Futureman

So, tell me punk... do you feel lucky? I've bought a few things that were broken (We'll prob about 1/3 my stuff was purchased broken) and in general, I like the odds. I've had a few things that had a blown fuse.. and I've had a few that were totally fu#@ed and I had to bin.. but generally if you buy something thats not working, you should be paying F$#k all for it.. And going by my dumb exchange rate, 50 quid is a bit on the high side, considering I see working DX7's sell for about $300 - $400 Australian dollars. Good luck. Mike

Sweet! I look forward to SDPM! Thanks for your prompt replies. Regards Mike

I'm not sure if these are known bugs, and I'm aware that Super Poly is still in the semi experimental stage... so please bear with me if I'm stating the obvious. If I set up 3 Sids, All to super poly 3, All to midi channel 1, often that works fine, like a 3 voice poly synth. If I want to get some crazy voice rotating thing going on like, SID 1- Patch A, SID 2 - Patch B, SID 3 - Patch C, Often when I change one Sid's patch, the voice rotation seems to have a hole in it, or a double up.. ie, If I press three notes in a row. SID 1 -> (SID 2 & SID 3) -> HOLE Where it should be something like this SID 1 -> SID2 -> SID 3 If I save the Ensemble, and then get back to it, everything is fine. It almost seems like the flag to what SID gets played when gets mixed up.. Another weird bug is if I select say 3 Sids, switch em to super poly, switch em all to midi channel 1, then we are running like a 3 voice poly synth.. I've noticed that sometimes, when I change the patch (ie, all three SIDS at the same time) sometimes, 1 of the patches sounds different, ie at a different tuning, or filter setting. This seems to happen more often if there is note info going on at the time (Well, it seems that way) Sometimes, I can go back to those patches for all 3 SIDS, and the tuning problem is gone. I need to play with the above bugs to see exactly when this pops up, so if I find anything out, I'll post it ASAP. Much regards

I dunno if it's appropriate to advertise here, but it's ebay, so I guess so? I'm selling off this Prophet 64 cartridge, but then again, if you are reading this here, you'll probably come to the conclusion that a MB-SID is better. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130275577042&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=003 Regards Mike

I'm in 100% agreement with you there S1, HKSS has copped a bad wrap which is a massive shame.. He sells stuff cheap, has certainly been good to me (When stuff was damaged, and lost) and he's a good kisser. Regards Mike

I just searched ebay for "Rotary encoder" There is a good store called "Virtual Village" or a derivative of that, and often the sell them in packs of 10 with knobs included... ie http://cgi.ebay.com.au/10-Pack-of-12mm-Rotary-Encoder-Switches-Knobs-Dials-New_W0QQitemZ400013148985QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 But look at other results, because there can be up to $5 difference (Including postage) in their listings even tho they are all from the same company? Regards Mike

yep.. A scope is def not needed for midibox day to day stuff.. Multimeter, yes. Regards Mike

hey, I was only 'aving a laugh... let me buy you a beer when I'm next in Melb. Regards Mike

LOL! What do you think he would say about his direct competitor? "Gee, he's a swell guy who sells similar products to me, but much cheaper.. we hang out heaps and have cups of tea together on tuesday." funny.

I suppose you probably coold get busy with a dremel if you were keen, but it'd probably never be perfectly centered.. I do like knobs with locking grub screws in em, they generally can fit all shafts.. (But generally they are +20mm Diameter ;[ ) On a side note, the dude who's laser cutting & folding my chasis up has finished it, and will mail it to me on monday.. woo hoo! Kind regards Mike

No. You can however, check if they are getting the correct voltage while in circuit. Regards Mike

you could make your own boards etc, but it is a lot more work involved. Also, If you by the PIC's from Smash or Mike's, they already have the bootloader "burned" in... otherwise you will need to do this yourself = you will need an Pic burner etc for that... http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_burner.html My advice, by the boards/kits from these guys.. it'll save you a fair bit of headaches. Regards Mike - edit - I see Smash doesn't list Brazil as a destination... bugger.

They look splined to me, which is good, because my encoders are splined as well.. ;] FWIW, I got so fed up with trying to find nice knobs for D-shaft encoders, that I just got splined encoders instead. Regards Mike

Ordered these knobs from my good friends at "Hong Kong Super seller" ebay.

After heaps of playing with the SID etc, I decided that 2 octave is too small, so I've completely redesigned / scrapped / redesigned. Although the Wilba 6582 is damn cute, I found the tiny tact switches & compact control surface to small for my fat fingers.. I also really want emphasis on live use, so I made the control surface as large as possible, spanning 660mm x 150mm and using 12x12mm tact switches & 5mm LEDS... This was spurred on when I found a very helpful (& I feel cheap) laser cutter who also will do all the form work etc out of 1.2mm mild steel. I drew it up in AutoCad and it's modeled on the Moog Source with a 3 Octave keyboard etc... it's a simple enough design, with simple lines. I'll include a bit of timber for under the keboard & end cheeks etc. Should be getting the finished case back in a week or so... (I hope) Here is the inital sketch + exploded view. Regards Mike Complete for lasercut.JPG Finished panel with tabs.JPG Complete for lasercut.JPG Finished panel with tabs.JPG

Off ebay from these guys. http://stores.ebay.com.au/VirtualVillage-Oz-Alpha

I was thinking that the Meter/matrix button could have three modes it cycles through, Meter,Matrix & Patch (Which would be both LED's on).. or you could access the Quick patch mode by holding down shift and pressing the meter/matrix button.. (Both LED's could be on to denote it's in patch mode) I just had a crazy idea... Maybe in this mode, the whole matrix displays the quick patch number as a MASSIVE number or HEX! (0-F).. I know I'm clutching at straws as the saying goes, but that would be damn cool. Regards Mike

Yep.. I like it. At risk of hijacking this thread... does anyone out there crave "Preset" buttons.. Maybe the matrix could have a third mode (both LED's on) in which the grid points towards 64 different definable presets/patches My 6582 is mainly gonna be a live machine, and I don't want to have to scroll through X number of presets to get to the sounds I want.. I know that I could save one in A001 and one in A002 etc.. But it'd be cool to have either 64 slots (via tha matrix) or 16 (via the source & destination buttons) for my fav sounds one or two button presses away. Regards Mike

Voltage regulators typically need a few more volts than their rating to work.. so the cores 5v regulator needs to be fed with approx 8 volts dc to turn that into 5v.. As you are feeding it 5v, it's not gonna do it's job properly.. luckily, the fix is pretty easy for you.. I'm not sure of the exact details, (A search will help here) but it probably involves you removing the regulator off the core, and feeding the (Already regulated) 5v onto a jumper on the core.. good luck.. Regards Mike

I do have a bit of kit, but I do play it all.. (Not at once Rick Wakeman style ;] but it does get used) I kinda have a 1 year rule, If something doesn't get used for a year, it gets sold... I'm not rich , but I was lucky in that I was into old synths etc when old synths were certanly not fashionable and hence cheap and sometimes even free! A few people I know are what you would call collectors.. owning quite a few of the big roland guns, etc.. I never understood that whole 808/909/303 fascination however.. I try and keep my pile a bit more varied. Regards Mike

LOL! Well said.

Let me guess, the Yamaha RX-21L ?

c'mon man, surely you have a spare 12.5k ?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instruments/PA-pro-audio-DJ-equipment/Synthesisers/auction-191154779.htm

Don't like the words "Noise Gate"? How about "Expander" that sounds better right? After you play a note, you could send it a real low note message, so that it's way way down in the hearing range and not as noticeable. How bad is the bleed? what SID?