/tilted/

Exactly. Sometimes the show just shouldn't go on. (I should know, I work in theatre!)

Sorry, I got the syntax wrong there. That was more of a straight, forward answer than a straightforward one. :P I guess what I'm getting at is that there is, as has been said, quite a bit of voodoo to be found in this area. If you know how much current you can have, and how much current you want, and the polarity of the signals involved, it is not too awful. Hfe =Icollector / Ibase Hfe (also called beta) is the forward current gain of the device. Literally, the current you get, divided by the current you apply to 'switch on'. This is the number one determining factor in selecting a transistor. The power dissipation is a little trickier. You'll need to know the C-E Voltage drop, which varies from one device to the next. You multiply this by the absolute value of current in/out of the collector pin. Pjunction = Vce x Ic This gives you the power dissipation of the junction in watts. Such a rating usually includes a temperature the rating was taken at, or a maximum junction temperature. If you are going to dissipate a lot of power, you need to sink the heat to avoid destroying the device. You'll also want to know the maximum reverse bias voltage, particularly for switching applications. This is generally the maximum CE voltage which is tolerated with the device in the 'off' state, before breakdown occurs and the device shorts or arcs over. You'll also get ratings for the voltages CB and EB, to represent how high a voltage can be tolerated before the device sends voltage from your switching side (usually a higher voltage, higher current area of the circuit) back into the control circuit, be it a PIC, some discrete logic, etc... to fill this field, you need to find a trade-off between safe isolation and the ridiculous. Generally speaking, the higher the power dissipation and reverse bias voltage ratings, the bigger the device tends to be physically. You could think of an analogy where you have a large metallic toggle switch, to turn on a mains powered circuit. You are going to operate this switch by hand, so you want the largest resistance possible between the switching element and your own fingertip. On the other side of the equation is Jones from accounting, who doesn't see the need to install a 40kV contactor as the 240v power switch on the panel. There are a handful of other terms here like saturation voltage and maximum collector current, which refer to the transistor at it's maximum 'on' state, or saturation. The saturation voltage is the voltage drop accross the junction while in this state, and the collector current is the maximum allowable current through the collector while in this state. Am I helping yet? ;D

Anyone? **Those with sensitive ears should avoid this one

If it's a straight forward answer you're looking for, I believe nILS used to have it as his tag line: Go to University. ;D

Okie dokie then. Click play on clip number 2 (ie "Echoes Part II"). Listen to the first 20 seconds. I think this is electronic music. I'll put it this way: could Pink Floyd play anything even approaching this without echo effects, filter boxes, the several synthesizers set up beside Mr Wright and Mr Waters... An amplifer is electrical. A fuzz box is electronic. They both amplify. Edit: and what about the old Roland GR series Analog guitar synths? They are ultimately just rather complex effect pedals. Or are they synthesisers?

Well it all depends on your needs... ;D Unfortunately with transistors, as opposed to resistors or capacitors, the needs are more numerous and more precise. Situation: I need a resistor for current limiting for an LED. Easy. (Vsupply - Vled)/Iled = Rlimiting Where Vsupply is obvious, Vled is the forward voltage drop of your LED, Iled is the desired operating current and Rlimitingis the resistance needed (pick the closest value). Then you just double check your power dissipation as Presistor = Iled2xRlimiting Simple, right? Well, at least there are only two variables to determine. Capacitors are slightly more involved, as their applications vary, as do the types and values available. Transistors are yet more varied, and come not only in a variety of devices and subsets of devices (BJT(NPN and PNP), Darlington BJT pairs (NPN and PNP again), FETs (NMOS and PMOS MOSFETs, IGBTs, JFETs,), UJTs, SCRs, TRIACs... Then you need to know the current gain (HFE) required, the amount of power which may need to be dissipated... Alas, there is no simple formula which will spit out a model number for the transistor you need. Truth told, there is no such formula for resistors or capacitors, but when was the last time you ordered one of those by model number?

I'm picking they called it "Live" because it was done live. OK I agree, not necessarily a "show", without an audience... unless you include the countless ghosts of old Pompeii. Definitely electronic music. Raises an interesting question though. How many electronic instruments are required to make the music "electronic"? Or is it a question of which instruments are electronic? Is a band with electric guitar, electric bass, electric keys and acoustic drums inherently less electronic: than a band with acoustic guitar, electric bass, electric keys and electric drums? Or is it a question of sequencing? In which case, what about a band with live drums/vocal, live guitar/vocal and everything else sequenced? More or less electronic than a group with sequenced drums/guitar/sampled vocal, and live bass/strings/keys?

inside the .zip file that you downloaded from the ucapps.de site, ie: midibox_sid_v2_0_rc22.zip there are a number of setup_*.asm files, ie: setup_mb6582.asm setup_tk.asm setup_tk2.asm these files need to be modified (slightly) to suit your hardware layout, ie to tell the core which pins your switches and encoder are attached to. these files are then compiled into a single .hex file which is uploaded to your core via MIDI. details of how this is done are available on the wiki

Hey pkniffer. Have you updated the io tables to match the new configuration? hint: the file you are looking for is one of these: setup_*.asm

Good good news! Glad it's working now. enjoy! ;D

and anyone else, no, he is not refering to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea

I know the one you mean, it is still used at Melbourne Airport to show international arrivals. No idea what it is called, or even if it has a name :-\ (I'm sure it has a name, people do tend to name things). Such a system would be awesome, if a little draining on the power supply. Awesomeness!! It should be possible, since most VST(i)s have the patch name displayed somewhere...

Good man. See how everything gets a little better when you have a beer? A common misconception holds that midiboxing is all about the electronics. Well, technically midiboxes do run on electricity. But midiboxers run on beer. edit: slightly improved clarity..

Actually, we didn't. We got quite a few of these between the 3 of us, and shipping still cost more than the trafos themselves. Average cost (incl. shipping) was around €4.80 a piece. Of course, if you buy fewer, the postage is relatively higher etc...

I'm sure it feels that way from your end, (-I know we can be our own harshest critic) but it is amazing to watch from this end! It looks like you are literally gripping the track, like it's coming off vinyl! Fantastic work. HDD motor, huh? */tilted/ looks around for more things to break...

I wonder if it is possible to assign hotKeys in SaviHost? I'm very interested in this. Have a similar project on the "I'm not doing it yet but I might see about doing it later" pile!!

No, you're not. You're just nervous. You need to relax. Go drinking like cimo says. Trust cimo, he knows what he's talking about. Also, you mentioned a few posts ago you had a lot of non-midibox work to do before this gig. Highly reccommend you do a little of this, it will shake up those synapses and also help you to relax. Just slow down, be methodical, have patience. hmmm, patience... sounds like a golden rule... ::)

That's OK, my personal incompetance is matched only by my willingness to help! Easy now, you want to be careful about those assumptions... you are correct, though. "O" = "+" ; "O" is short for output, and "+" is a naming convention where "+" is also "hot" or "signal" "Vs" = "-" ; "Vss" is an old electrical engineering term, it basically means the same as "0 volts" or "Ground". "-" belongs to the same naming convention as the "+" above, and also means "cold" or "return". There are two (very simplistic) ways of looking at this. One is to say that the two pins form a current loop pair, so both connections are required to create the loop, and to have a current flow. Another is to say that the two pins for a voltage and reference pair, so both connections are needed; one as a "here is your signal relative to ground", the other as "here is that ground I just mentioned" Neither of the above examples is more correct than the other, but they both show the same point: - if you miss one connection, you either have no current flow, or you have no voltage reference point. net result: no sound. OK, not a battery connection (good news is that you probably haven't destroyed your sid if you've done this...) No, stereo field has no bearing here, the SID 3a board from SmashTV is a mono device. Yes, "+" = "O" and "-" = "Vs". This is correct. Assuming you are using a 1/4" jack (see also guitar jack, 'phone/phono plug', audio jack, jack plug, etc..), then you should wire it so the tip of the plug when inserted connects to "+" or "O", and the sleeve connects to "-" or "Vs". Good luck!

mmm. yeah. errrr... still nothing. :-\

People clap at your gigs? Lucky you. :'( :P

You could quite easily connect a core in your midi line between Cuepoint and DAW. Then you could filter say, 9 out of every 10 of these requests, or 24 out of 25. ... or 1 out of 1 if you really hate it. ;D

Hey Foona. Is that picture of the LCD taken while still wired for 4-bit mode? since you are using a PIC xx 452, you don't need to wire for 4 bit mode. Furthermore, I think the LCD needs to be initialised for 4 bit mode. At the moment, I think only the SID V2 app has this feature. This means that the core will try to init the LCD in normal 8-bit mode. So you should wire it for 8-bit mode. The good news is that the LCD wiring is correct. It could use more solder, and an IDC header :P, but the point to point is correct.

Damn those are hawt!! A SEQ set, you say... hmmmmmm devilish laugh...

Yeah, this sounds a lot like you have a short somewhere in the LCD world. Are you connecting to the core using a pin header? If so, that (pretty much) rules out issues at the core end. So, in this case, you'd be wiring direct to the board at the LCD end? Perhaps a photograph?

If you have a 9v transformer, then the voltage :P presented to the regulator is probably as high as 11 Volts. Confused? Me too. You produce 9V RMS from your transformer secondary coil (RMS is almost always used in AC measurement) You then rectify this, and in the process lose 1.2V RMS, due to recifier voltage drop of 0.6V per diode. You then filter this with large capacitors, essentially smoothing the peaks out, but the voltage these caps get to will be close to the peak-to peak voltage. (It won't be dead-on, for various reasons). SO. A 9V transformer puts out around 9V RMS. At the regulator this will be: (9V - 1.2V) x (sqrt 2*) *= 1.414 7.8 x 1.414 = 11.03 Volts. As I say, in practise the capacitors will reach an equilibrium of less than the p-p voltage from the rectifier. Edit: And this voltage will depend on a number of factors, including current draw. /edit But it will still be more than 9 volts.