ultra

well, what i meant is that i can have every intention of going cheap, and then see that nice expensive case or pretty knobs that i HAVE to have. each one of these devices can be built for a fraction of what you would pay for similar hardware in a store, and you get customization that you can't money can't buy with commercial gear. i've already ordered and assembled the five modules i need, and i feel like it's going to be money well spent.

i'm also interested in any other designs people have made. i want to do something with black and silver, or mostly silver. a metal case is best but this pac tec price seems to be good. anyway i'm looking for a nice, classy looking desktop case with a bit of a slope.

has anybody tried one of these cases from pac tec for the mb seq? http://www.pactecenclosures.com/Plastic-Enclosures/KE-Series.html i figure that KE-20 would work nicely with a mb seq that has a couple 2x40 lcds. has anybody seen the black case? is it shiny or dull looking? smooth? think it would look nice with a silver panel, black and silver knobs, and green leds? :) if anybody has built into this case, PLEASE post a picture of your midibox, i would love to see it!

wow the sid is quite expensive. i hope i don't wind up spending that much on my seq. thank god for $3 crackleboxes :D.

speaking of power supplies, would anybody have any idea how to test one? my pc has been randomly shutting down since the day it was built. it'll do it in or out of windows, but it seems to shut off more when i'm doing something processor intensive. i've tried various things and have determined it's not heat, the hard drive, memory, or the video card. i really don't want to replace the motherboard (asus a8n-sli premium) or the cpu (amd 3800+ dual core). the power supply is a nice (500 watt i think) antec. the one where you can use only the cords and plugs you need. it hadn't occurred to me that it could possibly be the power supply. so without replacing it, is there a way to test this out?

thank you all for the suggestions. this should be plenty of information to get started with :).

as of right now, i haven't found a reason that vista makes sense at all. xp runs very stable and a 64 bit version is available. i didn't upgrade to 64 bit anyway because it doesn't support things like context menus in 32 bit software. as far as i can tell, vista is just a system hog.

my opinion is that rather than build a cheap audio pc, put some money into it and get exactly what you want. shortages in pc power will only drive you insane. money on decent parts is much better spent, and could save you in the long run. to save money, try an m-audio 2496 sound card if they're still available. i remember them being under $100 on newegg.com and it's a very good sound card for the price. with the right pc components, you can easily get under 10ms latency. dual core processors have come down quite a bit in price, and i think you will see a lot of audio applications taking advantage of it. ableton live 6 already supports dual core and people using it have seen a large reduction in processor usage. even the cheapest dual core will get you great performance. my desktop machine has an amd 3800+ dual core and i'm very happy with it. my laptop has a newer intel core duo 2 at roughly the same speed, and i get similar performance out of it (difficult to gauge because of other configuration variables). memory is also very important. you can get two gigs of good memory for under $200. the more memory the better. also fast drives are good. i install programs to a 160 gb, 3gb/s seagate drive and programs open very fast. i record to a 320 gb, 3gb/s seagate drive. both run very quiet and can be bought for under $300 total. last but not least, newegg.com is a great place to piece together a machine. their prices are almost always lowest. if you search around, certain items will be cheaper, but generally you get free shipping with newegg. more importantly, i can't emphasize how good their customer service is and i have peace of mind every time i order from them. if you still insist on going cheaper and have some performance problems in windows xp, try switching to windows 2000. it runs just as stable as xp, is built on the same technology, but it's very much lighter on the system. just be sure to check your software for compatibility.

i am very interested in learning at least the basics of PIC programming. basically, i have a box i'm going to build that has various kinds of distortion and a compressor, and instead of patching each device with cables, i would like an lcd and a programmed pic to route the audio. does anybody know of a good book for beginners that will teach the basics of the code (c is preferred) as well as give me project examples for pic programming? i know visual basic fairly well but i have never done any programming in c, so the book would have to give a decent amount of focus on the language as well as pic related example projects. i looked at the 123 pic projects for the evil genius or whatever it's called, but that book got terrible reviews. thanks!

docbrown: i am new to this. do you have a photo of how you wired in this ic and what is replaced on the core? i bought these lcds and i'm almost ready to hook them up!

thank you for the reply. i was unaware of any pdfs even though i did search around. i probably missed something right in front of my face :). i'll grab them and use your tips and hopefully over the weekend i'll have something started. thanks again! drew

thank you for the response. how about wiring? this is the configuration i've figured out based on the reading i've done, but i'm not sure if it's right. din modules to core (are these configurations correct?): core (j9) to din1 (j1) din1 (j2) to din2 (j1) din2 (j2) to din3 (j1) the headers on the din modules are 10 pin and j9 on the core is 5. do i only use one row of headers on the din module? if so, which row? how do i know which way to connect the plugs? dout module to core (and these?): core (j8) to dout (j1) same as previous question. only one row of headers? if these are correct, in the end will i need 4 sets of 5-pin cables and 1 16 pin cable for lcd? on smashtv's site, on the dout module, j3-6 are listed as "digital input lines". are these the connections to the various leds? i would figure they'd be labeled as output lines, not input. how do i know what to hook up to what on those pins? on the din module, j3-6 are labeled the same. are these connections coming from the encoders and buttons? again, how do i know what to hook up to what? i read a post somewhere (from last february) that said a tutorial was being developed for the wiki, but i can't find it there. has this made the light of day? if so, that would be excellent. thanx!

after searching the forum, wiki, and midibox site, i'm still left with some basic questions. i'm sure this information is available, and i've done some searching, but i've yet to figure these things out. how do i go about connecting the din and dout modules to the core? i'm sure some sort of ribbon cable will be used to connect to the pin headers, but what specifically should i purchase? i'd like to have them pre-made. which way do i hook them up? what's the best and easiest way to connect the lcds to j15? is there some sort of wiring guide showing me how to connect encoders, buttons, leds, etc? is there an aout kit available anywhere? i've bought the kits from smashtv but there's no aout available on his site. i'm assuming this is what i'd need to add cv to the sequencer. any general or organizational tips on testing this out before i figure out what to do about making a case? thanx!

thanks for the input. i'm realizing that things like knobs and switches and even a panel are pretty unimportant right now. gotta make sure the thing works first. i'm too excited! i absolutely want a v3 but i figure i'll let time elapse and the more advanced builders/users can fill the forum with solid information. as someone new to electronics, i need others to pave the way. besides that, a v2 would be a great gift for a friend of mine someday. i'd probably poo myself if someone did that for me :).

hello! i am new to this forum and i'm looking to build a midibox v2 seq that looks a lot like the one made by albert from england (from the midibox seq pictures on ucapps.de) and i have the following questions: 1 where can i find a case like that? the shiny black is gorgeous and the desktop style is what i'm looking for. 2 i'm looking for nice tactile switches with a chrome button. does anybody know where to get these? i'll probably have the leds seperate from the switches simply because it is easier to do and i am new to this kind of thing. 3 my korg electribe sx has these awesome chrome knobs on it and i would like something similiar for this project. any ideas where to get nice chrome knobs and a data wheel? 4 so far i've ordered the core kit w/pre-programmed pic, the din kit, and the dout kit (quantity of one each) from smashtv. am i missing anything as far as the kits go? the banksticks i'm getting elsewhere, i'm gonna order the encoders from smashtv (unless someone can recommend a drop-in replacement for less than $1 each), and the lcds i ordered from the suggestion in this thread (http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=7302.0). besides the other things asked about in this post, what am i missing? 5 thanks to thorsten for offering his designs and help for FREE and to everybody else on this forum. i've read quite a few posts and i'm very surprised at how helpful everybody is.

docbrown: does it matter if i get the ICL7660 or MAX1044? i'm assuming 1 per lcd? excuse me if my questions are obvious. i'm new to electronics (and extremely excited).