m00dawg

I looked briefly at Sonar but only got as far as the website. The problem I had was their website was that it was a bit lacking in some of the details and I got confused a bit on the navigation. It's a shame since I didn't even see that it does non-linear editing similar to Live and seems a boat-load cheaper. I don't know how it compared with the other stuff (include instruments, sample packs) but I would suggest those looking at Live also check our Sonar, as well as Renoise (particularly 2.5 which is in beta testing). Sadly, Renoise doesn't do MIDI all that well so it's probably not a great tool for controlling things like MB-SIDs unless you want to manually muck with CC's all day. It *does* however run on Linux now which is pretty hot! As for the MIDI timing in Live, I had a few small issues with my MidiSport 1x1 but they were solved by switching to another MIDI driver, which was a snap in Live. That should all go away once I have my GM5x5x5 ready to go (as soon as like 12 more people sign up for the bulk order anyway :) and then I can use just a single MIDI interface for my synths. MIDI timings were actually a nightmare in my version of Cubase though I am sure it has been improved since (or I sure hope so anyway). The only major issue that is lacking that I miss is that Cubase had a better integrated sound editor. Other than that, Live has a typical DAW view and does the same things basically but seems to have more effects, samples, and soft-synths. Agreed on lack of a demo though. That's why I didn't look much at Cubase even though I wanted to. Ableton offered 30 day trial of each Live flavor so, if you timed it right, you could get 90 days worth of usage :) I really wanted to go with Reaper and for heavy audio recording it owns face. So it's great for a typical alternative rock band perhaps. It has some neat built-in effects but it's MIDI stuff just was kinda vanilla. It DOES allow you to map both MIDI in and out to different channels, something which sparked me to start looking at a new DAW in the first place. So that's nice, but otherwise it was a typical DAW and the finished quality of other standard DAWs (ie Cubase) made them a bit more compelling. I will say that Reaper has a very active community with the developers seeming to be very involved. That's really really nice to see and I definitely hope Reaper sees some great success. In the end, I already coughed up the dough for Live so I'm set now ;) If anyone wants it, be sure to get it by Jan 15th since that's when the promotion ends (which is $50-150 off depending on which Live flavor you get). That plus the $50 off I got with my Korg nanoKontrol made it not quite so expensive, although it is more than I was planning on spending for a DAW. I guess time will tell, but I've already started making a new song in Live and, unlike Cubase, I was able to escape and worry more about music than everything else. It was really nice so I'm pretty excited about the future with both Live and my SID synth.

Well yeah I just figured the V2 Editor might be a bit easier :) That and I haven't used it more than just passing patches around so I figured it needed some love. But good point :) I read through some of the V1 docs. I don't have the synth in front of me at the moment (at work) so it didn't completely sink in but I think I get the concept. Assuming I throw a few of these down, I assume these would still be candidates for the 127 Arps patch-set? I always like to share and share alike :)

Thanks TK! I'll take a look at both that, the docs, and the V2 SID editor (since my MB-6582 isn't quite ready for regular use yet - I'm doing this on the Sammich).

Oooh I didn't consider doing it that way. I think the Virus does something similar. What it does is use a set of patterns (127 to be exact) to arpeggiate with (I think at least some come from the built-in waveforms). So instead of doing eighth notes, for instance, it can arpeggiate on a rhythm. I'll see about providing you with some samples of how this work. Note that it's not modifying the notes with this (unless you tell it too) only the volume, rhythm and octave.

So I have all but pulled the trigger on Ableton Live. The LE version is too limiting I have found so I'm going to have to spring for the full version (which is $100 off until Jan 15th). Other than the price though (which isn't that bad for the full version considering the alternatives other than Reaper or Ardour), Live is pretty awesome. Without outright saying it, it combines many concepts of a tracker (ie .MODs from the Amiga days, Impulse Tracker, Fast Tracker ][, Renoise, etc.) for non-linear music making and easy looping. It's like a magical idea board where I can quickly build out a song and then arrange it how I want. Then I can throw it into a classical DAW view and can work on it using standard linear tools. It's fantastic and comes with a boatload of samples and soft-synths. Perhaps it's too soon to provide lasting impressions but so far I've been able to crank at least good ideas out and it doesn't have the limitations that bugged me about Cubase. The one thing it doesn't have that Cubase does is a built-in audio editor. Live has one but it's for doing crazy beat and pitch related stuff. I haven't used that much but it does seem to be very good for that. But simple things like reversing an audio clip cannot be done (or at least I don't know how to). In Cubase, I never needed to use an external editor. Now, while I may not need one very often, I'll likely need to also spring for one of those :/ But apart from that, I would highly recommend people try Live. You can try both LE and the full version for 30 days and it's full featured (other than some missing samples and perhaps some soft-synths). Steinberg doesn't offer a trial that I could find for Cubase so, frankly, they can suck it. Just thought I'd share my findings :)

So I'm really digging the arpeggiation stuff for the MB-SID and really want to start using it. It's not as full-featured as on my Virus but is quick to use and has some fun settings (like playing the arps faster the more nodes you play - pretty neat idea!). The only big problem I have is that, when playing a chord of 3 notes, the arp gives it a 6/8 feel when most of my songs should be 4/4. Most of the arps in the post do this as well (by the way, don't forget to submit your own arps to that list!). I don't often have this problem on my Virus and I think it is because of the different arp patterns I can use. But has anyone found a good way to do with on the MB-SID? I could just play 4 notes but then it doesn't have the same feel as with 3.

MIOS Studio and the SID editor are both Java applications, so if one works, the other should too. Have you tried playing with all the combinations of MIDI connections in the SID editor? I have found that the connections are not always labelled all that well so I have had to do quite a bit of guesswork to get the SID editor working for me. It does work, however. I am using a MidiSport 1x1, but I am on XP 32-bit. I can't imagine it being a driver issue since MIOS Studio works, unless the SID editor uses a different Java MIDI library or something. I don't think your problem relates to the Sammich if everything else works (you can play patches, use MIOS Studio, etc.) though I could be wrong. Instead, I would read to see if other people are having similar problems since I seem to remember seeing some talk of Vista (though, again, I could be wrong - all this advice is before my morning coffee :)

Yeah but I don't think it's nearly as trivial as it is in Reaper and Live. But, honestly, I don't have that need all that often and I suppose I can just save templates to help get around the problem. The pads on my keyboard are a biggie since I almost always want to map those to drums, but not necessarily to channel 10 (typically used for MIDI drums). If I'm triggering drum sequences on my sammichSID, for instance, it would be much easier to remap the pads on my keyboard directly to the SID without that affecting other devices. So say the pads go to channel 10 but Cubase listens for that and routes that to channel 1 on my SID. Stuff like that is cake in Reaper. Not so much in Cubase since all the conversations surrounding this appear to be related to the Input Transformer. If you know otherwise, do let me know! Honestly I think I'm settling on upgrading Cubase. I already know it, and it works the best of the others I have tried, though I should give Live another go. Reaper just needs a bit more polish I think but man it's close. Just a bit rough around the edges...

I wonder if the Winders audio routing stuff is just a side affect of the soundcard hardware? I use 2 M-Audio 2496 PCI cards on my PC and it comes with its own mixer. So I assume it does no processing when routing my inputs to my monitor out. It also has no effects on it but that means it's also low latency. Seems like that is something lacking with the Audio 4 DJ so perhaps that is my real issue. I'll see if I can diddle with the buffers. Reaper does, indeed, support changing those things although it's not the typical method I am used to seeing. I'm going to try the AU Lab stuff too. If nothing else, that makes it easier to hook my sammichSID up to my laptop and jam out on SID tunes :)

Aha! Thanks TK! I'll give that a go! I hope it has better latency than what I am experiencing in Reaper. I have a very small, but sometimes noticeable, delay when monitoring tracks in Reaper. I suspect it's either because of running the audio through software or because of my sound device (NI Audio4 DJ, which uses USB). So far, that's one thing Winders has over my Mac and, if AU Lab doesn't work, I'm not sure how to solve it. But, man, everything else is SOOOO much better...hmmm... Oh well one way to find out :) I'll give it a try and post my results!

Oh wow that looks pretty good! Thanks for all the input everyone! Alas, I didn't get to use any of these techniques for my Sammich but the acrylic method didn't turn out too bad. Not as good as I hoped but good enough to keep me from wanting to do it over ;) I'm going to keep this in mind for the next project, though - particularly the lacquer / injection method.

You might check post out since it has some alternatives to acrylic. I used acrylic on my Sammich and, while it doesn't look bad, it seems like these other techniques might be better. I assume the same would hold true in your case. I'm not sure as to if you need to remove the paint from the grooves, though I would be careful about that. I assume you would need to use a thinner of some sort and that could also thin out the paint on other sections of your panel. Perhaps you have a steadier hand than I :) As for taping, electrical tape would probably work, though blue painter's tape might work well and would be easier to apply. I haven't tried it though so YMMV.

No the sign up process you describe is correct. The one issue you may have is that there is no longer a link to forum accounts so you may have to sign up for a Wiki account separately. Otherwise, the process is as you descrie. Note, however, that the chips are sold via a different bulk order. So you will be putting your name down on two lists. See post for the specific steps to get the chips. This process might sound a bit annoying but keep in mind these bulk orders are done by other members of the forum who also do this for a hobby. In other words, you can't just go to Best Buy and buy a GM 5x5x5 board :) Of all the methods of figuring out initial orders, the wiki does seem to be the best place. It makes life simpler for the guy doing the bulk order. The more life is simpler for him, the happier everyone will be because the more people will want to offer up bulk orders.

The closest utility I found is the "Audio MIDI Setup" tool. It does actually have a "Thru" option but it's greyed out for all interfaces (including the internal ones) so I'm not exactly sure how to get that thing enabled. I know there's a way since I can arm tracks in both Reaper and Live and hear the audio output. I assume that's through their audio filtering stack (as opposed to just forwarding the input directly to the output) but I'd take that option if I had to. It's a big missing feature I have grown very used to on my PC. On the note of ASIO, one of the nice perks about a Mac is that those sorts of things "just work". I've never had ASIO or MIDI timing issues but on my PC I had a tremendous problem with MIDI becoming increasingly laggy the longer I used Cubase. I finally fixed it with some underdocumented, backwater, patch for the MIDI stack in Cubase. That was Ugly *shivers* Of course, things like the GM5 should fix that assuming all MIDI comes through the same device. Pretty excited about getting my GM 5x5x5 up and running once that minimum order on the boards is met :)

Well, so far it's down to Live or Reaper. Both have some features the other doesn't. I still miss Cubase for some things but Reaper does, indeed, have the ability to easily remap source and destination MIDI channels. Still getting used to the differences between the two. Cubase definitely feels more polished and of all the DAWs I have tried, feels the most like a "studio". But, it's expensive, their support sucks, and it doesn't do the MIID routing that you can do in Reaper and others. As for Reaper itself, my current hurdle is figuring out how to do step sequencing, which I commonly do for drums... *shrug* Changing DAWs is hard work :)

So I've been wanting to transition over to using a Mac for music makins for some time. Or at least have the option. One annoying issue I've run into though is how to capture inputs and forward them to my monitor / speaker out. On a PC, I just bring the volume of the input up and call it done. On the Mac, at least with my Audio 4 DJ, I cannot find such a setting. So, in order to hear what's coming in from my inputs, I have to break out my DAW, setup an audio track, click record and monitor. Kind of annoying. Anyone have any ideas on how to get around this?

Patches are labled "Arp 2" .. "Arp 128" The "Sound" column only describes the oscillator sound | Arp | Sound | Dir | Sort | Hold | Speed | GLen | Range | Sync | CAC | One | Easy | Comments +-----+---------------+-------+------+-------+------+-------+------+-----+-----+------+------+----------- | 002 | Simple Pulse | Up | * | - | 32 | 6 | 1 | * | o | o | * | | 003 | Simple Pulse | Down | * | - | 32 | 6 | 1 | * | o | o | * | | 004 | Simple Pulse | U&D | * | - | 32 | 6 | 1 | * | o | o | * | | 005 | Simple Pulse | Up | * | - | 32 | 6 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 006 | Simple Pulse | Rnd | * | - | 32 | 6 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 007 | 3OSC Detuned | Up | * | - | 32 | 6 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 008 | 3OSC Detuned | Up | * | - | 32 | 16 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 009 | 3OSC Detuned | Up | * | - | 32 | 32 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 010 | 3OSC Synched | Up | * | - | 32 | 32 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 011 | 3OSC Filtered | Up | * | - | 32 | 28 | 3 | * | o | o | * | | 012 | 3OSC Filtered | Up | * | - | 32 | 28 | 3 | * | o | o | * | CutOff sweeped via LFO1 | 013 | 3OSC Filtered | Up | * | - | 32 | 28 | 2 | * | o | o | * | ENV1 Depth modulated via WT1 | 014 | 3OSC Filtered | Up | * | - | 32 | WT2 | 2 | * | o | o | * | + GateLen modulated via WT2 | 015 | 3OSC HP Fil. | Up | * | - | 32 | WT2 | 2 | * | o | o | * | + GateLen modulated via WT2 | 014 | 3OSC Filtered | Up | * | - | 32 | WT2 | 2 | * | o | o | * | + GateLen modulated via WT2 | 015 | 3OSC HP Filt. | Up | * | - | 32 | WT2 | 2 | * | o | o | * | + GateLen modulated via WT2 | 016 | 3OSC Detuned | Up | * | - | 32 | 32 | 3 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 017 | 3OSC Det. Saws| Up | * | - | 32 | 32 | 3 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 018 | 3OSC Det. Saws| Down | * | - | 32 | 32 | 3 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 019 | 3OSC Det. Saws| Rnd | * | - | 32 | 32 | 3 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 020 | 3OSC Det. Saws| Rnd | * | - | 32 | 32 | 8 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 021 | 3OSC Det. Saws| Rnd | * | - | 16 | 32 | 8 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 022 | 3OSC Det. Saws| Rnd | * | - | 46 | 32 | 4 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 023 | 3OSC Saw/LoTri| Rnd | * | - | Mixed | 32 | 4 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 024 | 3OSC Saw/LoTri| Rnd | * | - | Mixed | 32 | 4 | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 025 | 3OSC Saw/LoTri| Mixed | * | - | Mixed | 32 | Mixed | * | * | o | * | play multiple keys! | 026 | 3OSC Saw/LoTri| Mixed | * | - | Mixed | 32 | Mixed | * | Mix | o | * | play multiple keys! | 027 | 3OSC TriOnly | Mixed | * | - | Mixed | 32 | Mixed | * | Mix | o | * | play multiple keys! | 028 | PWM Bass1 Arp | Up | * | - | 32 | 16 | 2 | * | o | o | O | PWM Bass1 from default patches but with a 1 octave arp. I'm not sure if I named it right but I added one. #28. It's just a PWM Bass1 patch taken from the presets available from the MBSID app but with a nice 1 octave arp ontop. Makes for nice, but simple, bassline. Nothing fancy but no one else seems to be sharing so I thought I would :) 127_arps_mine.zip

I'm using a really old version of Cubase (SE 1.0 or something like that) and have been looking to upgrade. Cubase Essentials 5 looks like it would be good enough for me, but one issue I have had in SE 1.0 is routing MIDI in a way that is easy and sensible. If I want to split my controller keyboard, for instance, so I can control different hardware synths and VSTs, I haven't found a good way to do it in SE 1.0. I need to be able to say "Hey Cubase, if you see notes coming form channel 2 on my MIDI controller, forward this over to channel 3 on this other MIDI interface". You can do that with the Input Transformer, but it's not intuitive and it's time-consuming. In Reaper, for instance, it's cake. But after playing around with it for a while, at least on the Mac, it makes me sort of miss Cubase. So, can someone either confirm that newer versions of Cubase fix this or have a suggestions on a multi-platform DAW?

Yeah for the MB-6582 I have 4 slots cut. They are not as pretty as yours but they work :)

I did a quick search on Allied Electronics and found these heatsinks: http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=090SPEC&MPN=437177 They look low-profile but I'm not sure how well they would end up working. If I grab these up I'll share my impressions but otherwise thought I'd pass the link along in case anyone was looking for the same thing (namely, low-profile heatsinks for SIDs)

And here it is after painting! The paint wasn't perfect (look closer :) particularly the word "Sammich" under the graphic although the graphic turned out better than I thought it would. I'm happy with it anyway.

Ah both of those are great ideas! I'll have to remember them for the future, although I was sort of stuck on using acrylic paint for the Sammich - I already started it that way so I went ahead and finished it. The results aren't pro but aren't all that bad either - could have been a lot worse anyway. Thanks for the insight!

As promised, now that I have finished the infill painting on my Sammich, I had some time to post some temperature readings: Synth : SID Temp : Ambient Temp MB-6582 (With Heatsinks) : 38C : 25C Sammich Without Ceiling Fan : 50C : 21C Sammich With Ceiling Fan : 47C : 21C The temperature readings on the MB-6582 were with the box basically closed and using the heatinks from Fuzzylizard along with a small 40mm Radio Shack fan at the back. I used the SID furthest from the fan. Since I am using my own PSU external to the 6852 there was no additional heat from that, though keep in mind the 6582 has 8 SIDs and the Sammich only 2. There's also less ventilation on the 6852. I tool readings from the right SID on the Sammich (the one closest to the regulators) with the sides and top on (though without using screws so things were on a bit loosely). In both cases, I used a temperature probe from my multimeter taped down to either the sink or chip. Based upon this, I would be curious to see how well some heatsinks work and will likely be trying to find some low profile sinks to use. I do not want to use Fuzzylizard's for the Sammich because they are too tall and I would have to cut them to fit (which I would rather not do). Anyways just thought I would share my findings :)

Was just curious on what people's techniques were for infill painting, specifically with the Sammich. I have the back panel complete and it looks pretty good. But both the back panel and, particularly the top panel, kept having gaps where the paint didn't fill in properly as it dried. I used a watered down mix of acrylic paint but if I have gaps does that mean I need to thin or thicken the mixture? I think I started too thin with the back panel since it just went everyone and didn't seem to stick at all. Oddly enough, the Sammich graphic actually seems to be in pretty good shape - it's the lettering that's giving me problems. I think the mixture between the yellow paint I used on the Sammich graphic and white on the others must have been different but it was hard to tell how watered down each one was. Thoughts?

Go figure, that last time I went to Radio Shack they were out of the non-silver stuff. Ah well. I ended up using silver compound for the heatsinks on the regulators (just a lot less). Won't be doing that for my SIDs but I'll probably put sinks on them too. Fuzzylizard's heatsinks are awesome on the MB-6852 but the clearance is too low on the Sammich. Rather than cutting them, I'd rather get some low-profile sinks and do the heatsink glue / zip-tie trick. I have to agree with Wilba, there is likely no reason to do this but it makes me sleep better at night :) Either way, I'll post some temps once I finish my infill painting so people have a frame of reference.