ultra

yeah that's the one :) i forgot it does other kinds of layouts too.

simply put your components on and solder them. bend the legs of your components over and solder them together, or if they aren't close enough to do that, use cat-3 wire to connect them. cross off the items on your schematic as you go so you don't forget what you've done. i'm not really sure how i can better explain, just start putting it together. i used to do it this way and now, for small circuits with no pcb, i just design it in a program called diy layout creator and etch it to a copper board. radio shack sells a pcb kit.

i think i got them from future electronics but i can't remember. try their list of distributors and compare prices. i remember having to order some of the caps elsewhere because they didn't have everything i needed. i'd guess it's probably about $1-2 (usd) for non-illuminated and $2-3 for illuminated, including the caps you buy separately. within the next couple weeks i should be finishing up my sequencer and i'll show what they look like. i made up a jpg of what it will sort of look like, if you want to know how big they are in proportion to everything else. i think these buttons will end up being perfect and are worth the money.

for my seq, i've gone with the e-switch TL1240's. http://e-switch.com/index.php?contentID=261&type=tact&seriesID=33 they are tactile and have matching illuminated and non-illuminated buttons.

i am debating how to make the text on my sequencer panel. my dad is getting me a piece of 1/8" aluminum from his work. my girlfriend is cutting it on an abrasive waterjet machine at school. she also has access to a laser cnc machine that will etch. i found a company who will put black powdercoat on my panel for a cheap price. now, if i etch after it's been powdercoated, will it show burn marks or leave me with nice, clean text that is the color of the original panel? this would be my #1 choice because it would look so neat. i think i'd have to have it powdercoated first because otherwise it would paint into the etching. but i'm afraid of damaging the powdercoat. does anybody have experience with this and can offer some information? thanks! ultra

i made the little sub-board that has straight connections to idc headers and then rewire in between. it's more junk in the box but it made it easy to troubleshoot if there's a problem.

well my 40x2 is showing up just fine now. i also pretty much understand the display and what shows up when i change parameters, but i get no sound except for "ready" when i start it up. are you korg pads set up as on/off (0/127) triggers? do you fire a phrase with a button or trigger various notes with the keyboard? by turning up listen (i had it assigned to a knob), i was able to see on screen which note i was hitting, but no audio.

hi, i've been studying electrical engineering at school for about a month now, and we're in part using these learning objects to understand the basics of electronics. everybody can access them and they're available here: http://electronics.wisc-online.com click on "dc electronics" at the left or any other subject you want to learn about. these are simple, to the point learning objects that would be useful to anybody just getting into electronics and looking to understand ohm's law, how to connect your multimeter, and various other subjects. ultra

audiocommander, thanks for this and all your help with this. i will upgrade the software tonight and give it a go. so, i've been using a 40x2 lcd that i was going to use for my sequencer. maybe this screws up the way the display turns out. i'll have to order a 2x8 from somewhere to get it proper.

it seems that my core turned out to be the problem. i don't think i was burning the pic properly (new at that). i'm testing v.16 (i think??). i download the file "http://www.audiocommander.de/downloads/midibox/kII_015.tgz". inside there it's KII_2.tar, and the readme says .16. so which version is it? anyway, this is what i get on my lcd now: NH S V JT OE R -C 0 0 82 \\ - when i change any midi parameter (knobs, keys, etc), the value for V changes but i get no sound. i think i'm well on my way, maybe the problem now is just knowing how to control this thing.

thanks audiocommander. i have sound from my mb speakjet now but all i can get is it repeatedly saying "ready" when i start it up, and after a while it changes to some distorted bell type sound, then back to "ready". pressing keys on my keyboard isn't doing anything, and i've also tried to assign knobs on my kb to what you have listed on the midi implementation and i get nothing. it looks like your midi implementation is for the last version (i installed the latest), but i would think the keys should give me something regardless. any ideas? thanks, ultra edit: it occurred to me while i was working this morning that i didn't solder in the cap on the back of the board. i'm also confused about a wire on the back that's shown in your pictures. not the one that connects "8" to "8" but the other one. is that from the old version or something i need to worry about?

hi. i have the speakjet board etched and assembled, and so far i have a couple questions. is j7 necessary for anything? it says it's for the event input and i don't know if that's something i'll be using. where does it connect to? or is this an alternative jack to control the speakjet in other ways? also, where is R4 (50k). based on it's value i assume it's a pot. volume? where do i connect it? what connects to pins 4 and 6 on the rs232 jack? i'm just wondering because they're colored differently than the unused pins. and off the board, there's a brown colored line but where does that go? thanks!

thanks! now i can buy tempco resistors for my box-o-trix.

yeah i'm interested in this too. not sure about hard to find parts, and for the united states we might have to get a group buy for tempco resistors because when i searched for them for my box-o-trix, i only found them overseas with high shipping costs. so i'll buy a pcb, and will offer to lead a group buy for parts here in america.

hey do you have a part number for that crystal? preferably one that will show up on mouser. there's so many options when i type in "20 mhz crystal" and i don't know what to get. thanks

anybody else who downloads this: fossi.bs made this in inkscape (free) and that's where i found it to be best resolution. thanks again!

thanks!

is there a place that i can download the midibox.org chip logo in it's original format? the one normally found on the site is hard to edit because of some gradients at the edges of the text. maybe it's a downfall of web-ready graphics, i don't know. i want a version i can more easily edit to incorporate it into my seq panel. thanks!

if you come up with something, be sure to document it in the wiki!

looks nice. can you tell about the case? where did you get it, how did you make the panel, etc? thanks.

thanks a lot. on the hardware side of things, i should be ok to build it. the software i might need some help with, but i have written code before so at least i can recognize what's going on. it will be a while until i can start anyway as i have to put in a parts order. the fact that this responds to different midi channels in different ways could make it an interesting companion to the magic midi delay, which can route delays to other channels. :) i'll keep you updated on what i come up with.

audiocommander, thanks for your response. i think i'll go ahead and start to build this project. i am interested in it just to mess around with the speech sounds and not to have it make words or sentences. more or less, i'm always on the lookout for unique sound generators and this seems to fit the bill. if i understand correctly, the end result will be a simple box with midi input and audio output that is completely controlled via midi? if that's the case, will i have to modify the code to receive whatever midi cc #'s my controller sends out? i am not wanting to re-map any of my midi controllers and i'm able to modify the code for cc#'s if it's a relatively simple task. last thing is, i have built a midibox seq (well, nearly completed) and a number of other small electronics projects. that is all the experience i have. i do have a pic programmer coming in the mail tho. will it be bothersome to you if i have a number of questions related to building this project? of course, i will use documentation as much as possible but i will no doubt have questions, and you seem to be the only one who can answer them. thanks! drew

is this thing (v.2) ready for me to build without many problems? i have no interest in add-ons, just midi control, so that takes out some variables. i'm just about completed with my midibox seq and looking for a new project. this one looks great. do you consider the 1x8 lcd to be the final design? i saw it started with a 2x16 or something like that.

i couldn't get mine to stay powered on 7.5v either. changing to 9v and adding a heatsink did the trick.

i've put a disclaimer on the page that it only works up to version 1.9f and i'll get some help with properly updating it for the next release. to be honest i don't entirely understand what this does anyway, but myself and another member in the chat were having similar problems and this fixed it for both of us. i thought i'd share it with anybody else having the same issues. i'm not sure i'll feel confident to update the wiki page until i actually perform the fix (or whatever it will be) for the next version of mios, so hopefully someone else can add to or edit what i said.