m00dawg

Probably good you waited on Twitch as the on-board soundcard has issues with volume such that it's not suitable for open venues (clubs, or perhaps even larger LAN parties and things). I wouldn't have used the on-board sound very often, but since it was being offered, I'd rather have a working one I could use as a backup. I suspect that will be fixed in either a hardware revision or a Twitch 2. Otherwise, yeah man it looks rather fantastic! Although I've never had jogwheels so it will be interesting to see how I like them. Eventually I want to get into real vinyl so it will be nice to have something that at least lets me fake a backspin :) My FX box would be uber-simple. Probably an LCD if it was easy to add but really all the mappings I can change in Traktor so I won't have much of a need to change the configuration once setup, although if I used it for other things then having patch support (and thus likely an LCD) would be useful. I haven't progressed too far with the design beyond a mock-up idea. But when I do I'll be sure to keep MidiBox informed (will probably have a section for it on the Wiki and such).

OOOH that sound intriguing! Have any things to show for it to this point I could look at (pics, designs, etc.)?

That's what I'm going to do initially since I basically already have one built. I find it more fun but I also never fully understood all the protection circuit stuff. Though I want to learn (making PSUs is fun!) at some point I need to focus on making the synth work rather than the method of powering it :)

As I said, there IS a linear power supply you can buy that is somewhere in this epic thread. It's after the RPT-60 was talked about. As I recall it wasn't cheap but is available and looks like it would worth rather well.

Looking absolutely stunning already TK! One curiosity I had - while I don't think it would involve any firmware changes, I was thinking it might be good to have a CV bypass. Say I built an MBCV and put the SSM2044 stuff in the same box. I would occasionally need or want to bypass the MBCV stuff so I can control the filter directly (say if I wanted to have an AOUT for my MBSID and use that). I was thinking that could be easily solved by switched TRS jacks such that, when something is plugged in, it cuts off the CV outputs of the MBCV itself. Just a thought as a just in case. I don't forsee using that feature all that much but it might be a nice to have so I thought I would mention it.

As an update, I went ahead and sprung for a Reloop Digital Jockey 2. Seems like it has good build quality for the price and I was able to score a used for a pretty good deal. Thought about the super lightweight offerings like the DJ2Go but I actually wanted to use my NanoKontrol a bit less and have a bit more room. It was feeling awfully cramped. Still want to make my own SFX box though at some point. Since I use Traktor, it was going to be basically just a 4x4 Button/Knob matrix thing perhaps plus the effect enable buttons for the decks. Have a ways to go before I'll get to that though.

While on the subject, since Seppo's boards are harder to come by these days, I'm curious if any thought has been put into offering a MidiBox layout for an SSM2044 board? Thought about doing one myself but I was able to score a spare SSM2044 Seppo board and have other things on my plate. But I think that might be really cool to have. Of course, beyond that, MBCV sounds like a PERFECT compliment to a modular analog synthesizer outside of an SSM2044. I've been wanting to build an analog rack and though I'm a ways away from that, when I do get around to it, you can bet I'll want to control as much of it as I can using MIDI.

Hah yet again TK to the rescue! I don't have a proof of concept yet but what you have sounds rather fantastic and more than I was thinking. For me, if I was going to use a separate effects box the biggest thing was envelope syncing. Not sure how to do that, but it would be nice to know that when I played something on my synth, the filter could follow it (ADSR in other words). I guess I could send note data out to both my SID and the MBCV and MBCV can use the note data to know when to trigger the envelopes? Other than that, having the filter have it's on modulation things could give rise to some really interesting things I hadn't thought of until you mentioned it. In terms of the control surface, I would love to have another use for my modular matrix boards I'm designing in addition to the SID and if there is going to be a sequencer in the next CV app, that might be cool to have that as an option for the control surface?

@dreamer - there is a linear PSU somewhere in this thread that would work. I forget where it is though but it's definitely somewhere in this thread!

Ah you're right. Allied lists it as "Linear" but doesn't actually offer up the data-sheet for it to confirm. Good catch!

Last I checked, the SammishSID baseboard should have the headers you need to connect an AOUT - you will just have to work outside the case for the connections of course. So the easiest way to start is to use your Sammich to control the filter via the external filter option. All the pieces are there for an MB-Filter application but I don't think there is a dedicated one. The MB-SID might be a bit of a kludge but it would work. Really, if you distil it down, the filter is controlled by CV so you can built a filter box that takes as input CVs. That way you can control with any solution that can output CVs but just plugging it in, be it an MBSID, an fully analog modular synthesizer, etc. Where the firmware comes in is translating MIDI to CV, but I think there are some USB->MIDI->CV things out there. I recall Deadmau5 had one when he was showing off his modular analog rack in one of his YouTube videos some time ago. In any case, I'm sort of rambling without answering your questions directly, but hopefully you found some useful tidbits. Let us know what you do as I was also thinking about making a filter box with my SSM2044 stuff (when I get to that point anyway - I still have to finish my rackmount MBSID first). MBCV to the rescue!

Woo nice work TK! Always love hearing your work and this one is quite different. Really like where you went with this!

Break out your multimeter and check the pins of your C64 PSU. Chances are it died and not your MB6582. That or it's perhaps remotely possible one of the regulators in the 6582 was too hot. You would know that by waiting a while and trying to use it again. If it works, it could be a heat issue. The C64 PSU's are shitty and quite a few of them will fail if you cough too loud. Some models are apparently ok. My thought is it's not worth risking your hard to replace SIDs with a old and busted PSU. Chances are, though, if it is the C64 PSU that's shot, it's probably the fuse on the inside and nothing else (including your SIDs) are damanged. Many models are not user serviceable so while you can replace the fuse in theory, it will be difficult in practice (many are filled with epoxy on the inside).

Specs indicate it's a linear PSU

For what it's worth, I generally like Ally. Their website is kinda meh and Mouser has a better selection (as far as US places go), but they are super nice and generally ship things pretty fast if you're in Texas.

Rock on, thanks for the helpful info! I'll check out the DJ2Go. It looks like a potential option, though I don't think I could completely relegate FX to my NanoKontrol with just that. I was thinking of the step up (the Total Control) but that then gets me on a slippery slope of getting conventional DJ mixers with more an more features. For the higher end stuff, the Twitch looks fantastic. Apparently it's on-board sound-card isn't loud enough for club use, but I think my Audio 4 would do just fine in those cases. Just a shame something so close to perfect is flawed by that - I wish they made a version that was simply void of a sound-card so I didn't have to pay for something I wouldn't likely use.

I've been a casual DJ for a few years now with relatively modest gear - an NI Audio 4 DJ (it sounds fantastic, by the way) and a Korg NanoKontrol. The setup works well enough mostly. In fact, for my last set I even had 4 FX racks going in Traktor :) But I may have an opportunity to be a bit more direct than I have since. I used to do shows on an internal radio station at my former job and now mostly just do it for LAN parties. That may soon change and, if it does, I want to upgrade a bit. I still plan on using my NanoKontrol, probably as an effect board or something, with the main mixing being on a DJ controller. I'm trying to find a MIDI only controller because my Audio 4 sounds great and is portable enough. If it has on-board, no biggie as long as I'm not paying for it in the price. I've been looking at Allen & Heath, Novation (Mmm...Twitch...), NI, Hercules, Vestax, basically all the bigger guys in the field. Curious what other DJs are using for purchaseable controllers? Yes, of course I want to eventually build my own controller - probably a small 4x4 effect box with knobs and buttons to control my software FX stuff. But until then, I need something in as early as a few weeks which means practically I'll be ordering it sometime next week. Would love to hear your opinions! So far, it's either a Twitch (if I can justify the cost) or a Reloop Mixage.

Ah hadn't thought of GIMP that might work, good thought!

I'm about to order a panel from Ponoko but, before I do, wanted to make sure it lines up with my Front Panel version, as well as my boards I plan on having fabbed as well. Trouble is, I can't seem to get Inkscape to print across multiple pages and was curious what folks did to produce a scale output across multiple pages (much like you can do in FPE)? Thoughts?

AHA! I thought there must have been a reason. Makes perfect sense, thanks TK!

Couldn't the algo still kill the oldest note first but interleave the channels, though? Random might be a tad more difficult programatically, but, and to be fair I haven't looked at much beyond the shift-register definitions in the code, that seems like it could be pretty easy to do assuming that the CORE is the one that controls note kills?

It's probably feasible but to my knowledge not implemented. The ASID protocol was already established so it was more easily adopted with MidiBox. The easier route may be to see if there is a mapping between the MBFM CC and SysEx messages that can be used to modify the source player to send the proper MIDI messages to MBFM. Just thinking aloud here, so I can't claim that's a good idea :) Just seems like the easier route to go.

Yup, but the orientation of the modules could differ. Hence, I should always err on the side of caution and have a pull-up before my out-pins is what the consensus sounds like (or, if in doubt, just put in pull-ups as per the standard DINx4 design :) )

I was always going to have it for my output headers. All the stuff on each control surface module will always be populated (wouldn't make sense not to). But, for instance, my last control surface part in my chain (the ENV/OSC section) still has output headers if I wanted to add another module in the chain. So the question was if I needed resistors for the SRs on the same control surface board. Sounds like it's a no. On the other hand, I already have them laid out and routed on all my boards so it can't hurt to keep them there I don't think. Not having them would give me more room for my ground and power planes though.

Awesome, thanks TK! Glad to know my assumption was correct.