Mr modnaR

you have 8 connections from the DOUT board to the anodes of the leds, and you have 7 connections to the cathodes, correct? if so, just swap the J5 and J6 connections on the DOUT remembering to have resistors on the J5 but jumpers on the J6.

when you say 'button', i think you mean knob. knob: button: i think the knobs look a bit out of place, but the buttons are fine imho. ;D

can you not just swap over the connections? if that still doesn't work, it sounds like something else could be causing the problem.

i think black knobs with anodised blue aluminium centres would look nice. just my opinion though, your midi box is fantastically well made.

ooo, not sure i like those knobs mate. the front panel is superb, really sophisticated, but the knobs just look a bit Fisher Price to me. sorry. :'(

that's what i linked to on the previous page. slow coach. ;D

sand blasting works quite well too! do do lots of tests on waste pieces with various grains sizes first though!

http://www.pulsar.gs/PCB/a_Pages/3_Direct_Etch/3b_The_15min_PCB/The_15min_PCB.html step 4 shows a method of silkscreening a pcb. i'm sure this method would work with front panels, though it would be difficult to do more than one colour i think.

why did it take so long for the hunchback of Notre Dame to get a date? ::)

ok, i meant famous in 'normal people' circles.. ;D ;D j/k

even non MIDI boxers have heard of him now. he's been mentioned in the latest issue of Future Music! well done TK!

he was calling him autistic as a complement, he meant that to remember 707 patches in your head is pretty impressive.

ok, here's the schematic, please excuse the poor eagle skills! anyone see any problems with that design? i'm going to leave the caps and regulators in place on the SID boards. cheers.

that's true, it'd be nice to allow some headroom i guess.

well, what's an average LED? 10-20mA? that gives around 1-2A if all are on at once.

there's what 7 LEDs in the b control surface? there's 99 in the C. surely that would draw significantly more??

yeah that'swhat i was thinking, o well, redesign no. 437 coming up.....

sorry, i'm constructing a MBSID at the moment, so my mind is tied up in that, i may have mislead you. i believe, if you are goign to go with the midibox64 or 64E, then you'll have to program what each button does outside the box itself, although i am not certain on that. read up on it, and you should be fine. try this one: seem to be what you are looking for.

another question: do you plan to have a transformer sitting in your midi box? if so, do you need to shield it in any way to prevent noise? i'm going to put a trafo in my 4xMBSID, and the layout i'm working with at the moment has the transformer right up close to the audio outputs (i'm hoping to put them all on the same pcb if possible). anyone seeing any problems?

is that the full control surface? you only list DIN and DOUT, perhaps the extra DOUTs needed (especially with all the mod matrix LEDs on) would increase the load?

well, you could build the menu buttons and an lcd into the guitar as well, that would be something special! otherwise i don't think you can change what the buttons do if you don't have the menu buttons. unless you want to do a lot of programming, that is.

really? that's crazy! what about when it's producing sound? also, you don't mention an LCD, did you use one?

i'm sure it'd be possible to plate the pcbs with copper, you'd just have to oppositely charge the areas you want traces on. i'm not sure the powdered copper spray would work, because the contact between the grains wouldn't be sufficient to provide low resistance. like you said though: i'm no expert.

yeah i put the word printing in ' ' to signify that i didn't mean literally, in a liquid form. if plating requires a nickel base, do blank, pre-etched PCBs have nickel under the copper? i know etching doesn't take long, but it's hassle nonetheless. imagine printing a circuit board in a few seconds. 8)

i think there may be a process whereby you print out your design using a special ink. this then gets transferred to the silk screen. you then chuck the masking material over the whole lot, then when that's dry, you wash off the special ink, which will take the masking material with it, i think that way you can get finer designs.