philetaylor

I am not sure how worthwile a bulk order would be for europe? Here in the UK anything imported from outside the EU with a value of over £18 is subject to import duty and VAT, the $25.95 value of a single PCB+STM32 would put it below that threshold so no duty/vat is payable. Any bulk order would be over the threshold and subject to any local duty/vat charges which is likely to be more than the (very reasonable) $6.20 shipping charge from Smash. Also many couriers charge an admin fee of about £8 when collecting these taxes! Cheers Phil

Hi. Welcome aboard. Many of your questions are answered on http://www.ucapps.de and http://wiki.midibox.org I suggest a "LOT" of reading :) The STM32 based core is still in beta so there are no kits/boards available yet but the current MF code for the STM32 supports up to 2 MF modules (for a total of 16 motor faders). Due to the extra processing that is required when controlling motorfaders, the PIC based core will only support a single MF module. I expect that the STM32 code could be adapted to support more MF modules but I haven't looked at it too closely. Have you read http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_mf.html ? this discusses the problem of supporting different types of motorfader and why TK designed it the way he did, while i'm sure ones that use coreless motors could be supported, it would require a redesign of the MF module to support the higher current requirements. The CORE32 kit will be available once it is released and the MF module is available from SmashTV's store.... Cheers Phil

Hi. your .asm file looks OK to me. Does everything work OK if the DIN module isn't connected? I would try something like http://www.ucapps.de/mios/srio_interconnection_test_v1b.zip which allows you to test DIN/DOUT interconnections. Thanks Phil

Hi. I don't know much about the Midibox FM (never built one) but according to the manual, http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_fm_manual.html it supports 4 simultaneous instruments plus drums. You could probably play your .mid file if not all 5 instruments are played at the same time by swapping instruments mid way through the song. Cheers Phil

Hi. The ucapps.de page about the CORE_STM32 says "Presoldered and bootstrapped chips will be available in SmashTV's shop soon!" The CORE_STM32 is still technically in 'beta' and as such no software/boards have been released for general use. There have been two small batches created for testing and development purposes but I don't think that there will be a production run until TK is happy that there are no real problems with both the hardware and software. Thanks Phil

Hi. I am in the UK (Leicester) and I have the MBHP PIC programmer.... If you still need it programming, let me know and I will PM my address. Cheers Phil

Hi. As per http://ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual_hw.html no additional hardware is required for the audio in but you will require a MBHP_DIN for the 'minimal control surface' as mentioned in http://ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual_fp.html Arrgh: beaten..... (but here are the references!) Cheers Phil

Neutrik make some that are 'very' well made.... These are quite nice as well, matching locking plugs are available:

The only problem I have with this type is if your plugs are a bit tight, sometimes the centres of the sockets come out when you unplug them. Maybe I just bought some cheap ones once but the centre didn't seem to be particularly well fitted. A drop of superglue on the back of the plastic centre fixed it for me... Phil

There have been a couple of beta versions of the board produced for developers and I managed to get get hold of the last version :) Apart from a few cosmetic changes, the board is pretty complete but I know TK doesn't want to release it until everything is 'right'. If you want to take a look at the 'code' for the DMX module and the simple controller, they are all in svn. http://svnmios.midibox.org/listing.php?repname=svn.mios32&path=%2Ftrunk%2Fmodules%2Fdmx%2F http://svnmios.midibox.org/listing.php?repname=svn.mios32&path=%2Ftrunk%2Fapps%2Fexamples%2Fdmx%2F Cheers Phil

If you have plenty of cash, I would second Julien's vote for Weller. My Weller TCP 24v station is still going strong after 20 years and all spares are still readilly available (just bought a new element for the iron). I have never been a fan of variable temp stations as I find they are often too cold or hot and difficult to get 'just right'. The way that Wellers work is a specially formulated manetic 'slug' on base of the tip whose magnetic properties change at a certain temperature causing power to be cut to the element (via a magnetic switch). It is a simple and (I think) elegant system. If you need higher temp, you use a higher temp bit :) The downside is that you will pay more for a replacement Weller TCP iron than you would for a whole station from other manufacturers :( Cheers Phil

Bit of an update. I now have a working system using a CORE32. I have also finally managed to put everything in an enclosure. I found 4 old Strand Tempus 2-12's on ebay. As they are old analogue lighting desks and not much use to anyone I didn't mind canibalising them. The unit is a single PCB with all faders mounted to it. I removed all unnecessary (for me) components and connected my AIN4 module to each fader. It works OK although as suggested by TK, I am seeing quite a bit of jitter probably because I am using USB power at the moment. Anyway, here is a pic. Please don't laugh (too loud) at my LCD mounting. I am trying to find a nice bezel for the DOG GLCD at the moment. You may notice that I have also created a simple fader font (16x4) which is quite nice (I think!) Cheers Phil

I know, instead of a LIFO todo list like TK's, I sometimes think that mine is controlled by /dev/random .....

Hi Wayne. Sorry I missed your post. I've been pretty busy with other things so my motor fader testing has gone on the back-burner..... Cheers Phil

No problem ;) I often find with midibox projects that there is so much information that it can be a bit daunting to sift through it all to find what's relevant to you.... Cheers Phil

Hi. Yes you can assign pretty much anything to anything :) If you have looked 'closely' at setup_midibox_lc.asm, you will see in the comments at the top of the file: There is a good description of the LC_IO_TABLE_LAYER? in this file, as you should see, all buttons/leds can be assigned to whatever you want! EDIT:As the 32bit CORE has so much more memory and is so much faster than the 8bit one, it is bound to be a massive improvement but the beauty of the Midibox design is that as soon as you are ready to move to a CORE32, you simply unplug everything and (with minor adjustments) connect them to the CORE32. Cheers Phil

Ahhhh That explains why it isn't working, you don't have MIOS on the PIC. Yes you are quite right, you need to have MIOS (mios_p18f452.hex) on the PIC before you can load your app. I have never used icprog but you should be able to use it to load MIOS. I would then recommend using MIOS Studio to then load your app. You may be able to use icprog to load your app as well but you need to make sure it doesn't overwrite MIOS. Cheers Phil

Do you mean you compiled and then uploaded your own program with ICPROG and NOT MIOS Studio? Do you actually have MIOS on the PIC? MIOS must be uploaded seperately. Once MIOS is on the PIC then you can use MIOS Studio and MIDI to upload your program, this will ensure that MIOS doesn't get overwritten by your program and is much easier. You can tell if MIOS (or Bootloader) is operational by connecting a MIDI port to your PC and seeing if you receive a Sysex 'upload request' from the CORE. Cheers phil

Hi. Firstly you need to download the MIOS source and the toolchain (look in the wiki for instructions for this). Then you need to change the faulty pin in mios_srio.inc and reassemble it. Personally I would recommend against this, as s1 said, it is a bit of a hack ;; pins of SRIO shift registers MIOS_SRIO_LAT_SCLK EQU LATD ; Pin D.3 MIOS_SRIO_PIN_SCLK EQU 3 MIOS_SRIO_LAT_RCLK EQU LATD ; Pin D.2 MIOS_SRIO_PIN_RCLK EQU 2 MIOS_SRIO_PORT_DIN EQU PORTD ; Pin D.1 MIOS_SRIO_PIN_DIN EQU 1 MIOS_SRIO_LAT_DOUT EQU LATD ; Pin D.0 MIOS_SRIO_PIN_DOUT EQU 0

I just looked on the RS Italy site and you are right, the same display is 7.90EUR for 25 off and 9.87EUR for 1 off.. http://it.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=searchProducts&searchTerm=5326492 That sucks! Phil

Hi. I don't know if there's something special about that display but RS Components in the UK do a 16x2 Blue/White Transflective STN. Their 25 off price is 4.60GBP (5.09EUR) each with free delivery.... http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=5326492 Cheers Phil

For help on putting everything together, http://www.ucapps.de and http://wiki.midibox.org are great resources. When it comes to boxes/enclosures, unless you have access to CNC equipment, this can be the most expensive part of the build :( As I have found out, cutting slots in aluminium for mounting sliders by hand is very very difficult. For one of my projects, what I have done is found an existing (faulty) commercial unit with the necessary number of sliders etc and 'bastardised' it :) Cheers Phil

I still use an EMU ESI-4000 Sampler (circa 1998) quite a lot for theatre sound effect work. I have fitted an internal SCSI hdd and with 128MB of sample RAM it can handle quite a lot of effects. If I have more than 10 in any particular show I can patch them to keys on a midi keyboard. I still don't trust these new-fangled personal computer things for live work :) Phil

IIRC That is an external SCSI port so probably not a good idea to connect a terminal to it :) Phil

I watched every episode so many times in my youth that the VHS tape that we had them on snapped from over use. The by-product of this was that I can quote whole sections :) Phil