Smithy

Haha yep, and looks like I was totally wrong to say that you may not be willing to build your own! Really glad you came all this way and are enjoying the project. Those cheap HDD PSU's do tend to heat up a bit, and are made from really low quality plastic, and you'd probably break the case trying to open it. I'm guessing that it does work with C64's though since they're selling it, but since Bridge Rectifiers convert AC to DC, it probably wouldn't be good to supply it with DC. That particular C64 PSU would be built a lot better and you can always replace the fuse or other parts if anything happens down the line. I remmoved the link to reduce the chances of getting outbid. Thanks for the confirmation.

P.S. I hope you're not building solely to get the Blade Runner sound you were obsessed with! :thumbsup: Hehe.

Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of an Irishman. That's 3 confirmed Irish posters on the forum. I used to be the only Irishman in the village at one stage. Welcome. Getting back to your question: I was only thinking about the 2 rails provided by HDD power supplies lately. The only issue though is that it puts out 12V DC and not 12V AC which is what the original C64 puts out. I think you may need to remove or bypass the Bridge Rectifier (B40C800) in the Optimized PSU. I remember asking one of the guys in the chat, if passing DC current through a Bridge Rectifier can be problematic, and if i remember correctly, it can cause problems. Maybe someone can confirm this. Another thing is that those cheap PSU's tend to get pretty hot, at least my one does when I have a 3.5" hdd hooked upto it. You might be better off going for a c64 PSU which can opened like the wedge shaped ones. The components can be replaced in those ones. I'm not sure if this one is can be opened, maybe someone else can confirm this too.

Apologies for dropping the F-bomb earlier, I didn't realize that TK already mentioned there is enough IOs.

So that's a yes then? The 26 GPIO headers will be plenty enough to interact with the modules? (The only reason I know now that they are GPIO headers is from the latest post on their blog) *insert naughty word here*

Unlimited POWAH! The concern I had was if the A8 had sufficient I/O pins to interact with the MB modules, since I have no idea how a "hobbyist" or "simpler" processor like the Microchip PICs etc... would compare to a more powerful processor like the A8 which I guess has a far more advanced architecture. Will the A8 require more components to interact with the modules? Or does it have similar I/O pins to ze current uC's we use? Edit: Realizing that the LPC17 is also an ARM processor, I see that the Broadcom chip would need to be sold in a similar manner, i.e. on a 3rd party PCB that allows for decent I/O interactivity. Still have no Idea if the Raspberry PI PCB would be sufficient enough though! ; Probably not I'd guess!

Fair point, but isn't it worth finding out more about this chipset first? To see if it can actually be of use as a future core for the MIDIbox platform? And at a later point in the future a decision can be made.

Would it be worth introducing the MIDIbox platform in this subforum? http://www.raspberrypi.org/forum?mingleforumaction=viewforum&f=4.0 Especially since the aim of the Raspberry Pi is to get young people into programming, very cheaply. A thread introducing an Open Source project like MIDIbox would be a breath of fresh air, as most posts on their forum are about using the device as an everyday PC, so they could do with more programmers posting there. If collaboration is viable, then it may enable us to get information about the chipset faster, as well as general info. I think the MIDIbox project would gather a positive response, as music is a very attractive and good outlet for young people.

Hehe, the murphy's would probably have done it some good! There was a few leds not lighting when I made that video and the cabling detoriated over time. I went and soldered the cables to the pins on the Baseboard like you done in the end. The Base Board connectors fit in okay, but the crimps qwew a bit loose inside them, so the contact wasn't great, and certain things went unpowered. The connectors and crimps I used were the low profile version (brown) of the 3 Pin ones used for Chasis Fans in PC's, or even the Power LED in the Commodore 64 (the holes are quite big). So I would recommend using Smash TV's style crimps and connectors (the same type that is used for HDD Leds, Power LEDs, and Reset Switch in a PC) as they provide a better contact. I may have to change the connectors on the CS PCB to these down the line, but so far It seems to be okay.

Get Oot of my thread you smelly inbred degenerative knacker! This board aint big enough for 2 Irishmen!

Well after soldering 66 wires yet again.... and after threatening to sell it for parts if it didn't work this time.... What happened? It worked! Its finally done and luckily the Earth hasn't imploded on itself... which means there will be time to play with it. :) There are 2 optional extras I must do down the line, like the LCD window and the feedback pots, but I think I'll have a bit of fun using it vanilla, before then!

I fapped. :sweat: Imagine the possibilities! My dream sequencer could easily become a reality. Something like MB SEQ V4 Lite, but with 16+ real time looping channels, with the ability to edit data on screen, and also playback of WAV Samples i.e. a drum machine or sampler. If the hardware proves to be the next logical step for midibox this could be a very exciting development indeed.

Thanks for sharing such an awesome little device! Just think of the possibilities! The cheapest 1080p media player/centre known to man. This will make my WDTV look like an overpriced piece of junk. There's just so many cool things you can do with this little guy. :)

There was this.... The Xerox Mockingbird Scoring & Recording program: (1980) Click this link to skip to the recording of the notation from a Synthesizer: #t=5m55s Just another example how the people of Xerox PARC were the true innovators of modern day computing.

LOL! I have never noticed that before, and I've bought quite a lot of stuff from the site!

Und ze Crazy Irischman makes a triple post: If you built a single Midibox SID first, then an MB-6582 like me* you could possibly create the signal path below, as you would have 9 Band Pass Filters: So the signal path would look like this: SID1 SAWTOOTH__->_____SID2____->____SID3 ______With BP_______A.In + BP_____A.In + BP SID4 SAWTOOTH__->_____SID5____->____SID6 ______With BP_______A.In + BP_____A.In + BP SID7 SAWTOOTH__->_____SID8____->____SID9 ______With BP_______A.In + BP_____A.In + BP A.In = Audio Input BP = Band Pass Filter. SID9 = Your single MB-Sid * When i say built, i don't mean 100% finished. ;)

Using the filters in parallel would achieve better results actually. So lets say we played the exact same preset on all 8 SIDs, but with a different Cutoff frequency for each of the 8 Filters set to Band Pass. Would this have the same effect as using filters in Parallel? Obviously without having the audio output of each sid going to each input in the next, this time round.

SAM used the good oul PCM trick by shifting the Volume Register on the SID rapidly, so none of the actual oscillators are used. Somebody needs to try Formant Synthesis with the MB-6582. Have each SID Audio output connected to the Audio Input of the SID next to it, and use Band Pass filtering on each SID. something like this: Flemming was explaining the band pass approach to me one day in the chat, and I thought it would be cool if someone tried it with a bunch of SIDs. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar01/articles/synthsec.asp

Yep, maybe the embedded vimeo vids on midibox.org/blog gave you the impression that it was done on the forum before.

Testing:

An 8-bit Atmega based synthesizer in an organ shell. Over 1-million views in 10 days, i didnt think such a video could generate that many views! :blink: Edit 2: The video is actually a year old, i mebbé haz teh dislechsia. Edit: I guess its down to how well its presented and how well he has played the tracks,and made them sound so close to the originals.

haha,you're probably giving me too much praise for the drums but glad you enjoyed them! Another nice track! Parts of your style reminds me of Ulrich Schnauss at times. :)