Hawkeye

Zam: I think he is using Altitude's proven 5V switcher approach, that should be fine, and i agree with both of you, maybe the PSU just does not deliver the promised amount of current. I also think, that SID chips may have certain variations in power consumption. Six SIDs and 550ma sounds well within acceptable range for me, that voltage and current drops after installing the seventh SID (oh yeah, a new songtitle :-)) indicates an overload condition either on the 5V switcher or on the initial 12v power supply (and i really think it is the latter!) Suggestion: Replace it for a 12V/2A PSU and check again... Many greets and good luck! Peter

Thanks a lot, Andy! Yes, i love the Polivoks, too! :-) I don't know how much difference there is is between the original russian opamps and the cloned version, but Marc Bareille posted a description of someone who a-b tested clone vs original and said it was close! If you buy the widely available non-russian parts, the whole build costs only around 20€ (without the PSU)... Many greets! Peter

MBSID V2 needs a PIC18F4685, it is pin-compatible with the 18F452, but has more flash memory for the code. It is a requirement, not an option, but hey, these things only cost a few bucks. I'd recommend you get them from Tim: the board: http://midiboxshop.bigcartel.com/product/core8-pic-core-board and a pre-programmed PIC (with the MIOS bootloader installed): http://midiboxshop.bigcartel.com/product/pic18f4685 This saves a lot of hassles and you can just get down to source the rest of the parts and solder the core. As the bootloader is preprogrammed you can then upload apps directly afterwards via MIOS Studio/MIDI cables directly, without further headaches :-). (I recommended these two separate units, as his "kit" version is currently sold out, that would be even preferable) Enjoy and have a great weekend! Peter

Great jam, man! Now waiting for your full MBSEQv4 to be built and used, you will love it, i am sure! :-) Have a great weekend! Peter

Thanks a lot, guys! :-) Regarding the Polivoks VCF - it is Marc Bareilles clone-version, I DIY-built it years ago as a stereo version on veroboard, just exchanged the VCF potentiometer (mono) with a stereo pot and built the circuit twice. It is not difficult and can be done in an evening. The filter output is very convincing, quite lo-fi, a bit distorted (if you want to) with mad resonance (if you want to) and is a highly recommended DIY build. It sounds really great (+15V/0V/-15V bipolar PSU required for the opamps). It should also integrate nicely into euro(c)rack setups! :-) http://m.bareille.free.fr/modular1/vcf_polivoks/vcf_polivoks.htm Have a great weekend! Peter

Hola, Finally, had some time to spare for a friday night synth session, containing two new synths in the collection: the MFB Dominion I and the Roland JD-990. Many thanks to J for recommending the latter one, it is really fantastic. I routed it through the Polivoks DIY VCF to add some (manually controlled by the left hand) analog filter touch to the already flawless, but digital pad sounds! :-) As always, many thanks to TK. for creating everything MIDIbox, without it, i would have given up the idea of doing those live synth jams a long time ago, now creating a track is just a matter of a few hours, sitting down, recording some sequences and having fun, no computer needed :) Thanks for watching and listening and have a great weekend! Peter

Congratulations! Getting the display (any display) running is the first step to MB6582 addiction, now wait until you hear all 8 SIDs in unison! :-) Have a great weekend! Peter

Welcome, hyperr! :-) MBSID is only working on the old Core8 PIC-based systems, but these are not really expensive, have a look at Tim/SmashTV's shop and you might find some boards available! (TK started porting it the the 32-bit cores a few years back, but stopped it for the moment... one reason being, that it makes no real sense, as he managed to get to the maximum SID register update speed with the older cores, too). Many greets! Peter

Great comment, norbim1! This may explain some random OLED misbehavior, which i also experience on my secondary MBSEQ... I always suspected my 5V switcher to be too noisy, but this makes total sense! Karg: I'd recommend to try this out, in addition to your 5V linear regulator tests! Also, for another project with a different OLED (256x64px, 16 blue levels), it helped for me to filter directly at the supply pins of the OLED, with a 100nf, 47uF pair... this should get rid of high frequency ripples. Many greets and good luck! Peter

Me also thinks, it might be a power problem, if you have a display with a bit higher backlight current draw, you will be over 1A/12V... you might want a bit beefier PSU (it is never good to be so close to the limits). To test this, you could measure the 5V line with two and all eight SIDs installed. If the voltage drops then below a certain value (say something like 4.7/4.65V, but is clearly above 0V, which would indicate a short), that is a sign of a power supply overload issue. But as Zam said, it could also be a short somewhere (if your readout above shows something close to 0v). Not necessarily a defective SID, but maybe also a problem on the baseboard, that will only be visible, when a SID is installed. To test this case, install the two working SIDS into all engines (2/3/4) and try to power-on. To test for defective SIDs instead, try the non-tested SIDs in the otherwise working first engine SID sockets. Best regards and have a great weekend! Peter

Short answers: yes, you can use the 16x2 LCD to try it out, no adjustments necessary, the lines will be truncated, otherwise no harm will be done. Of course you won't see all information, but it is good to test it. OLEDs are indeed partially tricky with the MB6582, because of 4/8 bit addressing mode and timing issues. I once hacked an Electronic Assembly OLED to be compatible, but it was no easy task, also i managed to burn it up afterwards (either it was not 5V capable as Andy pointed out, or i made some other late-night-mistake ;-)). There might be newer OLEDs without those compatibility issues, but there is a longer thread on here, where multiple guys tried to get OLEDs up and running and it was a non-trivial task. Besides than that, the height of the display is no problem, it will fit nicely. Third, definitely solder the connection, i would not recommend breadboarding, here is a description on how to map the cables: Good luck and many greets! Peter

I also can't tell, if the duo LEDs are 100% required. On the first glance, this panel looks like a "thoughtful evolution", not a "drastic revolution", i like that a lot, because it seems, that users with the old panel won't be stuck without SEQ software upgrades (even if some functions will be missing). Many greets! Peter

Congrats! I like it a lot, it looks clean and very structured, a nice successor to the V4 layout! Also, it is good, that people can continue using the old frontpanels, as lots of time and money has been invested on these. Legacy users might profit from new functions, even if not the newest user interface is in use. Many greetings and a great new year 2017! :-) Peter

@latigid on fantastic design work, once again, mate! But you are right, it makes sense to see what is possible with the limited time resources all around, at the moment, aka let's grab the low hanging fruits! :-). Or you could learn to code for yourself, it really is not soo difficult and the MBSEQv4 code base is really well documented and understandable! I've had to do some tech analysis of commercial companies codebases during the last month, travelling around europe and you would not believe what I've seen there, and these guys were applying for a lot of cash to go on with that sh..., whereas here we have gold nuggets... :-) @Smithy despite me not having time for much right now, a lot of ideas are on the list for the MBLoopA and i still hope to convince Andy to create a PCB for it. Right now, i have to finish another build first, but let's talk afterwards! @Antichambre hehe, true! Cloning TK. would be the solution! :-) Have a great time! Peter

Same here, for me it is very useful to be able to quickly remove the cards and e.g. swap them between my two MBSEQs to exchange data without the need of a computer, but also for the mbloopa (yes, still in use :-)), where one can extract the saved MIDI tracks. Also, i prefer the backup procedure to put SD cards into a card reader and perform a full partition backup to using the file explorer in MIOS Studio (which is great, but not ideal for that usecase). Of course, all would also be possible also with inaccessible SD-cards using a computer, but I actually moved the windows machine away lately, as i don't use it anymore (at the moment) - dawless fun :-). Many greets! Peter

I like the bling! :-) Cherry switches are awesome, at least much better than the switches we use (and which keep failing) in the current seq frontpanel pcbs ;-). Many greets! Peter

Thanks a lot, guys! :-) Have a great time! Peter

No time for anything (sorry, Andy :-)) but the occasional MBSEQ jam ;-) Big thanks to Shuriken for providing the Anushri boards, what a great little synth! Have a relaxed winter season and thanks for watching and listening! Peter

Yes, of course, i agree on the "window of opportunity" argument, we are all hobbyists and we don't know what will happen tomorrow (life plans, work, relocation, family)... It is just frustrating, when you are waiting on a promised project and it does not happen, or when you have developed a big-ass project based on someone elses boards and you just cannot get the boards anymore... I'd therefore say it would just be nice, on a voluntary basis, to send user-developed MIDIbox-based gerber files to TK., that's all. Many greets! Peter

It is a very interesting development for sure, especially, if they managed to keep the chip noise levels down :-). I guess it all depends on how close to the original the FPGA emulation is... Many greets, Peter

I agree on many points, sweat/tears wasted, the ownership idea, hell yes! I don't even want to know how many hours you spent designing the BLM PCB, for example. But, the problem is with annouced bulks/community runs, that then never happen. A lot of people get disappointed that way, and many projects end up in an unfinished last bulk, the sammiches, also the MBLREs... This kind of disappointment could be quite easily avoided, if there was a "forced failover plan". In the end, it does all depend on TK's designs, so I think he should have the right to enforce that rule of storing gerbers. We know he would not go and clone them for his benefit. Nobody would be off worse that way... as long as the creators are motivated to do runs, they should do it, if not and if there is serious interest (like for the sammiches), then there is an easy solution. Freeing it up as donationware is nice, too, but there is the inherent risk of some far-eastern-copyhouse cloning everything and flooding the market with cheap and low-quality-compoment sammiches with bad soldering... we would then have to support all of these users in the forums... Many greets! Peter

Exactly my words, it happened too often already (e.g. also with the MB-LRE boards now being unavailable), i think that everyone selling MBHP based boards, in the forums or elsewhere, should be required to store a copy of the gerbers in TK.'s email inbox. So, that in case of new demand and the absence of the original creator, TK. could order some at any fab - he does not even need to do the shipping, he could order them to be delivered to any trusted MIDIbox user, who would do the logistics work. Many greets, Peter

Hi, most likely, it is a connection problem, as the full 6th matrix column lights up - check out the wiring of the 6th column and trace it, Janis linked the schems above, if i interpreted it right it should go to JD8 - D6. I'd expect the other LEDs to flash with the matrix are also connected to JD8-D6, e.g. the filter LEDs. Right? It may be the JD8-D6 wire connecting baseboard and control surface, or something on the baseboard - manually trace back JD8-D6 on the baseboard to the shift register and see if you have any shorts or bad soldering in between... You will find the problem! Good luck! Peter