Echopraxia

That sounds awsome! I know your super busy with this so I will leave you alone for now ::) but I did have one question about the size of the board. Would it be impossible to get everything into 19" rack size. I personnaly don't care but I would think that it would be a good option. Anythoughts? Also are you saying that this pcb will have have everything (douts,dins,iics,8 banksticks) on the backside and all of the encoders and buttons on the front side????

Could someone please inform some of us what are some of the uses these could have with midibox? I would be interested if I know what I could try with this. Would it be possible to use this on any parameter in mbfm or mbsid and be able to select differnt parameters if needed (from control surface). I would imagine control the osc or filter with this and be able to change between them on the fly for live jamming.

Hey just wanted to throw out an offer to buy any ones faulty MB SID V2 front panel from the bulk order. PM if you want to get rid of yours for resonable price in the US. Thanks

I was thinking about using this case but I noticed that most of the case is the front panel. I was hoping that it was the other way around. Does anybody have some suggestions for a case around this size/type for MB stuff which could easliy get a new front panel to screw on top?

If this were to happen I would say modular pieces for each section of any midibox might make the most sense. You would also have to decied which type of tact switches will be used and encoders ect... I think though that having these would be great for people that are not good with vero board. Also the switches would need to be compatible with alot of differnet caps. I have never done pcb design so don't ask me :P Nice idea but I think everbody is probably still going to do there own thing. Unless its a wilba beast.....

can you have several cores running off one control surface?

Is it easy to connect multiple OPL3s for extra polyphony or are you just saying make 4-16 seperate synths and chain em together midi style?

I figured it out. I wasnt a bad pic, it wasnt bad cabling, it wasnt bad soldering. It was my improper wiring of J1 on the DOUT R3!!! You were right Nils I should've tried this earlier :-[ Only the inner pin SO closest to the SR works. I guess I got confused somewhere at that point and maybe made a wrong test because ealier I thought that only the outer pins of J1 will work! I am not sure but maybe this needs to be clairified somewhere to avoid futher issues with future boxers. Smash I still love you man! Now I can finish this damn thing ;D I changed the beginning message of tbis thread as solved.

In addtion to the last post. I have reloaded the seq program after the SRIO program and the seq one gives me 4.6v at the pics pin that goes to J8 SO. But on the SRIO program the pics pin gives out 5v. The DOUT was disconnected and it was still 4.6v Can I move my cabling around @ J8 of CORE and J1 of DOUT to see if something is reversed? Or can I possibly damage the pic or shift registers ect...????

Ok I have reloaded the SRIO program and have found that I am getting very stable 5v on each differnet pin one at a time like it should work. I tried this test with just the core J8 ,then with the core and just the cables I am using and then finally with the dout connected and I keep getting 5v on those pins everytime. so far I have taken out the first SR on the DOUT board only. Should I remove the other three aswell? I am getting 5v on the pic pin with the SRIO test so I don't see why I would be getting 4.6 and 4.4 with the SEQ and DOUT test program. I guess my next step would be to take out the rest of the SR chips???? :-\ Am I making sense? ??? One more thing using SRIO test. When I changed the pin to SC or RC on the program I would not get a voltage on pin 5 of the SR's socket (without the SR chip installed) (Pin 5 meaning from the bottom right of the IC socket going left towards J1) Is this normal and even worth mentioning? jimp I don't fully understand what you mean by having to use a scope for some testing. Thanks for all of your suggestions though! :D

OK I am now getting 4.6v on the pic pin that goes to J8 SO while running SEQ 3.2. And that voltage is also found at J8 SO CORE and J1 SO DOUT. All of the leds still light up on the DOUT. For some reason I get a 5v on one of the Shift register chips every now and then and there is no solder bridge. I am normally getting 5v on the SR chips only on three pins. I will try to take out the SR if anybody can assist me without using an IC removal tool. On rare ocasions I don't get any volts to any DOUT pins and the led goes off but I just slighty moved the DOUT board. Am I dealing with a ground problem? I have the core and the dout sitting in a metal case just laying there and the metal case is on a anti static mat which has my wrist strapped to it.

I just ran the SRIO test program and my pic now outputs 5v and not 4.4v anymore on that particular pin that goes to J8 SO. I am going to re load the SEQ program and see if I can get just one track led to light at a time. i will let you know how that goes. I should probably get a chip removal tool because I am afraid to take the chips out any other way. Unless there is a simple and safe method.

What are some recommendations for pcb creation? And where to go to get it made in ths US?

Alright I finally tested some voltages @ J8 on the core and found that SO outputs 4.4v and VD outputs 5v and RC outputs 5v. I followed the SO pin to a pin on the PIC and the PICs pin also is outputting 4.4v The soldering looks fine at J8 SO and the pin on the pic that it runs from. Is there anything besides bad soldering at these two points that would cause the 4.4v? Is there another pin that is "connected" to the pin on the PIC besides J8 SO? On the DOUT board I get 5v on every D pin on every shift register. I also get a very small voltage from SC on the CORE and the DOUT but it is only .04v

Hey wilba what are your plans for MBFM? :D

I'm still in! ;) Regards

I am battling which type of board is best for mounting tactile switches. I am building the MBSEQ and wanted 6-7 inches wide X 3 inches to mount two rows of 8 tactile switches. So basically one board under one lcd and the other board under the other lcd. I plan to just panel mount the encoders. I thought veroboard is good but it is all that I've tried and that 6-7 x3 size is hard to find for me. Can anyone point me in the right direction for boards this size? Or larger as I can surely cut them.

On the DOUT board, only the outer pins of J1 can be used right? I tried the inner J1 pins and couldn't get anything to work. All 5 connectors on J1 for vs,vd,so,sc and rc all go to J8 on the core right? I am using smash's DOUT R3 board. The wiring is going to the right place I believe because I did seperate connections on crimp pins with heat shrink on each of them to wire individually to the J8 core and J1 DOUT outer pins. I will try to move some wires around and see what happens.

Nils. I am building a MBSEQ 3.2. The DOUT board is fully stuffed and the only thing connected to it is the core and one led which I have on a crimp connector to easily switch pins to diagnose. I will have to check Voltages still... Jidis. I will have to check the default DOUT test program files to see if it is set correctly for one DOUT fully stuffed. (I just assumed that this was the way it would be setup) After hearing what you guys have to say I am worried now that it might be a bad shift register because its not properly "shifting volts around" to the correct pins. The other thing is that EVERY shift register does the same thing with lighting up/sending volts to every D pin.

So I guess I have a problem somewhere? I am still a little confused with Smash's current DOUT R3 board's SO pin @ J1 and J8 @ the core. I individually wired each connection to make sure I got the wiring correct with these as well as the other 4 connections. My soldering is fine and I tried different wiring combinations with the led light as well just to experiment. Did the software possibly not install correctly? In MIOS the HEX upload had no problems that I could see. Everything said it uploaded. I did have another program uploaded before it thought. Do I have to do some kind of format? (unlikely but thought I'd ask)

This thread has been solved!! For some reason on the DOUT R3 board from smash tv, ONLY the inner SO pin of J1 will work for connecting to J8 @ the CORE! otherwise ALL of your leds will light up! I kept thinking it was something else to do with bad soldering or cabling or grounding ect... I have uploaded the dout test program to see if a single led would light from any of the douts. I left the default settings alone which should light only the led at SR#1 D0. I moved the led light to other D pins and the led still lit up on every other pin aswell. This shouldn't happen right? I thought only one led at only a single D pin is supposed to be able to light at a time. Then you change the SR and D pin selection to make another led light up. So do all the leds normally light up or are they suppossed to be selected on the LCD in order to light up?

I have finally uploaded the dout test program to see if a single led would light from any of the douts. When you start the program it is on shift reg #1 and D0 0x00. I never changed this setting which should light only the led at SR#1 D0. I moved the led light to other D pins and the led still lit up on every other one. This shouldn't happen right? I rewired J8 from the core with individual connectors to go straight to J1 on the DOUT because I thought this would better help me understand the routing of signals and noticed that only the outer pins on J1 of the DOUT can be used and the inner pins cannot be used. I am using Smash's DOUT R3.

I will have to check it out. Thanks for the heads up. I was mainly going to transfer the tracks to get a better understanding of the "notes between notes" i.e how to make 64 notes on a 32 note sequence. I like surgical sputtering sequences :) I think a simple midi file loader would be a nice touch to the next SEQ update. If possible of course.

Hello every body. I am working on some songs that are in logic 5.5 on pc and was curious if there is any way to port over 16 midi tracks to the seq? Or would maybe sysex be the way to do this? Would it be as simple as using midi ox to send a midi file and then save to seq? I wanna take my old and current tracks and slap them on the seq because you gotta have the classics when you jam.

Maybe this isnt the right genre but the SKAM label rules!