Echopraxia

Hey TK, Is there a function in place to copy drum track configurations to other patterns (note and chord tracks as well)? I made a pattern in A1 and used the copy function to get the notes over to A2 but I want to be able to also copy all the mappings of the track ect. When you just copy notes over to A2 the drum note configuration is the default. Is there a second copy command to copy these additional parameters to the other patterns. Would be handy if its a separate function that's not tied in to the regular copy command. Regards, echo

Thanks for clearing that up for me Wilba. If I went with livid pads do you think I also need to get the spacers that they sell as well to hold the pads in place? Or you think the switch and panel would hold the pads in place? I assume that's what you meant by adding regular spacers because the pads are attached permanently to the sheet and putting regular spacers strategically would support the sheets pretty good. regards, echo

Woohoo! Awesome!! Wilba, I assume you made it like your mb-seq layout so the same tact switches from that build can be used for this new layout? And if your not using e-switches, what will you be using for yuor own build? Looking more at the layout, where are the led holes located? Are they in the center of the switches? If so wouldn't this restrict the possible options? Can you please clarify. I'd have to assume the cheapest solution to build this thing would be to use the e-switches/panasonic light touches with no caps and have the led hole placed just above the switch hole like in your MB-SEQ control surface pcb. That way you can drill your own panel switch and led holes. If I did it this way I would only be looking at $36 for switches, maybe $10-$15 for leds, maybe $15-$20 in resistors, diodes and shift registers plus the PCBs. So possibly only $170+shipping to make it without a custom case and panel but still have good functionality. From looking at the picture of your layout we just need to get some DIN and DOUT boards connected to this thing right? Or are you also planning driver boards? And just to clarify for myself, this is primarily designed as an extension to MB-SEQ correct? So would you chain from the J2 port of your control surface pcb to the extra DIN and DOUT modules/driver boards needed then to the BLM? So many questions... Regards, echo

Sweet. I'll post results.

Here I go again. :whistle: Just trying to understand the wiring of the LED Button Matrix. Looking at the DIN diagram it has J8 D1 being split to 4 wires then each of the split wires goes to a separate 1N4148 diode then to the matrix row buttons and then from the buttons straight to the DOUT board J4 D2-D5. Am I right so far? Then the led cathodes get wired to the same J4 D2-D5 on the DOUT but go before the resistors? Is this correct? I am lucky I have some spare diodes from Wilba's seq build and I believe they are the same kind. So from the DIN board J8 D1, I can take one wire and use a wire stripper to make 4 points on it to solder diodes to? Like this (starts at the bottom and goes up)(please excuse my poor wannabe spreadsheet. Its supposed to be 4x columns) To DOUT J4________D2___D3__D4__D5 Row buttons________^____^____^____^ Diodes 1-4_________1____2___3____4 From DIN J8 D1>-------^------^-------^--------^ <--- this is the ribbon cable with the (^) being stripped bare wire. My last question for now is, does the LED Matrix get wired to the ground like the other LEDs? Looking at the DOUT diagram they appear not to be connected to ground. I probably should invest in a cheap breadboard to test this. Regards, echo

Is this a new build or is this a working MBFM that has recently been having problems? In the USA so can't help there. Wouldn't the op-amps have something to do with the quality of the sound? Anyone? Are your power supplies still giving good voltage?

Thanks. That's what I needed!

Not to much of a bump here. I am configuring my MBFM and I am having issues with the speed of the encoders. I have tried the different encoder modes Detented, Detented2,3,4,5 and have not had any luck finding the sweet spot. I also tried the absolute fast and slow settings described above. I have better results using detented2 and 3. I can turn the data encoder very slow to step up one but if i turn it a full click it jumps 4 spaces. Any suggestions. I understand there is a topic on this in German but i can't read German :( My link Regards, echo

Well I decided to clean up my solder on my opl3 chips (I get very nervous about smds, de-soldering wick and flux paste ect) and now I have good news. So far I seem to be getting good responses from changing values now. I haven't checked everything yet but so far everything seems very promising. I can't thank every one enough for your support. Now I will check on the encoders speed (forgot about that) and finish my led matrix and rewire the grounds for less hiss on the audio. Regards, echo

Seq pic did not help. I still get the same behavior with the new pic. So do I have to believe that I have bad ymf or bad yacs now? I have also used midi ox to send cc values to the MBFM and get the same strange behavior.

I have not tried the other pic yet but I have been monitoing MIOS studio and have noticed that communication gets cut off between MIOS and the Core randomly. Do this solve my problem? I will try the other pic soon.

I just tried uploading on a new computer and was able to change the cc values on mios studio 2.1 without affecting the note behavior ( I was however not getting any response and thought this was possibly normal). So I thought maybe things would work now but I am still getting the behavior when using the control surface. :angry: And now i even noticed that my encoders are scrolling way fast and pretty much jumping from say patch 1 to 5 to 8 to 14 ect. I am going to try my seq pic a little later.

I just tested the core to opl3 interconnection test and it each pin registered 4.8v steady one by one. I was using mios studio to switch through the pins with the virtual keyboard. I then uploaded the test tone again (I could hear the test tone) then uploaded the MBFM hex. At this point I could play notes fine but when I tried to adjust the default cc values in mios studio (right above the virtual keyboard)I would then get the weird note behaviors. So it is not just my control surface that is doing this. Somewhere from the pic to ymf to yac it gets buggy? I read on the other post (that was linked a few messages back) about pin 2 of the yac512s being connected to ground. It should not be solder joined with the caps c3 and c5 that are real close to pin 2 of yacs correct? I am going to try to upload the hex from another computer now. echo

I have a good connection between the core,din and the control surface as I see the parameters changing on the lcd display like they should. It is the audio that is not responding correctly to the parameter changes. I would have to think now that this is a YMF/YAC problem (This is the second new old stock that I have tried) Would the Tl op-amps have anything to do with this unresponsive behavior? I am off tomorrow and will have some time to go through the core opl3 interconnection test. I will also try to upload the MBFM hex file from another computer to rule a out a buggy computer. Again thank you for your replies. Regards, echo

Yes 4.9v is very stable. Can I touch the ICs with my finger when they are turned on without frying them? There are obviosly still a few things I could learn about electronics. I currently am using a 9vAC 400ma to pwer the core. I have switched between the mbfm testone and mbfm hex a few times but I will try again. Thanks for all your replies. I will try the interconnection test again and if it is successful does that mean my pic and ymf are good? Could it be that my pic is only partially bad? Should I try with my 18F4620? When I built the ultracore I put a header on j14 but that shouldn't cause a problem right? I also have 2 out of 8 banksticks connected and they did auto format when MBFM hex was loaded. Is there any reason they are the problem? I also retried the jsynthlib editor and was able to make the mbfm audio cut out when changing parameters from jsynthlib but I did not hear any changes on the FM itself and the midi is sending correctly I believe. Regards, echo

Ok I have good 4.9v on both core ics, good 4.9v on the YMF and the 2x YACs, good 12v + -12v on the 3x tl op amps and good 4.9v on all the DIN ICs. I tried adjusting the volume for each instrument and operator to zero and I was still getting audio with no change in volume. I am using pic18f452 and I don't have the led on the opl3 board soldered in. I used the opl3 interconnection test before but will try it again. I have not found any bad solder joints yet but I am still looking. Is it something to do with the 14.318 osc/crystal? Is there a way to test it? The lfo functions work fine but I still get the weird notes every few notes and other parameters don't seem to do much or anything at all. i also noticed a digital scratching noise when adjusting certain parameters while playing the keys almost like a scratchy analog pot. Any other thoughts? Regards, echo

Thanks for getting back to me. I have had no time to check anything yet but the cable from the core to the opl3 board is as small as it can be without the two boards back to back (Its only like 2 inches long) When I last uploaded the test tone hex the test tone was working just fine. Where should I check for voltages? At the yacs and ymf? If every thing is normal with the voltages where do I go next? If I have weird voltages where should I look? I may be asking more questions than I should be but maybe you know what to do next :) I'll check voltages and soldering errors when I get a chance and report back. Would it possibly have anything to do with the panel that the encoders are mounted on? The encoders are screwed in with a nut to a metal panel? I would try to change parameters with the jsynthlib program but I can't get it to talk with the MBFM. My XP computer is buggy too :( regards, echo

I got my MBFM fired up and have to say the sounds this things make are wonderful. I am having a problem with the whole unit though. I can play any where from 1 to 5 notes and they will play fine but then I get a very different note usually much higher at about the 3-6 note played. I have played with the LFOs and have the desired results but if I try to mess with certain attacks on different pages the unit goes crazy as well. When I turn on the MBFM it usually starts off with the random note issue and a couple of times I got it to fire up without any issues but when I started playing with knobs I would get the craziness wacko behavior. I had the same issue with the random notes last time I made a opl3 board and core. I have a new core and new opl3 board and good chips I am pretty sure. Would your first guess be to check soldering/joint errors? Ground issue? Any guidance would be grateful. Regards, echo

I would say if the transpose page stayed on octave or semi, whichever being the last setting used globally, would not do much good. I would tend to forget that I set it to semi and make a mistake during jamming. Anyone else? I was not thinking of that. I was thinking about being able to record stuff like cc movements or transpose switches into the track. Say record cc messages from the mixer map to the track and have it play them back automation style. Elektron machine drum does this I think. For transpose I was thinking that you would record enable track for live recording maybe and press the transpose keys and watch your transpose keys automate on the second pass in the pattern since it was recording the changes. This may be a big effort and hassle and is not a priority at all. Regards, echo

+1 Awesome and totally inspiring! As to the 4 layers, even more awesome.

Hello, I posted this in the MBFM topics but thought I should post here as it does not really pertain to MBFM now that I think of it:) I am using an ultracore with a 2x40 lcd from nebula's old bulk order. My link I can get it to light up and adjust the contrast but that is it. I have confirmed my ultracore works as it communicates and uploads from MIOS studio. The ultracore is supposed to be a 1:1 connection with this lcd display correct? I have tested the lcd on another regular core8 and it works fine. Do I need to place jumpers any where at JP1? I tried pulling out the resistor R12 on the ultracore but that only made the lcd contrast un-adjustable ( I read somewhere that this might help). Any help would be appreciated. Regards, echo

Hello, I got an ultracore and using it to build a MBFM. I got it all hooked up but the lcd display does not work. I have the one from nebula's old bulk order here. My link I can adjust the contrast and the backlight comes on. LCD does work with another core. I read from this post here that r12 resistor needs to come off for MBFM? Fuzzylizard talks about r12 only needs to be stuffed if an IIC is stuffed on the ultracore if for mbfm. I don't wanna desolder the resistor if I don't have to as I have confirmed the ultracore works as it communicates properly with MIOS studio. Where would I put the jumpers for jp1? or do i need the jumper mounted at all? Do I need to get rid of r12 resistor? Regards, echo

I was also thinking about rocket travel. and being able to record the transpose movements from the panel buttons or from ext keyboard :rolleyes: I would take a simple one note chord and use the transpose function on the front panel to make melodies. I guess I can always lengthen the track out and copy paste and change the bars accordingly. Regards, echo

Great work :thumbsup: Beta22 was just what I needed. I was transposing a drum track and like what semitone was doing for me on that particular track. I want to be able to always go to semitone first when I select the transpose page but only want it to change this setting per track, per pattern. Can we select the semitones first per track (instead of octave) without having to press the select button? I feel this would make using different keys on different tracks more instinctive because of lack of pressing select. As an alternative to this I was also thinking using the last known placement of oct-semi from the trigger page. so what ever you had selected last will still be active on when you come back to that page ( per track of course. Regards, echo