m00dawg

The MB6582 can use the C64 PSU so you have a hands-off option there. I think the C64 PSU is a piece of shit but others on this forum will disagree :) There are, however, some designs and maybe even some places to purchase a C64 compatible PSU so you could try that. The switch-mode PSU would be safer than building your own PSU for the 6852 itself since it already supplies the voltages your SIDs need - you'd just need to put it in a case and cable it up to the 6582 and boom, done. I think the MB6582 also lets you power it with a single wall-wart supply with some work (though I don't think that is recommended due to heat). Sorry I was kinda rambling but hopefully there is some worthy tidbits in there :)

To verify, you have a 12VDC power supply going into the SID? That should be sufficient if you have 6582/8580 SIDs which require 9V as the 12V will get regulated down to 9V for the SID audio and 5V for the CORE and SID digital (check the sammichSID build guide to see how that happens). 300mA may be a bit low - depends on your brightness. 500mA is the recommended minimum. Check the wiki for more information on that.

You will have to elaborate on your LCD issue as I'm not totally following you. It sounds like you just have an inverted LCD (the letters light up instead of the background being lit with black letters). Maybe post a pic? As far as the voltages, I would suggest you recheck and make sure you have your pins right (which ones are GND versus +V). If you're getting -5V it could just mean you have your probes backwards but I would check to make sure you know what's going on before you move on. Those SIDs aren't easily replaceable these days. Everytime a SID dies, God kills a puppy. Don't kill puppies. (Note that the sammichSID does not use a bipolar supply. You should have +5V, +9V/+12V, and GND. +9V or +12V depends on the type of SIDs you are using)

Haha good point. The brick-based ones make a great feet warmer on those cold winter days too!

I haven't finished building my MB6582-based synth but I have decided to go with a linear. I like most of the ideas behind a switch-mode but regardless of whether I can actually heart the switching I just like the idea of analog equipment to have analog PSUs. *shrug* Plus it's easier to build and building PSUs is something I enjoy. That said, the modern switchmode PSUs are actually quite efficient and switch well above the audible range (most of them - at least the ones in this thread) so it's generally a good way to go. I agree with sidmonster though, it would be unwise to try to build one but the Mean-Wells are pretty good for their size and performance.

Ah yeah curses. That lack of coffee strikes again as I misread the first sentence to read the "luggable C64 power-supply." Oops. I stand corrected!

While most of the above info is both appreciated and helpful, I have to mention that the C64 PSU looks far more like a linear PSU to me. Check this out. Part of the reason it was so damn heavy was the transformer stuck inside. A switchmode PSU would not have a need for such a big transformer, nor would the bricks be prone to overheating like they tend to be.

Aha oh yeah that's the thing you were talking about in the FM thread a while ago no? this thing? I'd nove to have one of those! The MBFM is fun enough for me for most purposes though, pads notwithstanding.

whoo yeah that was some good stuff! What were you using for the pads?

w00t! Awesome!

I'm taking a bit of a guess, but it sounds like one of the op-amps. I would check first to see if those are getting proper voltage. If the op-amp is getting too low of a voltage, it can sound crusty and otherwise distorted, though it may also sound quiet compared to the other outputs in that case. I would start there and work your way backwards. I can't claim to be an expert on the MBFM design though - just thought I'd share what I knew at least of op-amp behaviors I've experienced.

Not directly. There are some projects around that but most folks just go with the GM5 module. For a prototype, you can just build a separate GM5 module and just hook them together using MIDI cables. There have been attempts at doing this sort of internally on a custom board but you would have to design that. Since this is for an iPad app, there is also some work being done separate to MidiBox for a MIDI to BlueTooth sort of thing with Arduino. I don't know the details though, I have just heard about someone doing that. I don't even know if that would work with an iPad but it might be something to look at. The LPC17, as far as I know, it will be able to talk MIDI over the USB connection. The problem is you will have to either be a rather early adopter (which means writing and debugging code is highly likely) or you will have to wait for the MB64 to mature on the LPC17.

It's a hugely enjoyable project and community. If you run into any issues, just ask! Good luck! Sounds like a cool project!

The problem with the STM32 is that it is already being replaced by the LPC17 CORE. The STM32 is still relevant for the MIDISEQ but otherwise I would stick with a PIC. It will be easier to build and will do the same thing. The MB64 and MB64E projects will be merged into one project and ported over to the LPC17 from what I understand, but I am not sure of the timetable on that.

Almost :) 3mm LEDs though - same as in the MB-6582 although hmm I wonder if you could use 5mm. Also, the diodes are SMD and sit on the underside of the board. That was purely to save space but I think that would be good practice anyway for folks wanting to rock SMDs. Buttons are tact switches just like the MB-6582 and TK's reference C64-based design. If the pin-outs are the same, you could use squarish ones perhaps if you wanted a larger cap, though? I mostly stick to those style buttons because they are cheap (both in terms of the buttons and the cost of drilling the CS) and rather reliable. Right now I'm blowing all my money on getting a good vinyl turntable setup and trying to work on some other musical side projects but really if everyone is good with the board being sort of untested 'as-is', we can rock the bulk order once enough people have signed up. I haven't really been advertising it much though and I would bet we would need at bare minimum 25 people to make the costs per board low. EDIT: Responded to rosch last post

Oh yeah I forgot we talked about that, duh :) 8x8 board is basically done, other than going back and forth on whether or not to make it more compatible with various other control surface designs that might not follow the MB-6582 matrix layout. Before doing the order, someone else should probably independently go over it for defects. If the bulk order doesn't fly before I need it, I'll just get it fabbed at BatchPCB and can at least report back success/failure in the design :) 6581's + SSMs will probably sound awesome, by the way!

I've been working on some stuff for my own MB-6582 inspired rack-mount control surface. Feel free to have a look. Was thinking about setting a bulk order at some point for my 8x8 LCD Matrix board if you want in on that (it's on the wiki). Not sure when I'll be able to get back to that though. Hoping to start working on it again this fall.

+1!

You can always design your own control surface when you get to that stage as well and, at that point, can build it however you like. To do that, you still may need to modify the code a bit to make the digital ins and outs more efficient for your design, but it's not terribly difficult to do so. The code changes are easy. Setting up the toolchain is the part, I have found, that takes a bit of time.

+1 for getting an MB6582 baseboard. The MB-6582 mainboard uses a button and LED matrix. So if you want to use the MB6582 firmware as well, you could need to replicate that. You don't have to do it that way though, but I think you'll avoid some headaches if you just grab the baseboard. SmashTV has both the base and CS boards on his store.

I haven't tried the drum stuff too much but it's rather full-featured. TK was working on a VST (or it might've been someone? I forget :P) you could search for. It's mostly for emulating a MidiBox if you don't have access to real hardware. Generally the official editor is where it's at. Hope it works for you!

Wow that sounds really awesome! I'll have to look into that. Doing my own screens sounds fun! I wonder how well that would do on the outer sleeves though - it sounds like with the wood option I have to apply some pressure? I'll have to do my research :) I honestly don't know how screenprinting even works :) Crazy awesome that they can also do PCBs though. If they could align them, it'd be even better (I suck at making 2 layer boards). In other news, we just dropped another song called Bomb It Out. Enjoy!

There is

This should help. You can control them using the EXT Filter option on the MidiBox SID. The settings can be saved with your patches just like any other filter settings. They connect to headers on the CORE, though I'm not totally sure how you use multiple filter modules (though I'm fairly certain you can). Of course you need to route the audio through the filter to hear it - on the MB-6582 you can just use the headers above each SID. That does mean you can't easily use the 1/8" jacks on the back of the MB-6582 if you want to hear the filtered sound which is why I'm putting all that in a custom case. The MB-6582 has the expansion port you could use if you wanted an external filter solution. You could route all the wires to it and then over to your filters, which could be in a nice external case or something like that.

Perhaps =sidr8tr#audiobus]this might help. It's my idea of combining an op-amp (Cmoy-inspired) design for line-level mixed out while also offering discrete outputs (which basically used the same design as the MB-6582). Dunno if it might be useful to you, but thought I would offer it. I myself want to do SSM filters and my solution was to use a 3U case to stuff everything in plus a custom control-surface. I haven't found a project case that could fit all that and I'm a rackmount fanboi anyway. You can find info about my work on the same link as above. I haven't worked on it in a while as I am finishing up another project at the moment. I'm hoping *crosses fingers* to have the synth up and running, perhaps minus the SSM stuff, by the end of this year.