The III Man

Yeah I'd thought that might be a possibility but as you say it seems a touch clunky, thanks for the explanation of how I would do it though - its a consideration but I have my fingers crossed there may be a more simple way. do you happen to know if the mb 808 seq functions as a full midi controller as well as from the on board sounds? I havent yet got access to their forum and cant quite work it out yet cheers

Hi All, I am planning to build a controller to enable me to sequence and control drum racks/ VSTS off ableton but sequencing and controlling from the hardware and not through piano roll. I can see the mb 808 sequencer can be built standalone. I also want to have pots in strips so I have controls for each sound, such as volume tone etc. For this i am guessing I need a straight forward midibox 64 affair with plenty of pots. How do I go about combining the two of these into one machine with one midi out, is that going to be possible. I cant work out whether for the hassle of working all this out I shouldnt just buy one of Doug's kits for the full Mb 808, although I must say I dont think I would use the 808 sounds much so potentially i would just use it as a midisequencer. (thats not that I dont lovbe 808s! its just a darn site easier to use vsts and samples as the post production and automation is on a different level) thanks Toby

Thats great, it sounds like you want to do a very similar thing to me. Unfortunately I couldnt follow that link, didnt seem to work - interested to know which buttons you're talking about. But I think the first method you talk about is what I should do, power the LEDS from a DOUT. I would really appreciate it if you'd let me know about the code, if you are going to write it etc. I want to get started soon so I might go ahead and start presuming the method is good and then hope that people can help me through the code side once I get there. thanks

Thanks for the quick reply Roger The reason I didnt want DOUTs really is cos last time I set them up but never got the programming knowledge to get feedback from Ableton. for my first build I put in two LEDS for each of my 8 channels, I hoped to get these to display whether an Ableton tracks was playing or not, however after all the time it took me to get the controller up and running I fell short on the programming so have just settled for the fact they look nice! I am really limited in programming knowledge so want to stick to using Serges program if possible, so really that was why - not laziness, just knowing my limits! If it is unrealistic as you say then I would happily take advice, mechanics I can do, but programming is a new area for me. If you could give me a brief run down I woudl appreciate it (i have done much reading but am missing the basics I think) Layers I think. I was thinking of having 4 main sections of pots, two banks of 4 and two banks of 2, so in an ideal world I think I would have 1 button that changes the function of pots 1-4 , 1 that change 5-9, 1 for 10 & 11 and 1 for 12 & 13. Is this easy, doable? In fact if it is and I work out how to do the ableton feedback then I could really jazz up my current controller. Thanks Toby

Hi All, I have previously built a midibox 64, most of which still works, I have learnt from my mistakes and plenty about the midibox setup but have a couple of queries regarding a new mini controller I want to build: (fyi ots going to be a basic little controller, aluminium front, wood sides, to be used live to control bass synths, predominantly the 303 vst emuliation phoscyon, whilst playing out live) 1, I only want 16 pots so is it possible, and if so how, to have a button that when pressed forces pots to send out midi on a different channel, thereby giving me the possibility of doubling up on pots as many grooveboxes do? ( I am no programmer so do please explain in newbie terms) For instance to have a FX1 controlled by 2 pots and when depressed the pots will cnahge parameters on FX2 leaving one untouched. 2, I dont want to use any DOUTs, but if I have buttons I would hope to use the buttons to give me visual feedback (ie via LED) as to whether something is ON/OFF, or simply if the button is down or up. For example If I have the FX1 & FX2 units and the answer to the above question of is yes (i.e. I can double up on pot functions), then I would want my button to be lit if it was pressed in and therefore in mode number 2. My thought on this was to use some sort of SPST Latching switch (is that right?) with an inbuilt LED (presuming they exist) when the actual mechanics of the button cause it to become lit and don't rely on any processing. Is this a sensible way to go, if so what kind of button am I after? Thanks in advance for your help as ever. (i have searched and read widely but didnt find the posts that could help me out) Cheers toby

Hi All, Here's another project of mine, Duologue. We are a 2 piece electronic band from London who use guitars, programming, drum machines & vsts etc and have just finished recording our demo album on ableton. We also perform live with ableton running using controllers including a midibox 64 as a midi mixing desk that Ive made this year. we use that live too, I'm just finishing off my how build page on my website. Please have a listen to our tracks at www.duologuemusic.co.uk and let me know what you think. Its fairly varied and was what has driven me through all the hours of soldering! If you use it also do find us on myspace at www.myspace.com/duologuemusic. Thanks Toby

And the quest goes on! I have rewired and tested connections and have been going mad. All seems to be fine and voltage is getting to the chips and responding to the pots correctly however I haven't been getting a signal on midi ox for lots of my pots. I then (after about 5 days) have realised that the pots start to work if I turn them all the way to +va and then to - ve, or at least most do. Can anybody tell me why this might be the case? Its exciting because things are staring to work, but very odd? thanks toby

Hi, I am still having issues with my AINS and I dont know what is going on. I am getting lots of erroneous signals. I know why this might be the case however shouldnt this stop completely if I link all of J5A and J5B's A0...A7 pins to Vs? WOuldnt that ground them all meaning I should get no output from my AINS at all? For some reason that is not happening. Also I have a query re Smash's AINS and wiring. To provide the +5V and ground for my pots should I use the Vs and Vd from eachs 4051 section or do I use J7? I had thought that the Vs and Vd pins on each section were the way to go but I have read something elsae that has confused me on this? Its irritating cos I'm almost there, all boards are built and soldered however when I boot up I am getting loads of extra midi signals from somewhere? Am i right in saying I don thave to ground the DINS to stop erroneous signals thanks for your help toby

Awesome, will try this out tonight. Hoping its the solution to my issues, got to say I hadn't realised that was the case at all. thanks for your help all toby

The reason I am asking is because I have connected my core and I am getting loads of signals coming out. I was aware I had to ground all unused AIN inputs and have done - thats to Vs right? The problem is I started planning to wire one way and finished another. The result is I have 8 pots wired as below to a Vs & Vd, however they are not necessarily grounded the the same Vs & Vd as the middle wire goes back to. (Sorry I dont know how to explain it more clearly, the 2 diagrams below should make it more simple). sooooo... So overall my wiring is definitely wrong according to the schematic, I was just kind of hoping the way this worked meant that Vs and Vd were a constant and thus it doesnt really matter which one any row of pots are wired to? Thanks Toby Ps. I know I should have done it right the first time!

Hi, a newbie wiring question. When wiring up pots onto my AINS I know I have to link each to ground and +ve as well as to an input pin, however is it essential that each pot is linked to the Vs & Vd corresponding to where on the AIN it is wired to or can you use Vs & Vd freely. I.e can I ground and wire to +ve a whole load of pots in series from one Vs and Vd? Hope this makes sense. The reason I ask is due to lengths of wires in my box etc. Thanks Toby

thanks alot Thorsten toby

HI, Hoping someone can help I am wiring 2 AINS to my core using J5a & J5B using Smash Tvs instructions, I know I also have to connect my AINS to J6 however as there is only one J6 on the core can I chain the AIns and link my second AIN with the J6 pins on my first AIn or do I have to link both AINs directly to the core J6. Alternatively as I am not using J7 could I wire my second AIn to this? Thanks toby

Hi, A few newbie electrical queries for a Midibox 64, just want to check before I order parts. If you could quickly doublecheck the below for me that would be great LCD Just wanted to check if anyone new if this LCD unit was compatible with the Midibox 64? http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/46972.pdf I have checked the data sheet, but would appreciate if you could take a quick look and tell me if I am right in thinking this should be okay. LED If I am using 5mm LED's attaching to one of Smash's DOUT's, then do I have to put a resistor after each LED, if so how do I work out what resistor to use? The LED's I was thinking of using are these - http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/Optoelectronics/LEDs/CML+INNOVATIVE+TECHNOLOGIES/CMD5752/displayProduct.jsp?sku=1139565, are they alright? I can't find what spec i should use but there are soo many LEDs to choose from. thanks for your help toby

Sorry, might be wrong but I'm pretty certain a fully stuffed core can only have 2 AINx4, 2 DINx4, 2 DOUTX4? Toby

Not in the slightest, I just thought I'd keep it out of the forum for the moment until I had actually succeeded in doing something other than talking about making it! Feel free to copy at will. Please do put the link to the oage on my site though whilst you're at it - hope thats cool. Will be asking many more quiestions of you enroute to completion! cheers toby

thanks david, I'm just hoping I can find the correct screws somewhere. cheers

Hi, I am going to get ALPS faders as suggested throughout the forum. I am looking to buy them at Farnell - http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=1191712. These say they are PCB mount though, but they look like they have screw threads and the top and bottom ends. Can I panel mount these, does anyone know? If not any suggestions where I might find Panel mount ALPS faders - I'm after 60mm ones. cheers toby

Hi All, For those Midibox gurus on this site, this will probably send you to sleep, but in the interest of people like myself I have passed the planning stage of my midibox and in its building I am hoping to provide some sort of build walkthrough. I know this has been done before and I found those very helpful although one of them is slightly out of date and the other is spread across multiple pages of the forum. Anyway I am concerned I might be counting my chickens but on the off chance I pull this one off I will try and put down as much as possible in writing. My main motivation is that it has taken me a year of browsing, learning and frustration with my equipment to pluck up the courage to order parts from SMASH TV. Now I have done that I figure the worst that can happen is people will see what errors I have made. For those Gurus and generally knowledgable MIDI folk on this forum, all I have written is aiming at filling in some of the blanks that often seem too obvious to most, particularly abbreviations and jargon. I will have made errors and still learning so please correct me where I have made wrong statements, and if you see ways I can refine my design please let me know. Fingers crossed and onward we go. I am not expecting this to all happen very quickly but aim to keep people posted. The link is on the MIDIBOX page of my website www.thethirdmanmusic.co.uk ;D cheers toby

aah good point about the travel. I am planning on getting a schaeffar panel made as I have no tools or metalworking skills and want it to look smart. I think a 2mm panel should be okay as that's about a sixteenth of an inch from looking at my ruler - is that right? Anyway, I'm pretty set on the PCB idea, thanks prof for the help with the panel mount ones, but I reckon PCB/ Breadboard is where I'm heading. So Farnell have this http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=147897as I want a broad array of buttons across my panel. I can't anywhere find what the spacing is between the holes, but in principal is this the sort of thing I use? I then mount solder and make damn sure the spacing fits my front panel. Also there are so many different types of buttons on farnell, from what I know I want momentary or SPST switches but can I use any of the ones below? SPDT - momentary SPNO - (what does NO stand for?) SPST - No thanks for your continuing help Toby

Hi All, Thanks for the quick replies. I think the PCB method will give me better end results and a more compact controller which is important in the long run, but I dont want to make it all and it not work so please humour me and read the below and tell me if I am wrong etc. I am planning on getting the pcb's to stuff from Smash Tv, so I am presuming I have a complete Din 4. I will then get a breadboard and wish to have buttons in four button clusters using these ITT Cannon buttons - http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/45902.pdf. So each button needs to have two connections as shown in http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_dinx4_32buttons.pdf. The buttons I have chosen require 4 connections so can I just fork the input and output? Like in this image . If so I guess I would then create a rail across the top to connect all the buttons at one end, and then a wire going from the pcb to each respective digital inputs on the "J" sections. Does this make sense? It would then look something like this - . If that then works I'd just (as suggested above) mount the whole PCB to the panel either by glueing or screwing it on - hey presto - buttons. I really hope so. If so then I am starting to understand. Whilst I have your attention then , the pots are pretty similar expect require two connections - to +5v, 0v and then to the Ain connection. If this is correct then I am expecting that once I have assembled the sets from Smash and interconnected, I then only need to create connections, I dont have to stick in any bonus resistors etc? Just checking. Thanks for your time toby

Hi, Ive been planning my midibox 64 for a while now and everything including parts is clear in my mind, apart from the buttons. I am no electrician and want to panel mount all pots which is easy enough. However I really don't know where to start with making a pcb for my buttons so I was planning on getting panel mounting ones, but the ones that I am interested in such as these which are used on the faderfox are pcb mounting. http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=1201378 How do I start to design a pcb - can I do it on one of those evenly spaced "breadboards" or does it really require me teaching my self pcb deisgn, etching etc.. I want to avoid the pcb route as much as possible because I want my midibox to be reasobanly "quick" to build and parts to be replaceable - so any suggestions. Any ideas for good small panel mount buttons? cheers for taking the time to read and answer (if you do) also check out the tunes i'm hoping to play with the midibox whilst you mull over your answer http://thethirdmanmusic.co.uk. thanks alor toby

Hi All ;) I have just finished off a load of my own productions and would aprreciate it if you would give them a listen, I have made a mix which you can download from the link below, and I have posted lots of the tracks that can be downloaded and listened to on my website http://www.thethirdmanmusic.co.uk also a couple of the tracks are on my myspace. I'd really appreciate any feedback. Please download, burn to cd etc and I hope you enjoy. http://www.thethirdmanmusic.co.uk/musicplayer/The%20Third%20Man%20-%20Production%20Mix.mp3 thanks alot toby (The Third Man) www.myspace.com/the3rdmanmusic

Brilliant that'll save me so many buttons. thanks for your help

Hi, i have a faderfox and really like one feature. (This is with a view to building an ableton controller). In ableton to scroll up and down through scenes you can use one rotary encoder. However to select a channel you need to have an individual button for each one. The faderfox is clever in that when you turn the encoder it sends out a different midi note signal for each turn so you can map channels like this: 1 - g2 2 - g#2 3 - A2 etc etc..... This means that one roatry encoder can scroll through channels or for that matter any unlinked parameters you want saving on buttons and creating a lot greater ease of use. Is this possible with the Midibox64e or do the encoders only behave like endless pots? thanks III