Futureman

Of course, just I'm at the work computer... No MS paint on this PC.. I'll draw it up when I get homes.. lol.

Embarrassed... :-[ Worked it out.. I just needed to draw it out. Regards Mike

Ok, so I think it might be too early in the morning for my brain to work this one out... On the back of my synth, I'm gonna have two outputs (For the mixed sid's) of Left & Right.. But I want it, so when the right is not connected, the left & right get mixed (Slammed) together and appear on the Left output. I'll search around... but right now I'm drawing a blank. Regards Mike

Are meals provided?

Welcome! do you mean use it as a midi controller? Hard to say with out any details.. Some DMX lighting desks have midi on them for various things, but i've never seen them used as a midi controller.. infact, most of the ones I've seen only have a Midi in, which won't be that good for you.. If you want to change a fader (A linear potentiometer) for a knob (rotary potentiometer or pot) then, electrically there is no difference.. you just have to make sure it is of the same value, ie "100k Linear taper" or "B100k" Of course, then you are left with a big long hole / slot where the fader used to be ;] Regards Mike

You will need to remove / bypass the bridge rectifiers as these will drop the voltage by another 0.6 of a volt.. Regards Mike

Please don't cancel Super Poly mode... :o I've nearly just about finished building my massive Sid synth all because of this mode!!!!!! If you can re-init the voice allocation after any patch is changed, that would be super! I do realise that this is taking a fair amount of time to fix, and I really appreciate your help.. Kind regards Mike

... Back on topic... I played a lot more with SPM to see if I could find out when the bug happens.. placing 4 distinct voices (Saw / Square / Cymbal / Kick) in the ensemble and saving that. When returning to the ensemble, and then individually changing voices, the "hole" and double up in the voice rotation seemed pretty unpredictable.. sometime it was Hole - (1 + 2) - 3 - 4 1 - 2 - (3 + 4) - hole 1 - (2 + 3) - 4 - hole etc... Sometimes it was fine 1-2-3-4 I also noticed that while all 4 voices are selected & have the same patch etc, any change to the matrix routing is not duplicated in the other 3 voices ( 2 , 3 & 4 ) while other changes to the voices such as filter / osc controls seem to be all duplicated. This seems pretty fundamental to a poly synth working properly.. I find it pretty hard to believe that I'm the only person who has come across this bug? Am I missing something? As always, thanks for your input/help TK.. I know that I sure as hell would not be able to fix this on my own Regards Mike

Hey TK. I did update the firmware on all PICs (While holding down the menu button) I also verified the update with an firmware upload of the test tone app.. My example about the hole in the voice rotation was not that specific, sorry for the confusion, but It's hard to know which voices are getting missed / moved around / doubling up etc.. sometimes when I change an individual patch of a SID voice (While in Super Poly Mode) it will work fine, but sometimes it won't and I'll get a hole. Do you still want me to swap the Pics around? Do you think this is specific to my Sid Synth? Regards Mike

Hey there.. I uploaded the newer 6582 OS located in "midibox_sid_v2_rc26" and played with super poly mode a bit. I noticed that the same bug is there when change just one voice etc.. sometimes the "stack" gets out of sync and this problem SID 1 -> (SID 2 & SID 3) -> SID 4 -> HOLE Can still exist. I'm not sending the synth anything fancy other than keyboard info, and I'm not even pressing keys while changing just one patch. I do realise that this can be avoided by saving the multi patch, and then returning to it, but I honestly think that it's cool quirky tricks like this that make a synth memorable (There a heaps of normal bland vanila synths out there that play just like a normal poly) A couple of times, even when changing all patches at once (All 4 Sid voices selected) the above bug still happened. I looked at the 6582 file, and it was modified on 22/12/08, so I thought that maybe it had been fixed up? Could this have been overlooked? Sorry to be a pain, I would honestly fix it up if I knew how. Regards Mike

Here's probably the last picture (With details) of it's guts before it gets all buttoned up... excuse the messy cables.. Regards Mike 3- Exploded with details.JPG 3- Exploded with details.JPG

Yea, I was playing with that the other day (Same as you, blue screen, red clear plastic) and I was surprised how good it looked.. I thought it would look crappy / purple / hard to see etc, but it was pretty good. Regards Mike

But with 2 SID's you don't get Super Poly Mode.... My current fave trick is to set up all 4 voices with different sounds, and set up a sequencer (or play it).. the way it rotates through the different voices a-la Korg Mono-poly is pretty damn cool.. regards Mike

To quote Wilba- "Based on datasheet calculations, the 5V supply usage is ~1000mA. PICs are 23mA each, 6582A SIDs 70/100mA each, LEDs 100mA max, LCD ~280mA. If the SIDs are at the max current, then it's ~1200mA. 9V supply usage is ~320mA." Regards Mike

Another thing I've noticed today is the substantial drop of background noise when the audio inputs are tied to ground... A MASSIVE drop in noise.. I read TK mention this and I thought it would be a tad of a drop, but it's like the noise practically vanishes. I'll make sure the input sockets are connected to ground when nothing is connected. (I believe normalised is the correct word) I took apart the synth and primed & painted it yesterday & today with a Spray Epoxy in beige colour.. It looks good right now as the third (and probably final) coat is drying. It's quite funny playing with it, it's almost too huge sounding.. my advice for someone building a Sid synth is 2 Sid chips is plenty.. lol.. I've got some big sounding keyboards & it'll be interesting have a "who's the fattest" comp, and I know the SID's gonna give a few a run for their money. Regards Mike

Looks like Wilba said the black ones have more juice.. It's all redundant for me now, I've got mine running off a switchmode power supply.. Apparently it can deliver up to 6A !!! for the 5volt rail.. I guess I'm cross posting now, but I was surprised about the lack of induced noise into the Synth when running off a switchmode PS considering all the no-no's I've read about them and audio circuits. Regards Mike

Switchmode works brilliantly! I did not notice any extra noise etc when A-B ing the C64 power supply & The switchmode.. I've fed the 12v DC from the switmode into J25 (the one labeled 9~11 vdc), so after that it gets regulated to 9v DC.. It's a nice and small PS which does not emit any noticeable heat.. Speaking of heat, I've got to get some heatsinks for the SID chips.. they sure do run nice and warm! Regards Mike

I went to my local electronics shop today (Jaycar for the Aussies) and was looking at meaty power transformers.. I decided I'd try out a pre-built switchmode one.. if it doesn't work or puts too much noise in the system i can return it.. I'm not sure if people here have tried a switchmode PS, but it will emit waaaay less heat & is rather small for something that can deliver 5Amps on its 5v rail, and 3Amps on its 12v rail... + it's nice and pre-built.. The obvious cons are it's expensive & they emit a lot of EMF... I'll see how bad it'll be... My plan is to regulate the 12v down to 9v for the SID's.. Regards Mike

Weird... I powered it up today with 4 sids and it was fine, so I added another and another and another and another... voila.. it's running off 8 ? It must be on the threshold of working / not working ? That is a bit perplexing.. hmmmm.. Regards Mike

As I got my kings randsom of SID chips in my hands, I stuffed all 8 and my MB-6582 wouldn't start up.. I remembered something about a fully stuffed 6582 not always powering up with some C64 power supplies so I thought I'd ask. I kept on removing Sids, untill I got to 4... then it worked... Mine is the beige solid brick one.. I have yet to try the black one with ventilation holes.. are there any more types? Regards Mike

Jesus H Christ! I think a token offering of some burnt out regulators is in order for such a god like vision! very impressed! Regards Mike

woo hoo! got my SID's today.. good stuff!

Another question - Mine does have more background noise (A hum) when the LED matrix is displaying much more info... Is this normal? As mine is a custom matrix with the potential of more cross talk between wires etc, (As opposed to the stock 6582 / 6585 ;) )... does everone elses Wilba 6582 have this sort of problem? I never experienced this on my old smash / Wilba control surface, but then again, I never wired up the LED's on the matrix... Regards Mike

With regards to the dead SID slot, did you try buzzing it out with a multimeter etc? no IC's in the IC holders, just using the schematics and seeing if you have a short or open circuit somehere? Regards Mike

Ok, I've seen where my menu button fault lies.. on the CS wiring PDF, the menu button is located at the junction of JD5 (D4) and JD8 (D3) but buzzing out the smash pcb, it seems it's at the junction of JD5 (D3!) and JD8 (D3)... I haven't soldered it across, but it's looking promising... phew.. Regards Mike