Fozzy The Bear

NEAT!! any idea what software is being used to control it? Imagine building one of those at something like 10 feet or more in diameter :cool: Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

No... it is possible to use push buttons on an AIN Module instead of POTs... It just means that they read as a pot turned either full on "0 Ohms" or full off "10K Ohms" and you can then set up your control to read them as a switch simply by setting everything above a pre chosen level as ON and everything below that pre chosen level as OFF. It's easiest to set those up using DPDT push switches. That way you have the pin either connected to ground, or to 5V and this gives you the "on / off" state. Take a look at the MiniMoog controller built by "ALKEX" That's how his switches work. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

You could do what I did, and strip a wallwart down (dump the case and wall pins), connect the Pos, Neutral and Ground of its circuit board to an IEC Chassis socket, and connect the output to the core, and mount the whole lot into your case. That way you get a really small neat PSU inside your case, that can supply more than enough power. Make SURE that that you know what you're doing when it comes to mains voltages though (all at your own risk and choice if you follow advice given) If you're not sure about anything when it comes to mains voltages, find somebody who is to give you a hand with it. I've not seen the schematic for the Commodore supply on here, so I can't answer that one. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

As nILS said, you're just pulling too much of the "go go juice" Amps.... There are two ways to tackle this problem. As we both said to you, pulling the power from the USB on the GM5 is risking a lot of things. You could very easily damage your computer motherboard that way. separate power supply to the core is the answer... or if you really have a very stable clean 5V DC supply then you could also power the DOUT boards directly and sever the power connection between the DOUT and the CORE while leaving the data lines in place. BUT either way, you still need a separate power supply, and the easiest way is to power the core properly via its normal power input and let the voltage regulator circuit on the core take care of the power being clean. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

The SmashTV core certainly does have the J2 Pins..... I just had a look at mine... You'll find them just below the small electrolytic capacitor at the left hand side of the board (assuming you have it oriented so that the power input is at the top). Also... From Smash's Web Site: "J2 +5V output, can be used to supply other core modules in a multiprocessor environment, so that you only have to mount the parts for the power supply (BR1, IC3, C5, C6) on one core module. Restriction: the 7805 gets very hot when it delivers currents above 500 mA, so only core modules without backlit display like MIDIO128, MIDImerger, MIDIfilter should be supplied over this port." you really should be powering the core via its own rectified power input using an AC or DC PSU running at between 6V and 9V and putting out at least 500ma I run mine on a 1A supply. You really don't want to be powering the core via J2... It's not designed to do that. I'm not sure what effect that may have on the voltage regulator circuit, probably not a good one! Your best way of connecting this is to take a feed from a separate PSU to the core... Using the power that is coming from the USB connection to the GM5 is a BAD IDEA! a lot of USB connectors on PC's can't handle much above 150ma let alone the levels you're now trying to pull off there (which is why you're getting a huge voltage drop). By the time you start connecting other stuff to your Midibox64 you're going to be pulling way more than you're allowed to. Hope that helps... Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

YUP! This is of course subject to the PIC Chip, having already had the bootloader programmed into it, (which if you buy one of the core kits from Smash it will have) and also having MIOS already transfered over via MIDI. But other than that, yes, it's now that easy to do! no more messing about with the code! just send the Application over to the PIC with Mios Studio and most of the time you can even configure it from Mios Studio as well. Makes it real easy to re-write bits of the apps just to try them out. I'm custom writing a shed-load of stuff at the moment, partly for my current replica Prophet 5 project.... but I'm also playing with custom apps for the next one, a 24-8-2 Mixer project... It's all very cool. I love reading times when somebody else is having this much fun with it all.. it inspires me to carry on with my own projects. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Thanks SSP.... looks like that 3rd line up from the bottom right just links direct to the Sunmulon web site in Japan. I'm not sure that this UK dealer actually has them in stock. I'll drop them an e-mail and see what they say. I'll let you all know when I get a reply. If they want a bulk order, then it might be possible to do a group order on them or something like that. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Me Likey Too..... Lots of interesting possibilities, and I'd guess that they are way cheaper than those over priced OLED buttons... However I haven't been able to find a retail supplier for them or a more detailed data sheet. The advertising sheet there doesn't give details of the data format, or the programming. Without that information it's difficult to see how easy it might be to connect them to the Midibox. Forget that bit... just found their online data sheets... http://www.sunmulon.co.jp/english/d_load_e/list/lcd_list/ld_list.html Hmmmm..... The data sheets are still a bit incomplete... and still no retailers carrying them. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

If you have some of those to spare Roger, after you sort Stefan out, then I'll be happy to buy some from you and pay postage. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I added my name for two of the basic GM5 boards and two chips... But the list for the new order is still only in the low 50's right now. I'm guessing it might be a while before we get another bulk order.... If only I'd known about the MidiBox project sooner... :frantics: Dropping out, but only because I have no choice, with a particular project that can't wait as long as it will take to get enough people on the order. I'll have to pay the stupid cost of a commercial solution instead. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

CAUTION TO ANYBODY BUYING SWITCHES FOR A PROPHET 5 OR ANY OTHER SEQUENTIAL SYNTH PROJECT The PB86 Switches advertised on e-bay by some of the Chinese vendors as Prophet / Sequential switches are incorrectly described!! They give the wrong panel dimensions. The ones delivered to me today are way too wide. In fact they measure 17.5mm X 17.5mm and as Mike said earlier in the thread they look like Oberheim ones. The correct switches are in fact the PB87 switch which does have the correct size top on it. Please check this if you are ordering any as the vendors are putting the wrong dimensions on their e-bay descriptions. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Yes they can.... But you can get the same functionality from the existing cores and software by chaining two cores together and using the Midi Link function. It's almost like the two cores then behave as one. You can even use a single LCD for both cores when you do that. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Then you still need Midibox64 to be able to do that. Correct, it won't work with the 32bit core module, because there's no software for it to communicate with. You're going to have to get involved with more than SYSEX... You're going to have to learn to program in the C language and understand how to follow and modify the examples for controls on your box. It's not impossible to do. But if you're doing anything more complex than checking a few buttons and pots then it's going to get more complex and take you a LOT of time to learn. My feeling is that you should stick with the current cores rather than the new one! the 32bit Core and its software isn't ready yet for end users who don't want to have to program things and write their own applications, unless they are already a software programmer or have a very large amount of time to spend to learn software programming. In any case the current cores and midibox64 software, sounds like it does everything you need it to. So unless you have some sort of extremely custom application in mind, you should stick with the current core! I realise that this is not the answer you're wanting people to give you. But if you haven't already done at least some software programming you're going to struggle with this, it's a heck of a lot to learn in one chunk. You really shouldn't consider the 32Bit Cores until either the software is ready for you, off the shelf...OR you are ready and able to actually write the software, yourself. My advice would be go read all the MIOS32 documentation and check all the software code examples to see if you think you can write your own. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Thanks! I did have a look at those, they're a little bit under size on the diameter and height, but only by a small amount and the outer grip surface is not quite right on them, but, close. The tops look almost right though. They're certainly cheap enough. I may use them as a temporary measure until I can get the correct ones. Thanks! In fact that's the same seller that I got the PB86 switches from: PB86 Switches Although I only bought 50 and I negotiated a better price than that for them. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Yeah! Thanks for the link Mike... Unfortunately, he'll only ship to Australia, and even if he did ship international, I'm guessing the shipping cost on something that weight would be a killer sending it as far as the UK, and make it a bit less of a good deal. Still outside the very small, near non existent budget. I'm still struggling to find control knobs that are even close to correct. Rogan, the original manufacturers won't take an order for their G-11 Knobs of less than 500 and the Taiwanese outfit that were making the replicas want a ridiculous near to $4USD per knob! So I have a feeling that I'll still have to make my own. PB86 Switches, I did find a source for, and got a bulk load quite cheap, but only in black, so I have a feeling I might have to paint some of those. Control panel I'm working on the artwork for. I have a feeling that it might be way way cheaper to have a Lexan laminated overlay printed, than to get the panel screened. Visually it shouldn't look much different. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Cheers Bud! :D Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

PROJECT UPDATE!! WOOHOOOOOO!!!!! After a month of family disasters and financial woes, I finally have something to post on this project! Wood parts cut using Multipass on the Home Built CNC Cutter. All the wood case parts are 1/2" thick Mahogany. The steel base pan was ready at the Steel stockholders this morning. So I propped a couple of the wood parts and the keyboard up to see how it was looking. Keyboard a little too high at the moment but easy to adjust..... Looking remarkably like the sketchup design. YEAH BABY!! TOTALLY SHAGADELIC RAD and COOLIO!! :D :D :D The finish on the wood was achieved with a mixture of linseed oil and wood stain, followed by pure solid block Bees Wax and a lot of rubbing! no varnish here :D it's glossier in real life than it looks in the photograph. Thanks again for all the dimensions Mike!! without those I couldn't be doing this. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I agree with you completely... and The Creamware Pro12 is certainly the very best emulation out there right now. I am looking at a few suppliers to see what discounts they're offering on that, just to see if it's possible. The downside from where I'm at right now, would be that I already have a Mini ITX board in a box in the workshop, that is presently doing nothing, and I already have both Pro-53 and the Arturia emulations. So there's no actual cost involved there for me. What I still need to source however is a good sound card. Thanks again for your suggestions, I am considering them. If it's possible to do it then it is the best way to go. But being (technically) unemployed right now, means that I don't have a lot of money to play with, and it could well be that I go your suggested route, as an upgrade to the synth later on, as the financial situation allows me to. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

As nobody else has chimed in on this Graham, I'll see if i can answer that for you. Yes J11 is the MIDI in and out port... so yes, that's where you chain the cores together. They connect via MIDI. You might want to also take a look at Midibox link documentation To see how it can prevent a midi loop from being formed at the in and out of your sound module or computer. Hope that helps. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Thank you very much.... Those are both excellent suggestions. I will investigate them for further projects and, they would as you say make an excellent rack PC. Yours is indeed very impressive. I read through your posts on that, and it does provide some very nice options. For this project I think maybe it is outside of my available budget and also, because in this synth it will entirely be dedicated to running as a Prophet 5, it would be waste of the very nice capabilities of those cards. Although I have no doubt that the sound quality would be very good. I will investigate them for construction of a rack PC, which I would like to do in the next couple of years. Thank you again. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

All I can say is WOW!! :yes: I love it!!.... Doing a Minimoog replica is already next on my list of projects after the Prophet 5, but your Minimoog controller is fantastic! very nice work. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Finally some progress!! :D Cutting the timber for the case on this project tomorrow on my home built CNC cutting machine. Here's some video of the machine in action cutting 1/4" Teak, for another project. I've written some multi pass software so that I can cut the 12mm Mahogany for the Prophet case and take smaller bites at it. Here's a picture of the finished cut from the above project... i'll try and post some pics of the synth parts soon. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I think you're absolutely right.... It's the way to go with this project. It's much easier and cheaper than building a full desk. The way I'd do it is to use the Midibox 64 software. It has a bank switching function already programmed into the software. so you could set your physical channels by just calling up a different bank (stored in bank sticks). That way you could control a virtually limitless number of channels in the virtual mixer, from just the 8 or 16 real faders. Plus you could then create a bank just to control the group masters as well. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear)