gomiboy99

@IGI I think I will give that a try after this one I saw on Hackaday Nice Boing Boom Tschak samples :) Tim

If I am honest, I just followed the instructions in the post. But these are so cheap it would have been rude not to make use of them. And I made something useful too. Tim.

Hi All, I know this is outside of the MBHP but I found this interesting link I spent the vast sum of $8.60 on 2 TI Launchpads and built a couple of these synths. They make fantastic midi metronomes. I use one in the studio and one with the MBSEQ so my band mates have an audio click to keep them in time. Tim.

I too designed my own PCB for the control surface. It gave me a headache trying to work out the pin assignments for the switches and LEDs. I had to modify the Wilba.hw4 file to assign the correct din dout pins to my setup. Maybe this is the problem? If I load the wrong .hw4 file then nothing works as it should. It may also be one or more LEDs in the wrong way round. I did this too :( Tim..

Just go to the Wiki and register, use the link on the login page (login button at bottom right of page).

I asked Wilba directly and he put me on his waiting list. Tim..

I have had similar issues with LCDs on my sequencer build. This was down to the shield of the MIDI in socket being connected to ground. All was ok until I connected a MIDI cable to the PC via a midi interface, then strange things would happen. The LCDs would change brightness and sometimes flicker. My MIDI sockets are diecast metal and fixed in a metal panel. The panel was connected to the supply ground. The MIDI cable should only have a ground connection for MIDI outs, there should be no ground at a MIDI in. This includes the metal shield part of the plug. Most pre-made midi cables I have seen have the metal part of the plug connected to the cable shield and so will make a ground connection between the 2 pieces of equipment. It is worth checking to see if the shield is making this ground loop. There can be issues with switch mode power supplies where a difference in ground potential causes problems, again I had this with the sequencer. The solution was a radical piece of surgery to the power supply, I added an earth pin connection to the negative of the output. Before I added the earth connection the negative 0volt side of the power supply was at 98volts when compared to earth. This is pretty common, I have tested many SMPS and all that did not have an earth connection showed this type of potential difference between 0volts and earth. Sorry for the long response but I hope it is of use. Tim.

This is the kind of thing you need http://uk.farnell.com/harwin/d6216-01/header-dil-16way/dp/176362 just solder wires across the pins to make the bridges. Should be available from Farnell's US centre in Newark. Hope this helps Tim..

In my experience, if a programmer does not see the PIC then it is dead. Recheck everything again before trying another PIC.

Hi, the only difference between BC337-16 and BC337-40 is the DC current gain. As this device is used as a switch the DC current gain should not matter. Make sure that the transistor is correctly placed on the board, the pin out of the transistor could be different. Hope that helps. Tim.

Does this mean NO rear panel at all or is the dummy rear panel included? My hardware is not the same as TK's setup so I want the dummy panel anyway. Tim..

Thanks for letting me know. Enjoy! Tim.

I am interested, PM on it's way. Tim

Both SOLD. I bought these sometime ago from TK, got them for a friend who changed their mind. They cost me 19.95 euro or £17.34 GBP. (This is the price for the pair) I don't really want to split them as I don't want to end up with just a chip or PCB, so I will only sell a GM5 with PCB. I can send anywhere but please bear in mind that shipping outside of the UK will cost more. Send me a PM if you are interested. Tim. I also have the 16MHz crystals (farnell part 146-9640)) and 18pf capacitors (to suit crystal) for the GM5 chip which will be included free of charge.

I suggested the termination of the chains as this worked for me. I was using quite long cables so perhaps this was adding to the problems I had. Tim.

Sorry, I should have included the link to this http://ucapps.de/midibox_seq/mbseq_v4_dout.pdf This is the only reference that I can find but I am sure it is mentioned elsewhere. Tim

Beta38 works fine with my set-up. The control surface is my own PCB with separate DIN DOUT modules to replicate Wilba's 8x8 matrix set-up. Just to be sure I tried Beta35 and there is no difference. I have had to modify the Wilba MBSEQ_HW.V4 file to reassign buttons and LEDS to suit the control surface design (for easier routing on a single sided board). Is there an error in the HW.V4 file that comes with Beta38? Tim.

Check the LED assignments in the Hardware file on the SD card. Ensure that the LEDs are assigned to the correct shift registers. Hope this helps Tim.

Hi, I had a few issues with DOUT boards too. I found that I had R31 SIL resistors fitted the wrong way round in the core32, check that the spot on R31 aligns with the marking on the board. Make sure that the ribbon cable is correct at the DOUT end, if you are using a SmashTV board then the connections are on the inner (that is closest to the first shift register) edge of the connector J1. The DIN chain connects to the outer edge of DIN J1 on the SmashTV boards. I found that things worked better when the DOUT chain was terminated as recommended by TK. I think this info should be in the documentation somewhere. Also make sure that the DOUT cable is in J8 and the 5V0 jumper is set on J8. Hope some of this helps. Good Luck Tim

It is shown quite clearly here : http://ucapps.de/midibox_seq/mbseq_v4_interconnections.pdf but then if you are not building the mbseq it is easily missed. Glad that solved your problem. Tim

Did you take out the SIL resistor R30 on J16, this not required when using the SD card. Took me a while to figure that one out. Tim.

AOUT_NG the NG stands for NO GATE. The gate is supplied from the core. J15 on the PIC core (if memory serves correctly). Sorry, my memory is broke, it is J5 that provides the gate. I had a bit of a struggle with the MidiboxCV as the interconnect page is broken, but the info is out there, you just need to look. Try the MIDIbox SEQ V3 for the PIC core or MIDIbox SEQ V4 if you are using the STM32 core.

I built the MidiboxCV using a PIC core and the AOUT NG, I followed the instructions and had no problems. Not knowing what you are trying to compile the code for makes it more difficult to give the correct answer. My advice is re-read the instructions for the project and try again. Make sure you specify the correct file names, e.g. your modified makefile, at compile time.

Thanks TK, this has solved the issue for me. Regards Tim.

TK, I would love to send you the SD cards but I have reused them elsewhere, the worst offenders were 2 Fuji brand cards, these would work once and then fail from then on, they work fine in my camera. The others were unbranded and I have given them away, AFAIK they are working in their new application, sorry. The metronome problem is interesting as I only noticed this behaviour since Beta33. I wonder if something has gone wrong in the update process. I will try reloading the firmware. I will also try a fresh session in case that is the problem. Thanks for your help. Tim.