Hawkeye

Nice! The 3U MBSEQ Frontpanel for me, please! :-) Many greets and thanks for selling it! Bye, Peter

Hi Jef, methinks, there is this option (excerpt from the manual): Fx Loop Is this an "effect" or a "tool" which is useful while editing long sequences... decide by yourself: Global Loop Mode: following modes are supported: All Tracks/Step View: loops all tracks around the visible step view All Tracks/Static View: loops all tracks around the selected Offset/Step range Selected Track/Step View: loops the selected track around the visible step view Selected Track/Static View: loops the selected track around the selected Offset/Step range that is another rather unknown feature - it is also button-triggerable - i´ve added an extra button to the CS to be able to switch it on and off, but you could remap any other button you have available - look for BUTTON_LOOP in the hardware config file. Or use MENU+SCRUB button on a standard CS. If turned on, it loops the currently visible step view - which allows for nice "stuttering" or "repeat" effects when playing a longer track (in a live session). Many greets and enjoy! Peter

Great job! Fantastic for those much-loved "bling-apps" - and perfect space use on the PCB! Congratulations! :) Many greets! Peter

6581: gritty, dirty, more noise, limited filter 8580: less noise, better filter, misses a bit of that original gritty 6581 feeling, but only audible for those hardcore SID nuts :smile: Methinks, the 8580/6582 is great - and the filter sounds very good. If you are planning to add a noisegate and maybe an external analog filter board (supported by the MBSID platform!), the 6581 will shine! Many greets, Peter

Congrats! SEQV4 as a master + MD (or in fact any other MIDI gear) = dream team! :-) You can set up an "empty" base session, which you load up everytime you start something new - and then save it under a different name, when you have created something... In that "base" session, you could map your midi equipment to "standard" tracks, so it is easier to remember, e.g. drums to track 1-4, synths to 5-8, etc (by assigning midi ports/channels to these tracks). But that of course also depends on how you wish to work: either you´d take a more pattern based approach (exchanging 4 tracks at a time - a bit like changing ableton scenes), or you would prefer to mute/unmute single tracks (like ableton single clip muting/unmuting). Many greets! Peter

Hi, you´d connect your Core (e.g. via USB), open MIOS Studio and upload the app according to your 32-bit core Version (the project.hex in the MBHP_CORE_LPC17 directory). Afterwards, the core is restarted, then you should see status messages in the MIOS Studio console, if I remember right, you can also perform basic test commands there. The console logs, if the IIC modules are detected, or not. You can try to disconnect and reconnect the quad IIC board (while the Core is running and connected to MIOS Studio) and see what happens. Most often, it is a wiring problem, or maybe caused by a misplaced component on the Quad IIC boards - if no connection is shown in the test-app, you should re-check component placing on your IIC board. Many greets, Peter

Great post, Shuriken! That clears up all the confusion of the possible combinations! :-) skunks, regarding your question You are right, skunks, in the MB6582 Power Option A, the 9V AC are rectified and then directly sent into the 7809 - this differs from TKs "optimized circuit" with many MBSID modules. Also, you and Shuriken are right - under certain circumstances (e.g. the AC wall voltage being low), the 7809 non-LDO vreg might deliver a bit lower voltage than desired, when fed by 9V AC + recitifer diodes. But, I think, in this special case, this is ok for the analog part of the SIDs (only opamps and stuff), and a slightly low voltage (e.g. 8.5V) would still sound good. Also, the dropout voltage of a vreg depends on the amps being drawn - and probably the 9V rail is not very demanding (only a few opamps), even in a fully loaded MB6582 with eight 9V SIDs. But Shuriken´s recommendation to normally feed a 7809 with 12VAC + rectifier diodes is solid - or to use a more modern LDO vreg. Many greets, Peter

And here is the promised small test video :-) Please excuse the confusion - my other SEQ V4 has a completely different key/button layout - hehe, hope you enjoy my slight navigation issues nevertheless! :smile: Unfortunately, i lost forum/email contact with brackets - or he has lost interest in the sequencer, well that´s how it goes... Edit: it has now been sold to "before" - thanks a lot and enjoy! Hope to see the MBSEQ in this thread, once it is finished! :-) Thanks for reading this thread, and for all your feedback! Have a great time with your SEQ V4s! :-) Many greets, Peter

+1! Traco switchers are awesome (and usually can be bought as very compact drop-in replacements for the standard linear vregs) - got them in my fpv stuff for sensitive analog cameras - they are good! How did you measure the LM2596 noise? Theoretically, there should be no audible difference between 150khz, 300khz, 500khz and 600khz switchers - all well above the perceptible audio range. Especially when properly filtered with a few small capacitors after the switcher... Many greets! Peter

Hi, i went for power option A in my MB6582 (only need 9V for the newer-model SIDs) - i also did not change the power option when switching from original C64 PSU to the new DIY PSU - the retro-donald PSU just about perfectly emulates an original C64 PSU (9V AC, 5V DC, but 5V rail protected), as these voltages are what the MB6582 baseboard wants. Yes, after moving the 78S05 Voltage regulator caps more closely to the voltage-regulator itself and adding a second large input filter capacitor (2200µF), the DIY PSU was very good, and produces a bit more silent output than the original C64 PSU. I don´t know exactly why this is the case, as both PSUs are linear regulated. I can only guess, that the modern 78S05 and the good filtering caps somehow improve the audio output quality, as probably a more stable 5V output is generated. Many greets, Peter

Hi, regarding the Cap-touching and core hang afterwards - it could be possible that that either causes a voltage peak (electrostatics?) or a voltage-drop (brownout) - no need to change that, if the core runs fine otherwise - just leave your fingers and metallic tools off it :-). The MIOS studio "Application is up&running" message won´t get updated in case of a core hang - so that observation is consistent! Here is a LC-Filter build howto - quite simple, but very effective (for me at least :-)): http://www.fpvuk.org/how-tos/lc-filters/ Many greets and have fun! Peter

Hi Dan, regarding your question, if more components are necessary: yes! You´d need a few DINx4 and DOUTx4 input and output modules for your encoders, switches and LEDs :-) Many greets, Peter

Thanks ilmenator and j! :clover: It was filmed on a very calm evening (it is usually always quite windy up there) in the bavarian alps, near the "Kochelsee". :-) Thanks for listening and your feedback! Many greets, Peter

Hola, Here is a new dreamy synthesizer and video journey far out... Hope you enjoy! :-) Of course, it has been live-sequenced on the mighty MBSEQ V4! :-) Many greets! Peter

Thanks for the warning, Norbert! You are right - i just compared the datasheets! Fortunately, the Alps EC12 encoders work fine on the SEQV4 CS when using DETENTED1 as an encoder type in the MBSEQ_HW.V4 configuration file. (They also work fine on fairlightiis LED-Ring boards). Can upload a demonstration video, if requested! :-) Many greets! Peter

Yes, that could happen, but I think (please correct me, if I am wrong), that a) we have additional vregs that would create the SID target voltage of 9-12V from the 14V (of course, these could fail, as well, but see c)) b) the 5V line would be raised to a higher relative voltage than the 9v/12v lines, if the vregs went berserk c) the 5V digital supply needs to be within close limits, and damage to SIDs would occur with even slight overvoltage, whereas the 9V or 12V supplies the analog part of the SIDs (opamps, etc), and those might be able to stand more abuse (speculative!). I think, the best you can do is follow Altitudes recommendation and use high quality switchers, maybe add a few filtering caps after the switchers (one big, one small cap each, e.g. 470uf and 100nf) and you´re good to go! :-) Many greets, Peter

Hi Skunks, please forgive the incoherent stuff below, still in partymode! ;-) 9VAC = 9x~1.4 = 12.6V peaks of the AC waveform. Subtract ~ 2V for the rectifier diodes ~ ca 10.6V input to the 7809 - which is a bit close for a non LDO (low-drop) 9V linear regulator. You might go shopping for a LDO 9V vreg. Under load, the 7809 may drop below its 9V target, as the input voltage will be lower... edit: you have 9.5V ac, which might be just enough! :-) Retro-Donald does not protect the 9V line, as it is AC (directly from the transformer, no vreg can go berserk) - the original C64 PSU is 5V DC regulated and 9V AC unregulated. The optimzed PSU scheme makes sense, I see no other easy way to obtain 12V DC for the 6581 from a 9V AC and a 5V DC source, but as always, please correct me if I am wrong! Altitude is right - (high frequency) switchers are the modern way to go - if you can´t reuse existing parts, i´d recommend to go that way. It is also way more power efficient. Many greets, Peter

Awesome - it just looks like my original (paid 80€+ for it). If you can grab one or two for me and just put it in storage, that would be nice, the link above lists 100+ still in stock! :) .hex and source is on the way... Many greets, Peter

To conclude this thread - these 18$ Noritake VFDs do work on our 8bit cores - and the price is really low, maybe someone U.S. based could reserve a few for us fellow MIDIbox builders, i´d certainly take 2 more... No way any LCD can compete with the display clarity and update speed... :-D. Many greets! Peter

Hi Skunks, regarding the crowbar schem, i´ve attached a PDF schem (made by Retro-Donald), hope it is helpful - it is also heavily fused, should anything go wrong - it has worked well for me... In the schematic, the section around the TIC 106 is the crowbar. It works quite simple: in case of overvoltage, the zener diode triggers the "crowbar" thrysistor (TIC 106) to short the output rail, blowing the fuse. The transformer output should be 2x 9V AC @ 2Amps each for a fully populated mb6582 (8 SIDs). Regarding the low voltages you reported, I am not sure, but I suspect, that your transformer does not deliver enough amps (thus the voltage drops) under load. Did you measure under load or under no-load conditions? All capacitors (as shown in the PDF) in place? Yes, I used a high-frequency switcher, both components received clean outputs (9V video cam, 5V video transmitter), no problems with noise here (both components are very sensitive to voltage spikes). Many greets, Peter MB6582-Netzteil.pdf

Hola skunks, many questions, a few (personal) findings - collected over the last years :-) * original C64 PSUs have very old (and I think non-78XX) linear voltage regulators, that can fry the SIDs, when they go into berserk mode (outputting more than 5V), which happens occasionally. * MIDIbox platform voltage regulators cannot be/are not used, when using the original 5V rail of the original PSU, as all regulators need a few volts to drop. * High quality switching regulators (with high switching frequencies in the > 100KHz range) can be used and no audible difference is expected. * Purists might still go for linear 5V regulation (with big heatsinks), even if no audible difference is heard (´prolly nostalgic reasons) :-) * AT/ATX computer PSUs are not so good, as they may require dummy loads to operate and are very inefficient under low loads - also their switching speed may be low (-> audible interference) * "Filtering" a switched regulator output with a linear regulator works great (use this for FPV projects all the time, e.g. 30V battery -> 9V switched -> 5V linear), with a scope, you can see all switcher peaks being cut off. * You can protect any psu output from overvoltage by using a protection circuit, like a crowbar-design. * You might be able to filter "noisy" (low-frequency) switchers with a LC filter (combination of both a high and a low capacitance and an inductor). Here is a link to the MB6582 PSU i built a few years ago, which still works great and is a great footwarmer on cold winter days (classic linear, with crowbar protection): Hope this was helpful! :-) Many greets, Peter

Great job! That is a very nice SEQ V4 (among other things)! :-) Many greets, Peter

Hi Mike, Both work flawlessly (no step skipping) after 4 years of medium to heavy usage: Alps 12mm encoders (with push-button function) http://www.reichelt....HOW=1&OFFSET=16 or Alpha 16mm encoders (without push-button function) Mouser P/N 318-ENC160F-24P The 12mm Alps encoders can be installed into the Wilba SEQ CS, with a bit of pinbending. Sounds a bit weird, but possible without problems. They also offer push-action to accelerate parameter inputs (with one hand only), which is great. Many greets! Peter

Thanks Kosh and Altitude! Altitude: fully agreed - for a normal build, it is highly recommended to install the frontpanel as early as possible - to avoid problems later on. For this build, brackets will be using a transparent acrylics frontpanel on top of the LEDs (shine-through - not through-hole), so installation is a bit easier. Many greets and thanks for the feedback! Peter