rosch

today i 've made the decision to step-C upgrade my little now to be stereo MBsid and ordered all parts that hadn't been designated to be in before at mike's. so maybe he'll call me by end of the week... this time i will favour the stand alone version over having it rack mounted (a quite unusual decision to me as a rack enthusiast) because i have here a very nice old tube radio housing. it's actually a wooden frame with round corners ??? and enough room in it to put in a whole bunch of SID and cores plus finally AOUTNG+ the required magic SSM filters by seppoman!! so, finally knowing the control surface and case i'll use i can start the work on my frontpanel which will be very custom diy! more pics will follow in a few days i hope... @ Flemming: still thinking about your idea regarding the encoders below the LCD (2x40??). ok it won't happen in this my first project but later when having learnt more about knob / enc assignment etc i'll probably go for something like that, if possible. but imagine them with both functions, e.g. the LFO depth encoder used as button to swap the waveform etc. you'd have the leds near the enc. and that would perhaps be possible without changes at all, because you'd need a button anyway... how about that? my fear was that you could easily change values without intend to by pressing the button. but having removed the detention of some of my panasonic encoders i think they're still detented enough to not change value too easily. but i haven't had any others till now...

i don't know exactly, but i'd think you'd have to put the DINX board into a separate case with the buttons & encoders. that would require a cable with 5 flexible wires to the core module. but there are some important things to be considered: a) the connections must be very safe and stable in order to not injure any of the connected modules by accident. b) it's a maximum of only 5V to be carried twice (!) through a thin cable therefore it couldn't be very long distance. but that's just one electrical point of view, not knowing about the special issues of a uC circuit in detail. another's the design: you can build it up very flat if you're using the original C64 PSU. then you'd have only thin pcbs inside that case. take a look at Wilba's design, it's very flat and that's the big 4 pic + 8 sid solution. with only 2 sid, 1 core, 1 dinx and maybe a dout, all mounted behind the control surface (pcb), good insulation against each other and the case you should be able to get a very light weight synth. but that's only my first thought about it, i have no experience... (newbie myself)

i missed the 1st bulk order too. but there's some hope there could be a second run if there's enough interest for these filters.

ok first look then ask MMC=midi machine ctrl

haha better not atm, mine's a REAL mess.

i'm reading the manual but i'm not sure yet. midi clock should work actually. you CAN control it externally, even via smpte, and you could use it as slave in a midi environment. MTC = midi time code? what's MMC? :-[ i guess you're thinking about things like externally switching song tempo, fader assignment change by ext. command? hm and it should accept program change too so you could tell it to load a certain file from harddisk? ??? reading...

in my case there's no need to hurry... i won't start with the sequencer before march/april anyway. i'm just glad you're doing that bulk again!

:-[ to me it seemed very professional... i've only seen that link to the guy who explains how to solder them with some "flux" and just an iron. so, if this isn't prof i'm looking forward to soldering an OPL3 soon myself :)

:D edit: removed inappropriate indecent allusion ;)

atm i don't know how to do it at all- i've made a mistake with the DINX4,so i will have to expand the control surface to some degree. the encoder/button combination was just a thought..., but i have 1 important question right now: is it possible to take for example just the FILTER and LFO section and give them buttons, encoders and led while having the OSC and ENV sections still accessible via the LCD encoder & buttons like in step A? these & the MM are options i could expand to in the future. i hope such thing can be done without completely rewriting the menu structures..? thanks

yes i also thought of additional encoders that correspond to the writings on the LCD, but when looking at TK's complete control surface i noticed that for different functions there'd be different encoders and i'd have to change assignments what i'm not able to. i think i'll better do it the way it is recommended. buttons as buttons & encoder as encoders, but in this case ...MORE!!! so now i'm going to add LEDs too. i'd prefer red ones. is there anything to know about them so one would rather take others (like the blue ones being both bad taste and bad to the eyes) ?

my encoders also have a push button function. now i'm just wondering whether it's useful to use them as buttons, too. has anyone made experiences with that? perhaps confusing? or would you expect value changes when just intended to push a button? mine are very sluggish in detented mode... edit: or perhaps need to hold a button down while changing a value??

umm, i have them already filled to the brim, but i'm actually using just 9 buttons & 1 encoder at the moment ??? that would mean -either get a new DINX4 and stuff it just partly or -get a DOUTX4 to be able to use LEDs so it makes sense to add knobs & encoders. i think the 2nd's better :) haha it's becoming bigger every day my minimal least cost SIDV2 :D

hmmmm, very interesting! is this 8x8 MIDI router MIDIbox too? oh, and that double midi keyboard looks awesome! great! your video's containing very useful hints for newbies: uv-source, professional SMD soldering...

that's the control surface pcb, i'm trying how to put the LCD between the buttons. don't laugh, it's my first try! edit: also first try posting pictures, next time i'll reduce them... PANEL1.JPG PANEL2.JPG PANEL1.JPG PANEL2.JPG

few more... COREb.JPG SIDa.JPG COREb.JPG SIDa.JPG

i've built a CORE, SID and DINX4 and here are the promised pics... in promised poor quality atm... meanwhile i've ordered one more SID kit at Mike's to have at least a stereo SID. now i have some questions: 1. does the 2nd SID make changes necessary? i read about buttons to switch from stereo to 2xmono and an additional LED to show the mode... so i think the buttons are no problem, i've built a DINX4, stuffed completely. but for the 1 LED i'd already need a DOUT i guess?? 2. is it ok to build a complete DINX4 while using only a part? but somehow silly not to make use of the possibilities, but i thought it's better to build it in one run. so if it's dangerous or likely to cause undesired effects, i'll have to look for some more knobs etc to make use of the whole thing so let's have a look at some pics! all without cables, but i'll have to wait for my PIC anyway... SIDV2d.JPG dinx4a.JPG SIDV2d.JPG dinx4a.JPG

yes, but to some degree it can! there's at least the control of the main functions like play, record, cue, punch / drop, stop, back to start. to ctrl this you can assign an octave on your midi keyboard, which in my understanding could be represented by a MIDIbox. all connections are via midi. exceptions are smpte, sync & trigger options but these are additional options (human touch, unitor hardware). but i'll have to check what else would be possible, too. i've also recorded control changes in realtime, like volume control etc. with a DX7 and it worked. sysex too, but that's a thing i'll have to learn more about... so i think all this should be possible. but this will be the reading job :) edit: mutes and other track parameters like delay, transpose etc are recordable too (mouse) and there the search begins...

yes i'll do that. it can take some time, but i'm sure one could start here with a small unit and then expand it step by step, too, as with MBSID & others. the most I need atm (aside from money) is understanding how these things run, think that means reading.

oh does that mean you have an atari too? i have neither been that deep into notator nor MIDIbox HUI. i just know you could eg define an octave on the keyboard as control keys for start, stop etc. and there must be more functions externally controllable, you can mute tracks, change everything in realtime and screen record that too. but i've been doing most things by mouse, modulation wheel etc. but i'll have to spend some time reading in my notator manual to know things exactly as well as the MIDIbox HUI section. will take some time, but good to know! i've notator sl with unitor, export, human touch so it has 3xMIDI IN and 6xMIDI OUT, 4 of which have priority for timing critical devices like drumcomputer etc.

that's how i'm doing it too, at the moment i can just afford the minimal one (1st try mono). but i definitely will have a 6582 too... so now i'm having my 1st experiences with MIDIbox hardware and there'll be a lot to learn anyway... and a lot of projects, too!

Doug Wellington is doing great 6582 panels, i don't know if the bulk order's running atm. here's the link to his dokuwiki page where you can join the list: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=dougwellington_mb6582_panels edit: here's the forum thread you can follow: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,11073.0.html

has anyone built a MIDIbox device to control the old c-lab / emagic Notator SL on atari ST? i always thought i wouldn't need such a controller because i have no software synth or harddisk recording system. but recently i realized i'm wrong: i'm using an old atari st with notator as multi track midi sequencer. so i think this would be a good reason for building sth like that... so if someone's using a MIDIbox with this or knows what's best in this case, please let me know!!! thanks rosch

yes it was the special letter, but it's all running now! thanks for your help! in this case building the small sid has been a quick decision due to lack of money but need for sid... i like rack mounted devices so that would be first choice. and 2RU wouldn't be a problem, as you say, for there are so many features that can be added afterwards without need for a completely new surface then. i'm also following m00dawgs PSU thread, an important topic to me... there's a lot to learn. now that i have the original sid & core kits including regulator chips i'll use the original C64 supply for this one so i'll have to build me a custom device with separate transformers later for the 6582 where +/-(?) 12V reg should be included with regard to adding some analog filters then, too. but that's future.

i didn't own a c64 either, first time i heard it as sidstation promo sample on a keyboards magazine cd i believe end of the 90ies and that was making it clear i would have to play that thing. the sound of the sid differs from both analogue & digital synths i've known. but now listening to the demo videos and sound samples here & on ucapps you wouldn't probably need more reasons for building a MB SID. so, i've just started...