njosnari

Yo, this is absolutely amazing! How did you manage this??

Thanks guys. Unfortunately, its the solid red that I'm hunting for...

So, like an idiot, I bought only 13 knobs instead of 15 for my MB-6582. Now Modular Addict is sold out of the red ones that I bought. Does anyone know where else to source these? Preferably in the EU or US.

Hey everyone, problem solved! I followed the instructions in the link, and by removing pin 15 and 3, and shorting them with a 10k resistor did the trick. Also, turns out that this screen takes - power, so I had to swap pin 15 and 16 around. But so far this screen does seem to work!

Would that be it tho? #9 on the next page lists the supply voltage for the backlight at 5v. So I should still be able to see the backlight?

In case anyone stumbles across this with the same question, it so far seems that the Mini-pro TL866 does indeed program PICs ok.

I've tried the LCD test app with MIOS, and all seem to react ok, except D0 doesn't seem to react on the PIC leg. I've measured the voltages across the pads on the LCD, and D7-10 have a constant ~5v. B+/j15_core1 pin9 is also at a constant 5v too. Are these readings normal? Do I just have a dead screen?

Can the TL074D run off 12v in a 6581 SID setup? Or would I need to regulate it down to 9v? Also, would these be suitable replacements for the dual ganged pots? Are these the same Alphas?

I've gotten through construction of the base PCB, and partially through the control PCB, specifically the part with the LCD screen. When I plug it in, I get nothing from the screen when the unit powers up. I've loaded the bootloader onto a PIC, along with MIOS over midi, and the setup_MB6582 hex. So I am expecting to see something on the screen, but not even a backlight. The screen is a Midas MC42005A12W-VNMLR, a HD44780 equivalent, and I've checked the pinout and its the same configuration as in Hawkeye's tutorial. Can anyone help me trouble shoot this? Is it possible that I would need to bridge the jumper pads for 8bit operation? R80 is installed. I'm fairly certain the bootloader/mios/FW installed correctly. I have not yet inserted any SID chips yet. Is there any way that I can test if the screen is defective? I've popped the PIC out of core_1, and dropped in into 2, and still nothing from the screen. Only difference that I noticed, is that core_1 has a constant ~5v coming out of pin 9 on j15_core1, while I didnt see that on the other cores. I've tried adjusting P1, and P2_core1, etc. and no difference there either.

I've just picked up 3 of these board, so I have 2 extra in EU, if there is anyone interested please contact me. Also, does anyone know where to source these pots in Europe?

I was looking into programming the bootloader onto the PIC, and I see that a lot of people are opting for the PICkit3, but I was thinking that maybe it would be useful for me to get an eprom programmer and upgrade some OSs in some other machines, etc. I don't have any experience with programming PIC or EPROM, and I'm not sure if programming these would be the same. Can anyone tell me if something like the Mini-pro TL866 would work to program both the PIC18F452 and an 27c eprom?

Hi Mike, Which manual are you reading? The only one that I have been able to turn up on the net is for the later, MIDI version. Feeling a bit stupid now. Looked closer at the back of the unit and the ports I thought were trigger inputs are the disreet outs... :-[ DMX=8 ins DX=0. Now I finally understand why there hasn't been a MIDI retrofit commercially available for the DX. I may begin with the midi clock solution and build it up from there. Thanks for the advice!

Thanks for the reply Mike! I was hoping to find a nice balence between functionality and cost/effort. I hadn't planned on adding MIDI -> CV tuning for the voices, but now that you mention it... Only kidding. I'd be happy if I could rig MIDI sync and next/previous pattern selection on the DX. Even happier to sequence the DX via external MIDI sequencer. Just to open up a bit more funtionality with the machine. The electrongate's ablitity to use sysex dumps really interested me as well, but not all that important as I assume that the DX can save and upload patterns with the tape save function. Sampling... I have made loads of samples with my DX, and in my opinion, the character suffers a bit. It does have to suffice though, in those gig situations when I can't justify taking the unit with. And I also have the Sequential TOM (amazing machine). I just feel that I am not using the DX as much as I could, if it had MIDI capabilities. I also need to dig to find the service manual for this machine. And to learn a bit more on how it operates. I've never had it connected to a CV sequencer, and I'm curious how the CV signal changes to trigger each of the soft, medium, and loud samples per voice. Am I correct in assuming that the core, DIN, and AOUT_NG would be the correct modules to handle something like this? Am I wrong thinking that I would need 3 or 4 AOUT_LC modules for this project?

Ok, thanks for moving the thread. I didn't see the MIDIfication area here... :P I'm a little confused by the paramaters of the AOUT, AOUT_LC, and AOUT_NG modules. I'm not sure if I need 12bit/4bit or 8bit, gate, etc. I'm looking to add midi to my pre-midi (of course) Oberheim DX, which has 6 CV inputs for the voices, 1 click, 2 footswitch inputs for "start" and "next" trigger input, clock (48ppqn, i think) in and out. Electrongate has a midi upgrade for the DMX (doesn't seem to be compatible with DX), that offers the ability to send and receive MIDI note-on/note-off messages, system exclusive sequence dump messages and MIDI clock, song select, start and stop messages. I'm wondering if this type of functionality is possible with MIDIBox.

Hi, New to MidiBox and looked around the forums a bit, but I could not find out if it would be a suitable solution for midi retrofitting an Oberheim DX drum machine?. Thanks.