, through all of this, that if the left arrow icon is showing (indicating that there are more options to scroll to towards the left), then the Select 5 button will do what it is supposed to do. If, however, the arrow icon is not present, then the select 5 button does nothing. I've double checked the wiring and the soldering of the appropriate resistor netork and IC. Currently, I cannot access the Save submenu because it is all the way over to the right, and the select 5 button doesn't want to work in this scenario. Also, FWIW, I do not currently have any Banksticks (3 on the way)...if it matters. Any ideas? Thanks, Charles

Oops! A wire was connected improperly at the DIN side of the CORE-->DIN jumper. Know the first four buttons work. Looks like I'm going to have to rewire the last two buttons and rotary encoder or change some files and reassemble the .hex file (which it doesn't look like I can do on my Macs). IC3 is still hot as hell...need to get a heat sink for that puppy! Charles

Greetings, I'm working on putting together a MB_SID w/ STEP A control surface. All of the boards are the most recent revisions from SmathTV. I got the readings I was supposed to get from the CORE and the SID, per the testing instructions on their respective ucapps.de pages. Right now I have a 9V transformer going to the core and a 15V going to the SID, FWIW. My LCD works fine. I had had a few little problems along the way. These were, of course, stupid little errors on my part. Now I've connected my DIN module to the core at J9, but I can't seem to get it to work properly. When I start MIOS, it loads up (well, ocassionally I'll get two rows of black squares--then I jiggle stuff until it works--think there's a grounding issue somewhere), then the sid file loads, and then the 'INTERNAL PATCH' screen comes up. I've wired 6 buttons and a bourns rotary encoder according to the diagram provided on the ucapps.de SID - Control Unit page. However, the buttons do not seem to do anything. I used the test program for checking DIN and DOUT modules. The problem I noticed during the test was that, according to main.asm, the CS pin on the DIN's J9 and the CORES J is supposed to be @ ~5V always, but mine was reading something like .79. I traced to the CORE's CS pin back to the PIC, and I'm not getting 5V anywhere along the line. Does anyone have any ideas? FWIW IC3 gets REALLY hot. Thanks, Charles

In that case, where would one connect the 15V? At the Sid or at the Core? Or would this require some funky routing between the two modules?

Alright. To the best of my efforts, I'm not getting 9 VAC, just 5 VAC. Looks like I'll be procuring another c64 power supply (when I get paid). Thanks for you help, all. Charles

You can be the King of Spain, for all I care, so long as you offer sound advice / strategem! ;D

Ahhh. No, thanks for pointing that out. In light of your words, I would say that I was not measuring the AC current properly. I'm out of town on business for the week, but I will double check my work when I get back to Atlanta. Thanks again for your responses everyone. You folks are as helpful as the folks on the x0xb0x forum, which is a compliment. Thanks again, Charles

I did use AC mode on the multimeter, yes. had ground lead to ground pin and hot lead on AC pin. I tested all pins just to make sure that there wasn't something funky going on, and the AC pin was the only one with a substantial reading. Feel free to treat me like a newbie, because [drum roll] I am a newbie. I am certainly not beyond making a dumb mistake (or numerous ones.) Thanks, Charles

Well, it looks like my power supply is faulty. I'm only getting a little more than 5v on the AC pin. Guess I'll have time to stare at the optimized solution diagram while I search out another PSU. Thanks for your replies, everyone. I'm sure you'll hear from me again. Charles

First off, please accept my apologies for the ponderous ignorance I am about to display and the effort which you will surely need to restrain yourselves from hitting me :). I'm getting started with my single-sid midibox--which I'm super stoked with--and I'm having trouble navigating the two diagrams provided on this site for re-using bits from the c64, in particular, the power supply. I've attempted to search for the solution(s) before reaching out, but I've not really had much luck. After my first attempt at following the non-optimized reused c64 PSU, I got the voltages I needed on the core unit, but was not getting what I needed at the Sid module. I know that the c64 PSU delivers two voltages, and these are labled in the .pdf (what the hell is that third AC connection?), and I know that there are different revision PSUs. At first, I just followed the diagram and, like I said, I got 5v where I should. I then rewired my rinky-dink little power board (using two switches, because I haven't the faintest clue about how to re-use the original c64 power switch), using voltage readings rather than the diagram as the basis for my wiring. Now I'm getting around 7v over the connections, and I am no longer getting 5v where I need it on the core unit. Can anyone point me in the direction of some simplified steps on how to tackle the power supply issue or offer any guidelines. I would really love to get my hands on a step-by-step guide on achieving the proper power distribution, as I've only just started tinkering with electronics and am not too hot with diagrams, etc. Any help you can offer would be insanely appreciated. Thanks, Charles