technobreath

Ah, I ordered a dual secondary transformer (a relativly cheap toroidal on ebay), and it's gonna be pretty easy to measure how symmetrical the windings actaully are ;)

Yep. Enough phoney companies out there!

Thanks for the encouraging words! After having years to think of it, this took me a professional coach to tell me. It's not any surprise that u have gone up and down, you don't know how to keep the weight at a normal level once u get there. And that is so true, and the process of keeping the normal weight when I get there, starts first of all. Hehe. The number one reason (and I seriously think it's a lot to it) for people (read: me) not managing to keep the weight normal, is that they (read: I) hehe, have been overweight most of my life since I was a kid, and I absolutely have no habits that is similar to what normal weight people have, and I do not know how to THINK like one. And the book I'm reading as part of the program, spend a lot of time on this, and it is really interesting reading. I have learnt a lot the past week on how a healthy person has his / hers relationship to food / snacks. I know someone were craving for pictures :) hehe. That Aint gonna happen. Not that I can't show u my picture, it's already in the people's gallery - me and flemming. So if u need to see it for whatever reason - that picture shows pretty much how I look today, and I can post a picture later on :). Hehe, I had a body scan (to see what the body consists of, and if everything is good and how much muscle, fat, proteins, minerals etc (wow I asked the operator how it worked and she had a very satisfying technical explaination hehe me like!). And it showed me what I already knew - I have far too much fat, but the muscles were way above normal too (very logical indeed). Hehe, so she said, we're gonna keep that during the training and dieting, coz to get that much muscle mass is almost impossible for a normal weighted person. So some things are positive :).

Ahahaha, I'm doing necrobumping on threads lately :D. It's been a while, and nothing special has happened since last. Still 120kg of dead weight. What is interesting is, that I finally got to feel the consequences :rolleyes: of the lifestyle I've been having. Now my back has been hurting each single day for the last two months. Luckily I have a job I need to be relatively active when doing :P. SO this thing has kinda made me do something for real - I find out that I no longer have a choice - back aint gonna be better without weightloss and gymnastics :). SOO I found a really nice program, wich cost the same as 4 mb6582 synths :P, wich I get for free through my work. My boss (a.k.a. my dad) were nice enough to send me on expensive program (wich goes on once a week for 6 months) during work hours with pay. And having a friggin BAD BACK WHEN I AM (ALMOST) 29 years old that is just plain stupid.. Nao, many have good reasons for having a bad back and bad health, but I did this myself, no doubt :shocked: So now I want out. therefore this program. Maybe I'll be able to take up the kite again. Been two and a half years since I packed it down now. wow. So, today is kinda a turning point for me. I really commit to doing this (for myself, and since you were kind enough to vote for it :P hehe). And I threw away the smokes too today. Now, I have been having somewhere between 10 and 15 each day, and have cought a bad cough a loooong time ago, so I should've done it ages ago. Now, I have quit before (for many years too) so I know exactly what I'm going to here, and last time was no real problem. I was so ready to quit that I just did it. Now I do the whole lifestyle change thing (weight thing with help from professional therapist and personal trainer :D mmm and she looks good too :D) because I want to midibox when I grow up too. It's not true what the steel dragon says - we don't all have to die young... But seriously I hope it's not too late :) wish me luck, please! :thumbsup:

R.I.P!

If you are looking for classical stuff, you will not get it anywhere for free. I have been in this business for so long that I have seen a lot of what's out there. One thing I can tell u, for example a piano, as long as there is super stage pianos out there, the same will be possible to do with a computer and a vsti or similar formats. As far as classical / movie music composing, the best stuff I have seen is from EastWest. Have a look at NAMM show demos or have a look at official demo videos or something, but u need to be willing to spend the bucks on it, I'm sure. If u find free stuff that can measure up to the commercial stuff, please let me know. As I implied earlier on, the free sf I got, and they were high quality at the time, I see almost as toys now days when I got some real stuff. You see, the thing is that you can't just put some samples in there and expect it to sound realistic, you need a specialized software engine to handle the stuff you want to come out from the horns hehe.

Wich crazy xformer solutions are u talking about then?

I need some help, as I can't seem to wrap my head around it myself... I need a xformer that gives me about 12v output with a centertap. I need to drive a 7809 and a 7909, and I want like 1 amp from each of the rails. Problem is that I can't seem to find any transformers that fits this at the sites of the usual suspects (mouser, reichelt etc.) Elfa.se I don't even bother checking cause they are so shit expensive that I buy as little as possible from them, and they are slow. If I were to use a dual output transformer and wire it so that I have a centertap - I mean - wire L on one output to N on the other, and there's my center tap. If I wanted 12v output with centertap, am I correct that I should use a dual 6v on the secondary side, or should I still use dual 12v ? Sorry my stupid question, but certain things I seem to have trouble with finding out myself... :rolleyes: EDIT: My stupidity haunts me. I found this site: http://www.delabs-circuits.com/cirdir/electric/tables/tabl0007.html Can someone verify for me that if I wire the two secondary outputs in parallel, the voltage I get from it is still 12v and twice the current capacity? That is, if I want a 12V secondary with centertap and 2 amp, I can use a 12v dual secondary xformer @ 1amp each output? Thanks for the help.

Yeah, I also use vregs 78sXX ones and crowbars on the positive rails. I think that should do in most scenarios yes. I think I'm gonna find out a solution for the first or second crowbar also tripping a relay at the main inputs - to kill all three rails in case one rail trips the crowbar. So I might have to redesign the PCB after all. Haven't found the solution yet, but It will have to include some v-dividers and a NOR gate of some kind I think... but I'm not really there yet - just the idea stage at this time. Oh, sorry for hijacking the thread like this Davo... :). On your topic - the psu need to be tested, but I'm not ready to do so myself, but it would be supercool if someone (specifically Hawkeye hehehe) could get one and test it :D. If this one is cool (noiseless as the linear or just as good) I will gladly buy one and hack it :D

Hehe Hawk. I am wanting some tips on wich transformers u used for the linear. I am about to finish mine, but the xformers is the only thing missing at this point. I even managed to crowd a single layer free eagle size PCB with 3 rails, big heatsinks and crowbars. Mmmm. Though I had to struggle with the order-to-chaos rule the universe seems to have pushed on us. Hehe.

This thing is welcome in my house. I'll use a couple for media centers with xbmc. One for automating my fridge, one for viewing food recipes in the kitchen and so on hehe. Very cheap. Ordered one now, gonna be exciting to see if it really is up to the task of media center pc. The only thing that annoys me is the lack of gigabit Ethernet hehe, but of course there is a reason for that too...

Hehe nebula, your point is good. I have for several years worked with alarm systems. The company that makes them sais to ground all unused zone inputs in the system, and that is the way we learned how to do it back on the seminars - through a resistor that is. But I came to a point in time where I stopped doing so, and just did the job 10 times as fast in the firmware. But grounding the ains is good practice yeah hehe. Can avoid future trouble when u tweak the firmware and forget about the floating stuff, and can't understand what happens to your box hehe. At work when I did those systems I made my own standard not to ground the inputs, and that way I know it is always that way :-).

There is no spec for the psu other than voltage and that it is smpsu... He says nothing about freq of the switcher and so on. So before using this on a mbsid I would rush to ask for some specs at least. If he can't answer, I suspect he doesn't know the difference hehe. "Everyone" knows that a switcher is efficient like he says in the listing, but not all really know when it is ok to use one. Altitude seems to have found a switcher regulator that he claims to be noise free... I will be checking that out for my mb6582 build. Meanwhile I am building a linear psu for my two sid synth :-). But if this psu work good, its a really good tip, and its price is also right. Maybe someone with a mbsid, a scope and some experience would be willing to test it?

aww. I had almost forgotten how the non populated boards look like :). Had my boards on the bench without finishing it for far too long now. Have fun!

Sauraen, what kind of soundfonts do you need? Omg I haven't fiddled with soundfonts for 10 years now. Vsti romplers and synths have made me stuff them away and I never looked back. My point is, I may have a bunch of soundfonts stuffed away on some backup cd somewhere, and if soundfonts are still the same, and the stuff I have is worth having around for you, I can ehrm.... slip u a cd in the mail hehe. Don't have any idea on the legal matters on this, but this is stuff I collected over some years back then, and it was mostly bundled with equipment I bought... This is not the forum to push for piracy activity, so if anyone has something against it and happen to know that I'm not legally able to "resell", please say so. They are happy in the box in the attic anyway, but if anyone can use them, ill be able to share. Most of them are 2,4 and 8 mb sets, and is what I saw as pretty good quality back then as soundfonts come, but I admit, I don't know what u want with em, because a couple of vsti synths and romplers will get u there in a much better way, unless soundfonts are a completely different thing now than back then hehe.

Haha, I will do some necro bumping myself here... For wilba, is there any docu around on how to wire the smd leds and also what size they are. I had not ordered any smd leds before, and I bought a reel off eBay, haha, and I was looking at the real ans was like, where is the leds? They were way too small for me bothering to do any soldering with them... Not a very expensive misstake, but a bit annoying! Hehe.

Yo alti, where did u buy the vreg? And does it really use the same caps as the 78xx vreg? And what kinda heat sink do u use. Please forgive me for not looking too close on the picture, as I am watching from my phone. If this works and doesn't make switching noise, that's a very nice find! And I want it hehe.

Thanks Julian. I will do a drawing of the case in my CAD. Do u have any preferences when it comes to file format? I didn't ask, but can u do my prefered color? Saves me a lot of work. I have done my fair share of spray painting, and I also own above hobby level tools for it hehe, so I know spray painting on alu is a different deal. And the more I think about it, it is just plain stupid to get a milled panel and spray it, and then sort out the inlay hehe. My final option is to get a cut panel from u and go to my next door print shop and have them make a vinyl print or something to stick on it. Wouldn't cost me a great deal anyway. And instead of spraying it with a clear coat like I wanted, I could either have it printed on glossy stuff or have them laminate a glossy layer to it... But best thing is of course if u can make the panel after my specs so I don't have any hassle with it here before I can use it...

I see no problem with that purely technical speaking, but I have several thoughts... A crowbar is a over voltage protection device. It will trip the fuse when voltage rises above a certain set level, a referance voltage. Controlled either by a zener circuit or other slightly more advanced and accurate logical circuits like a comparator ic. There are also ICs made specifically for over/undervolt protection. The thoughts are for: a crowbar circuit is usually not designed for negative voltages. And also, a over voltage protection isn't the only protection a psu should have. It should also be protected from over current / short circuits. A modern vreg would handle all this in a good way. Also has nice features as thermal shutdown etc. My point is, the transformer and smoothing caps and vreg are just a small part of a real PSU. There is at least as much design work and building with the rest compared to the very simple regulator circuits. So if u are gonna have a psu, u should not have to have a chain of boxes before the load. Else, the argument for not messing with mains voltages.. yes mains voltages is bad if u don't know what u are doing and if u don't have a healthy amount of respect for it, it can easily kill you. And if construction is poor, u might end up with a fire. I know how to handle mains voltage, and I have huge respect for it. And you should plain and simple not even think about touching the subject if u are not 100% sure u know the what's and how's here. So this is a good argument. What I really suggest as an alternative, if u feel u can't do the mains voltage dance, is to build a PSU that does everything except the transformation, and use a wallwart that has unregulated output ac. But then again, that wouldn't be a good solution either if u have a load tha requires for example 5 and 12v. This is all good when almost no current are drawn through the vregs, but as current rises, for example with a mb6582 with backlit lcd and tons of leds... When u run a 5v vreg and 12v vreg from the same voltage, wich is likely to he around 15vac, u will have to be very carefull to put a huge heatsink on that 5v vreg. Coz with much current, comes heat, and with heat comes instability in form of shutdowns etc. So not to kill the initiative about a crowbar box, but imho I don't think it will be as good as fairly good designed psu with everything included and with all modern components. I have worked on a modular psu design some time ago, and that also includes a crowbar module. My goal was to make a psu that could power all my mb stuff. And mostly for learning about psu design really... But my main argument is to be able to control every process of the psu. But for those of you who swear to the brick supply, flemming can u hear me? Hehe, it is of course better with an insert crowbar than without. I myself will never risk my sids on a bad PSU hehe.

Yo, I had a small update on this blog yesterday, but promised a new one today, and here it is. The finished model (except for a spray paint coat to seal up the wood - that comes next). I am assuming now that the build is gonna be a bit slower the days to come, because I need to figure out a couple of things when it comes to casting the mold. Gotta get hold of release wax too, so I don't think I'm gonna be able to do more with the enclosure before after easter... Anyway, here's the pictures: Main coat of bondo sanded down (took a while yes) and the second and third layer waiting to dry up for moooooore sanding :pinch: Shoot of front panel, all sanded and cute looking. Detail shoot of the right horn muhahahaha. I am still proud and amazed of how cool it looks in profile. hehe. Details from the left horn. Backside-ish photoshoot. Upside down Upside down horn details. Just like a turtle on it's back :laugh: I had a sudden stroke of inspiration - I think it looks so evil - I just had to add some accessories to it :). I don't know how well they will stay on during transport though! :devil: So, That's it folks. Next time I add a blog entry for this build, it will be of me casting the mold! Yeey! Have fun!

Oh I also thought initially to build a minimal cs, but now when I hold the case in my hands, I can't settle with that. Any suggestions from you people who are more used to handling hardware synths what controls to include. I have ordered in a DINx4 and DOUTx4 from smash's shop, so that's what I'm limited to. I aim to make this my bring-to-gig sid synth (6582 for special occations :)), and What I was thinking about was to actually exclude the oscillator section, and bring with me filter, lfo and envelope. I am unsure about the matrix, wether to include it or not. Would of course also need the LCD and the control buttons and encoder. I have a lot of tact switches - bought a huge pack off ebay some time ago (13mm ones) and I have some encoders, but I'll just drop by Tim's if I need more. If you would have to choose 2 of the section in the full CS, what would it be? :)