Snoozr

Whoa - thanks everyone! I am clearly out of my league here ;) The plan was not necessarily for speech but that was the example that came to mind. I had remembered hearing about FFT a long time ago and for some random reason I thought to myself (in fluent Dummy-ese) "I wonder if we could put a sound back together?" Sounds like IFFT would do this. The idea was to use a subset of sines so as to kind of approximate or degrade the signal in specific ways. It would be neat if I could say "Hi" and then strip out different pieces so as to modulate the sound in various ways. Or you could replace a given sine with a saw, etc. At least it would be different than the good old phaser, flanger, filter sweep, etc. I will follow up on these links. Again, thanks - this forum has so many smart people on it.

Emphasis on the dummies part of that ;) I was curious if anyone knows of software that can do the following - suppose I have a WAV file of me saying "Hi". Suppose I would be curious to approximate this with, say, 10 sine waves. So I load the wav file and the software will tell me it can be reproduced with "Sine wave 1: 1203 hz, length .7 seconds; Sine wave 2 ..." I understand that a regular FFT will give me spikes at the right frequencies, but a.) I don't have regular software and b.) I was hoping to get more digestible output. Thanks everyone.

Thanks Nebula. I sense a new project in my near future :)

Wow - you guys were so right on the batteries! Also, the PSU is one of these switching voltage kinds (from Wal-Mart no less), so probably it is not doing a great job. I will try getting a new PSU for it. There are only two places to get PSUs around here - the above for El Cheapos and Radio Shack at almost triple the price. Is there a manufacturer that you all like that is available via Mouser or some such internet distributor? I haven't the faintest idea who is a quality manufacturer. This little guy here runs on 9V. Come to think of it, the Wal-Mart PSU was being used on the SID so I probably need to get something from Mouser for that too. Thanks again - I was having to undo the hum by using "noise subtraction" (can't remember the right word) of my samples. PS - if you have one of these little guys, hang on to it. Seems like the price is going up on the Bay.

Hi everyone, Having kind of finished a SID (it makes sounds but I still want to add some more buttons etc someday), I have gotten to the point where I can do some basic soldering without burning my fingers. :) I have an old Boss DR 110 drum machine. It's fun but it has a small hum in it. Kind of like when you touch a guitar cable and you hear that hum. Here the hum gets louder when I put my hand near the DC In. So that seemed like a clue to me. I found the schematics online for it at http://www.theninhotline.net/dr110/110scheme.zip. The voice board is in there as VBSCHEME.gif while there is also a CPU board schematic in CPUSCHM.gif. I was wondering how I might get started in tracking down a hum using this schematic. I assume something might not be grounded (???) which is causing the hum. I would have never even bothered if I didn't feel emboldened by my Midibox - so thanks to you all for all the info to date. If this is too off-topic to ask about, just tell me to shut up and please accept my apologies in advance. Also, for those of you with interests in old drum machines, there is a description of how the voicing circuit operates. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me but it might be neat for the MB-808 folks. Thanks again.

Incredible what it does to "Roxanne". Roxanita anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypycpKQxXR0&feature=related

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2009/01/18/wnamm09-exclusive-linn-drum-2-interview/

oasis (oasys?)

Of all these videos, I still think of Katzeklo probably once a week! Too bizarre - I am scarred for life :) :)

Hi again everyone, I thought I would try to solve a more basic and puzzling problem before I move on with my SID. I had 2 6581s and after checking in Rutger's editor (which is really great!!) I found they both had this same characteristic which is Osc 1 is perfectly fine, Osc 2 makes a shriek on keypress, and Osc 3 makes a quiet click on keypress. I had seen on the forums that the 6581s were often dicey so I thought - well maybe it's the chips. I very recently bought 2 more 6581s from a fellow midiboxer on ebay (really nice guy BTW) who had tested them on his workbench and said all 3 oscs were fine. So that was great. However, when I plugged them in to my setup, I got the same deal: Osc 1-OK, Osc 2-noise, Osc 3-click. Having 4 chips with the same characteristic (especially now) makes me wonder whether I got something wrong. As an additional check, I built a completely separate 2nd Sid module with a 2nd Smash board just in case my first one was bad. I tested the chips in there. Still the same situation. I used the 7812 regulator and the 4701 caps on Smash's boards. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar situation and can point me in the right direction. I thought maybe it's a soldering issue with regard to just Oscs 2 & 3 and so I tried to look up on Wikipedia which SID pin corresponds to which oscillator but I couldn't figure it out. The only thing I can think of is maybe I goofed up the core (although it powers up fine and works well with MidiOX). ALso I have to run the Sid module on a separate 15v because my C64 power supplies weren't good. I read this might add a bit of noise but didn't think it would be Osc specific. I'm attaching some audio files in case anyone wants a listen. Chip 1 Lead Patch.mp3 is a recording based on the first patch in the patches bank. I did 2 keypresses for the default patch, then 2 presses for Osc 1, 2 presses for Osc 2, and 2 final presses for Osc 3. Lead Patch sounds fine as a default because it doesn't seem to use Osc 2+3. Chip 1 Techno PWM.mp3 is from the 2nd patch in the bank. Again, 2 presses for default, Osc 1 only, Osc 2 only, and Osc 3 only. It uses Osc 2+3 and so sounds bad as default. Chip 2 Lead Patch.mp3 is like the first recording but with one of the ebay chips. There's a little bit of hum between tones - that is ye olde Fender guitar amp. I guess worst case scenario is that I can just take what I have and get 4 oscs out of 4 chips, but as any synth player knows it would be a shame to throw away 2/3rds of one's polyphony. Thanks for any thoughts !!! Chip 1 Lead Patch.mp3 Chip 1 Techno PWM.mp3 Chip 2 Lead Patch.mp3

Great - that is a really elegant solution about separating out the one line!!! I am looking forward to trying it out right after I log out. ;D If it works (which I am sure it will), I will repost a confirmation because it looks like a very easy and elegant way for beginners (as opposed to a rat's nest of wires I was contemplating). Then, according to the diagram at http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_8xsid_c64_psu_optimized.pdf from Note #3 at bottom left, I have to snip out my 7805 and then short out the two outside pins. I don't know if this applies to me as I am running a separate 15v power supply to the Sids as my C64 power supplies were busted (hence, no optimized circuit for me, but the separate 15v has worked so far). Does this sound right to anyone - I would hate to clip out my 7805 and then have to desolder and resolder in a new one as I am really bad at desoldering. I also have to short out my J4s (I think) and then I am done. THANKS ;D ;D ;D ;D

OK - thanks everyone. ;D ;D ;D I guess I just got too hung up on the 1:1 thing. (When doing mono, I found about 10 posts saying it was 1:1 but that must be mono only)

Hello everyone, I am trying to add a second Sid module from Smash for a stereo version. There are a lot of post documenting that there is a one to one relationship between J2 on the Sid module and J10 on the core module in terms of wiring with a ribbon cable. So far so good for Mono and I am done with Mono. When it comes to stereo I've found http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,11729.msg94305.html#msg94305 as being the closest to something that I can comprehend, but I'm not quite comprehending it as much as I was needing to. If I follow the "everything has a one-to-one relationship" logic, then what I thought it would do was take a piece of ribbon cable that was twice as long as the previous one. Then I would just put one extra IDC connector in the middle to go along with the standard 2 at the ends. Then just push down on the IDC connectors and prepare myself for some stereo madness. This is what I'm really hoping is correct because I like the ability to easily attach and detach the Sid module(s) as needed (I've had to do it dozens of times for various things). If I follow the "follow the http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_8xsid_c64_psu_optimized.pdf" logic, then I would abandon the one-to-one relationship and do a custom wiring job for both Sid modules according to the diagram. This is because I probably can't get Core J14 to be tied into my limited IDC skills. The weird part about this logic for me is that it contradicts the first one but it seems more consistent with the post above. Thanks gang ;D ;D

Received (in U.S.) - thanks! ;D ;D ;D ;D

If you want to check your work against mine, I posted some pics yesterday. The first stick was fine, but don't follow my wiring for #2-#4 as I had some troubles making out the text on the image. Search for message "Bankstuck"

Signed, soldered, delivered. Thanks gang! Now I'm going to give my newly purchased Dremel set a spin and work on the control surface. Wish me luck ;)

This is fantastic and just what I was looking for - great job Rutger!

Hi TK, Thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes, they are the Microchip Serial EEPROMs 512k so I think it is just my eyesight that is the problem here :)

Thanks - yeah I wondered about that and so that's why I went to Board 2 with isolated holes. I got the stripboard from Smash (so it must be Midibox approved ;D ;D). I found in the setup_6581.asm that it seems to indicate that 3 pins are connected to +5v. So looking back at http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_bankstick.html it seems there is some text which I could not quite read but must be +5v. Problem hopefully solved ;D ;D (at least the non-filter part).

Hi everyone, First let me say that getting my Sid up and kind of running (making a bit of sound anyway) has been my technical accomplishment of 2008! I'm stuck at the bankstick stage. I have 3. The first board I built has them numbered 1, 2, and 3. Only #1 works (it now has the 128 presets in it). I checked the connectivity and wiring numerous numerous times, switched chips around, etc. In frustration, I built a second board and wired up #4. #4 does not work either (again with checks for voltage, connectivity, shorts). The sid says "No Bankstick" when I try to switch in MidiOX. Specifically, it says E002|B001* Ld Chn. 1 1***|<No Bankstick> My soldering is passable enough that I think at least one out of #2, #3, and #4 should have worked just straight out of the box, and testing indicates they should all work. See pix below. So do I need to upload something to the Core to inform it about the banksticks? Tried a lot of poking around in the code and searches but was coming up dry. Alternatively, perhaps I misunderstood the multiple-bankstick wiring instructions but checked this many times as well. All wirings were the same for #1-#4 so can't explain why #1 works and others don't. On the bigger board, you can see that I just used vertical columns as "conduit wires" which the individual chips tapped into. This looks like the conduits on the wiring instructions (to me anyway). Also, I have noise on some patches which I understand is likely due to a bum 6581 filter. I understand the filter can be turned off somehow in the code but poking around in the code and searches again didn't give me any leads (that I could comprehend anyway). Thanks!

Thanks Stryd - I did some more searching but I was unable to locate a definitive answer one way or the other (I must have missed it). But if so, perhaps TK or someone with privileges can put a note in bold up at the top of this page ;D http://www.ucapps.de/jsynthlib.html

Hi everyone, I am working on my SID and am having a bit of trouble with JSynthlib. I am using the snapshot version posted here in light of the discussion here about SID compatibility. http://www.ucapps.de/jsynthlib.html I set up the MIDI preferences as indicated and include the SID driver. I then start a New Library and select Import. I browse to the C:\Program Files\MIOSStudio\midibox_sid_v2_0_rc20\presets folder and attempt to import that patch .syx file. However, nothing happens. If I try Import All (after removing the readme), it says "Can't import <filename+path>. Load a proper synth driver." Hmm - it already has this ... ??? I have tried selecting various combinations of the Import All dialog boxes (e.g., put patch name in Field 1, Field 2) to no avail. Tried it on a Win XP machine and a Vista machine - no dice. Checked version of Java to ensure compatability. Tried using some of the various other builds of Jsynthlib. Tried TK's suggestion about MIDI Yoke - nope. What does (kind of) work is that I can load the .syx file into Midi OX. I can then dump it to the SID (no bankstick by the way) using a very long delay between patches (like 4000 msec). I then can audition the patch (for four seconds!) and then it will move on. I can also yank out the midi cable when I get a patch I want. But of course this is not quite the best approach. It really seems like it's a JSynthlib issue. Is it something like the situation with Unix linefeeds where some programs can handle them (Midi OX) and others can't (JSynthlib)? That's the only parallel I was able to come up with. It seems like JSynthLib just does not know what to do with my copy of v2_vintage_bank.syx. Maybe someone has a patchlib version that I could use? Thanks gang.

Larry Mullen Jr. gets the short end of the stick on this one. U2 realized it was bad so this was never released. Apparently it got out not too long ago and was posted to YouTube.

Aww, Toni Basil's not *that* bad. ;) I remember that Toni Basil song from when I was a kid (and I am sure there were far worse songs on MTV back then). But did anyone else think that the chorus of April Lavigne's song about "I don't like your boyfriend...think you need a new one" was a pretty noticeable rip-off of Toni Basil? Same rhythm, pretty similar key, pretty similar delivery.

Got mine too - thanks a bunch! They look great ;D ;D ;D