m00dawg

I also found loopmasters.com and found a patch-set I think I'm going to try. Battery is probably the best value and has some neat features to it. None that I can't do in Live but all that I can do easier in Battery - at least when it comes to individual samples and stuff. Just less work. So may end up getting that at some point. Wish I was able to get a better preview of what came with Battery - if I could find that I might just up and buy it :) I think I'm going to drop the sample packs I find on loopmasters.com first just to see if that scratches my itch for a while. Thanks everyone all the helpful insight!

Oh man I totally forgot about Audio Damage! I think their drum sequencer is a bit limited for what I need at the $79 price but some of their other effect VSTs...mmmm.... I made a quick demo for Battery 3 just messing around so I could show a friend, and here are the results if anyone was interested. Going to keep looking at both the stuff from Audio Damage, and NI. I *really* like that Battery 3 has retriggers, although you can't turn them on and off via MIDI (so I have to copy the drums and place them in slots if I want to do that).

Actually I like Battery 3 (and to some degree GEIST). The problem is that I dunno if I want to spend that much money getting something I already have. Live's drum sampler plug-in is pretty nice. I've made a few kits based upon samples from my Virus and MB-SID and it was pretty easy to do. The biggest problem I have is lack of samples. Battery looks like it has tons of samples, but I couldn't find a lot of examples that fit what I wanted. Going to grab the demo though - I really like NI stuff. They aren't cheap but man I love my Audio4 and Traktor. Man they sure entice you with Komplete though, but I don't have $600 to drop on all that at the moment.

I love synths - obviously if I'm a big MidiBoxer :) But one issue I always neglect is drums. I have some cool options for drums with my MB-SID and MB-FM synths but sometimes I just want a high quality sort of "standard" EDM drum set. Anyone know where I can find something like that? I'm not really looking for the 'kit' style plugins since I do mostly electronic music and sometimes having a standard set really throws things off. Instead, I was thinking of using some of the drum add-ons to Native Instruments' Kore Player. I am looking for both breakbeat type stuff (or just loops in general that I can splice) as well as well organized patch-sets. I like Kore Player because the instruments are already mapped and ready to go, but it seems to be stripped down and I don't know how to change the characteristics beyond what it lets me do. I have Ableton Live so patch-sets that work with the drum pad plugin would work too. Thoughts?

1.4c did the trick for me as well. Thanks TK, Wilba, nILS and anyone else that had a hand in the sammichFM!

Are you using the 1.0 version of the build guide? I believe that issue has been fixed in that version?

Hear hear! *clinks glass* *drinks*

Ok noted. I'll post that as soon as I can!

Hi TK! Will do! I'm up on a business trip so it may take me a day or two to get this to you. Just standard MIDI or would you prefer an Ableton Live set?

I am having a bit of trouble understanding what exactly it is you want, however, the MB-SID has a built-in 303-like sequencer that can be controlled using a number of means, including using the Step A Control Surface (basically the menu knob and some buttons) as well as the Modulation Matrix. I am not sure if you can built a control-surface to model a 303 with it but you might be able to use the MB-SEQ for that, custom firmware, or a mix of both. Hope that helps! Tim

Ah I'll have to try a toothbrush. Alcohol plus a towel didn't really do much for me.

As far as I am aware, the new CORE would be in addition to the other PIC COREs. The PIC COREs would focus on the SIDs and the main CORE, the LCD, MIDI, etc.

Good stuff indeed! i haven't had time to listen to them all but I like what I hear so far! Nice creative use of FM!

If you're in the states, you can get the parts from SmashTV. He sells the CORE and SID modules separately or the MB-6582 boards. He sells an optional parts kit for the mainboard two which is $125 (for board and parts). He only sells the CS board bare last I checked. Prices are there though so you can see the raw costs of the boards and other kits. If you don't go MB-6582, you need a CORE and 1 SID module (2 for stereo). You don't need any control surface whatsoever if doing it on the cheap but you'll want an LCD to use at least while debugging. My first MidiBox SID in a shoe box with a 2x20 LCD and some buttons for a minimum control surface and a knob that only sort of worked :) But I had fun with it and with the patch software you can get by without having much of a control surface if you have a pretty nice DAW you use. If you want buttons and knobs you would also need at least one DINx4 board. If you want LEDs, you need at least one DOUTx4 board. The MB-6582 has a clever transistor sink design to cut down on the number of pins so if you know you're going to want a full control surface and/or more than 1 or 2 SIDS, I would highly recommend you go that route unless you want to figure that stuff out on your own. Using the individual modules will take quite a bit of boards (and space). You need other odds and ends too - ribbon cables, crimp terminals, phono plugs, and things like that if not using the MB-6582 kit. Those costs are usually marginal, though. So I know that didn't have any costs on it but you can get an idea by just going to SmashTV's site. If you're not in the US, there's a place you can get boards (I think from Germany). Info will be on ucapps.de for that.

Not to discourage you but if you're not into DIY you should probably go to something like the HardSID. If you can't work on your own synths, you probably want a warranty or someone else to fix it. Even if you bought something off the flea market, you really should have some know-how into how the synth works and how to repair it should something go wrong. That said, soldering is not a difficult skill with some practice - almost all of my soldering experience has been on MidiBox projects and I can attest to it being easy if you put some time and some initial investment into it. In all honestly, I have shitty eyesight too so I'm at a disadvantage but still find that, with the proper tools, it's easy. Even SMD soldering (such as that required for the MB-FM stuff) was easier than I thought which just a tad bit of practice. Don't let soldering discourage you if skill is the only roadblock. I ran into a cool book recently I want to buy that you might find helpful: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596153755/ TL;DR; if hobbyst synths are really not for you, I recommend you go commercial. It's also empowering. I'm building my own customized MB-SID based on the MB-6582, but it's not rocket science. It's just knowing a

HardSID4u is pretty nice at this point. I still much prefer the MB-SID platform (partly for the DIYness but partly because it's cleverly powerful). How the two compare is something that's harder for me to say since I have only used the MB stuff. Your problem is not which synth you go with but simply sourcing the SIDs. If Wilba doesn't have the sammichSID kits, you can go with the MB-6582. I know SmashTV has boards for it still and the front panels designs are available online. It's not the cheapest route to go but it's much more powerful than the sammichSID simply by having a dedicated control surface. One thing you gain by being on the MidiBox platform is the ability to extend stuff. It would be a bit awkward using the sammichSID but adding external filters can be done (such as the SSM2044's I mentioned). External filters are already supported in the firmware so you can store your filter settings in a patch. MidiBox also supports all the extra features of the SwinSID. Since the MB-6582 supports up to 8 SIDs, you can mix and match real SIDs with SwinSIDs and get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, finding SIDs is going to prove difficult, but not impossible. The last order Wilba had of SIDs was last November :/ So eBay or harvesting chips from C64's on your own is your next best bet.

Hi TK! I tried the update and I think it sounds better but still seems to be dropping a lot of notes on the drum channel. I have attached an updated MP3 (this one is at 90 BPM instead of 120 BPM in case that helps). Guess we may have to wait and hope that your sammichFM arrives :) Either way, thanks for taking a look! sammichFMDrumTest2.mp3

Wow if that the nano-SwinSID is real that would be amazing! I guess he hid the SMD AVR under the 32MHz crystal, which is pretty clever. At least I think that's where it is since there are traces coming out form under the crystal that would not seem to be a part of it (and via holes when looking at the bottom). I think the SwinSID is pretty neat - eventually I might throw in a few in my MB-6582 but my reasoning is a bit different than replacing SIDs. I want to use the extra SwinSID features and tie them to analog filters (like the SSM2044. Apart from that, as a SID replacement, keep in mind the SwinSID is doing emulation - only on a microcontroller instead of in a VST. I haven't tried TK's MB-SID VST yet but it looked pretty neat so that might be a workable solution if one can't find SIDs but wants something close to that sound.

I don't think my case is a short because using both the bassdrum and hi-hat makes the problem go away; and using normal instruments work just fine using the same 1/16th note repeating pattern. I tried it on my Windows box and same problem. I also tried adjusting the BPM down and up and it doesn't change the drop-outs (they get rhythmically faster or slower matching the BPM). The MP3 I've attached illustrates what I'm talking about. You can hear the bass drop out followed by the hi-hat. Both have the same dropout pattern more or less. Then both come in and the output is more consistent (I think there might be one drop). Then I do a standard instrument and you can hear no drops, followed by the whole lot. If it were some sort of issue like short, I would have expected other behavior, but I've been wrong before :) Anyone else able to reproduce this test? I can provide my Live project file but all I'm doing is 16th notes in an 8 bar pattern for the bass, hi-hat, both, and then a lead. All straight 16th notes at 120BPM (though I tried 90 and 150, same exact phenomenon). sammichFMDrumTest.mp3

You'll have to ask Wilba. I would send him a PM on the forums but based on the sammichSID wiki page, it would seem to be no officially. Wilba might have a few left though who knows. He won't have any SIDs left though and the Sammich doesn't appear to have enough room to stuff it with a SwinSID so keep that in mind if you are considering building one.

That is my thought, I'm just not sure what would be causing that or if I'm running into a known issue or really what's going on there :)

I just ran into an odd issue with the drums where if I setup a bunch of 1/16th's notes for the closed hi-hat or bass that they would often drop out every 1-3 notes. Is this normal? Oddly enough if I have both the bass and hi-hat doing just 1/16th notes, it works as advertised - mostly. Occasionally there is a drop here or there but mostly they both work as they should. I thought it might be a polyphony thing but even soloing just the hi-hat or drum and playing nothing else has this affect. It doesn't seem to happen when playing on one of the instrument channels - just the drums, so I don't think it's a MIDI issue. I'm feeding the synth using a GM5x5x5, Ableton Live, and OS X. Thoughts? Amidoingitrite?

So far I have found my own control surface has been the hardest to design of all the other extras I was adding to my MB-SID project. Measure, re-measure, re-measure, still get it wrong :) I finally have that done so now the second challenge is routing all the wires to the headers. After that, maybe I can finally order the aluminum panel, boards, and start soldering.

Yeah me too. 9V from Jameco is in the mail - the 12VDC is just so I can play around with it for now. Heck it's a switchmode PSU, and an old one at that. I didn't notice any audio issues with it though, but I haven't done a noise test with it or anything. No point really if I'm going to replace it in a few days anyway. For now, I turned the brightness down lower than I would ideally like, just in case. Although, I think Wilba is taking the input before the regulator for the high voltage option LCD? I could be totally wrong there though :) I know he does some trickery there. On that note, a total aside, but the negative LCD looks hot! I'm basically sold on those now.