technobreath

Thanks. Ill just use the 220 ohm. I have no cs pcb to test them with, and havent built the psu yet. I could always go with a c64 psu, i have two spares, but i want to build my own and use a standard 230v cord in the back of the box. Takes up less space when transporting and i like it robust, so when i take it on gigs it will not break as easy, and if some pa guy helps rigging there will be no questions, and it would be a shame if the psu broke in any way and i have to buy a new one just to power it up... Im regretting a bit on the decition on making my own cs, it would be easier to stuff a ready made board, but i want a different looking cs and another case, so its probably just as fine to build the cs pcb from modules of those prototyping boards or what they are called. It will be messier inside, but that is probably the easiest way when doing a non standard build. I have some metres of those nylon tubes to run cables through so its gonna be nice that way, but the bottom side of the cs boards will look somewhat less pro no matter what i do using prototype boards, but ill live. No goal to make it as perfect as wilbas box - it looks like its made on a pro assembly line hehe. All my respect to wilba for that. But im sure i get it nice on the outside anyway... Im lucky enough to be next door neighbour with a guy who runs a shop who makes all kinds of stickers, signs, car venyls etc, so he will do my front panel silkscreen pretty cheap, and its just 5 minutes away. I also live 5 minutes from a big factory who does a lot of metal work, lasercut and waterjet, and i happends to know one of the bosses there, who is my former neighbour, and he will cut my panel cheap and also bend the alu for a custom box, but im not sure what kind of box to use yet, so well see.

Hey, I'm soon finished soldering my basepcd for the mb6582, and I was wondering what resistors to use with my LEDs, I bought 3mm red leds from smashTV, and I was wondering if it was ok to use 220 ohm resistors with those. The brightness should be normal. Anyone who built the mb6582 with those LEDs or similar who can share their specs? thanks!

Hehe, you're quite right. It's ouchy I know. On second thought, I will not think of having external 230vac equipment connected and switched through my console anyway. I'll probably either make some box with relays and place them where I can't hear them. I know at least three electricians who would wire it up for me legally :P, or I will use 12 volt for the entire thing...

Cool! I'm glad this came through. Thanks to phunk's efforts! The knobs will arrive just in the right time for me. Right now I'm soldering the 6582baseboard.

OK. I smack myself in the face. :poke: This was indeed a stupid question. I found what I was looking for. For anyone else who look for this and is as stupid as me and won't admit to it: http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=wilba_mb_6582_parts_list EDIT: I have even looked through this list before! I feel so stupid :P EDIT Again: The component list seems to cover everything very well, but there is one thing I dont understand. I am planning to use both sid types and I need both 9 and 12 volts for that one. I am also planning to use a self-build powersupply for the box, and I dont understand completely what components to use and not use when I'm not using a c64 power supply. Can someone point me the right way? thanks!

Hi! With the risk of asking an incredibly stupid question: I just got the baseboard home, and have it in front of me here at my living room table. I want to start soldering it together right away, but I can't seem to find a list on wich component goes where... I just (almost) finished my gm5x5x5s and there was this nice table in the wiki pages that told me that this component goes there and that goes there. Is there anything similar for wilba's card? I read the wiki pages I could find on this, but I couldn't find what I was looking for. Is it my excitement that blinds me or...? Thanks for any pointers...

Another website can't remember wich, led me to belive that UV LEDs couldn't do the job very well because of wavelength specs, so I threw mine in a drawer and forgot about them until now. If this really works I will make a similar design too. I have never tried making PCBs other than the old diy way with a permanent marker and dipping it in ferric chloride. Any links to instructions on how to use this method from printing the layout to etching the PCB would be appreciated if someone knows of such.

I have a question nils. I have never fully understood the transistor. I used to design cuircuts in simulators just to learn, but the simulator I felt wasn't too picky :) It accepted about anything - even stuff I knew to be wrong, so I don'trust the simulator at all. With that said, I am planning a LC build when finished with my gm5x5x5s and the mbsid, and I would like to control some stuff from the DOUTs that aint part of the console to begin with - i.e. record sign outside the studio on /off when record button is pressed etc... I want the option to switch AC 230v stuff from the console. This I could easily do with a relay solution, but this would be audible and annoying. Is there some way to do this using descrete components? Can a regular transistor switch AC? What descrete components do if its not the regular transistor? I have seen some high power descrete contactors used to switch on panel heaters in a big audiotorium - I understood it was used to prevent sparks and stuff cause of the high current. I can't remember the amp rating on the thing, but it was insane. I assume this is expensive components used (I don't know exactly the name). If someone knows anything about this, and can point me in the direction of what switching component to use, I should be able to figure out the rest myself.

Im on my mobile phone right now so i cant view the video posted, but one question to those who knows this techniqe. Are you just making the cuircut on computer and print it on regular paper with a regular laser printer and transfer the toner with ironing it onto pcb and check for missed parts and do those by hand? My biggest problem with the all by hand techniqe is that it takes a lot of time figuring it out. I used to draw the cuircut layout by hand and make a draft on paper that i was happy with. The use brains and time to make a mirrored draft on paper, then copy that onto the pcb by hand. It is a fair way to do it, but it takes so long, and the ironing te'hniqe seems to spare me all that time if it works.

I totally agree with nils here. The concept means trouble. To build a linear psu is veeeery simple and the physical space required is a next to nothing. Why create an insufficient troublemakng solution when its so simple? I understand this can look like an interesting idea, and you could always make something like a power injector like power over ethernet uses and that way the amps wont be limited by other than the cable gauge, but it will make the equipment incompatible with standards and it is more. work than just building the simple psu that thotsten has in the schematics. If u want more juice than this you could replace the 7805 with a higher amp rated 7805. The ones i use is rated 2 amps. Just mount a hefty heatsink to it and you shouls have more than enough for just about any midibox project. Just remember to use a transformer wich can deliver enough amps. I have some transformers salvaged from old alarm panels at work, they are fused on 1,5 amp, and should be mooore than enough. The reason i use higher rated regulators is becaise thats what i had.

:D This is more like 1000 than 100 :). Me like.

Hi, I am about to start making some power supply boards for two GM5x5x5s and a mbsid. I have plenty of space available in the boxes I plan to put them. I have also laying around a lot of standard pcb - no photoresist or anything - just simple copper boards, and I'm gonna use them since I got them - since I have enough space in the boxes, I'll just make it simple and handdraw the pcb with a permanent marker as I used to do when I made my first PCB :) My question is what etching liquid I should use. The only one I know of is ferric chloride disolved in lukewarm water. I used to tie a string to the board about to be etched and dip it up down up down up down up down up down for 10 minutes at least while it is etching - i gather it need air for the process to work properly? However I won't have the time and will to sit dipping the board and watch it slowly etch. Any other etchants I can use that frees me from the dipping? If air is needed, can I use a pump? any advice on the actual design of the etching tank then? Thanks for all input.

Sure the best would be a non-programming approach. That just say how little i have researched the options already out there... You mentioned there had to be a better way than using mbseq for this or did i misunderstand u there? The best was if i could do this without a lcd, as small unit as possible for placing it on the stagepiano, but if a lcd and menu navigation is good to have for setup i would maybe consider making it a bit complicated and make the actual controller as a breakout box and place the system in a rackbox with lcd and config buttons and encoder, or something. Isnt it enough to just run a bus cable berween them then? Maybe in form of a nullmodem cable or so?

Haha, yeah I know that :D. I haven't looked into more than the headlines on ucapps yet - but I will do. I have also seen some vids on youtube of TK demonstrating the mbseq - and I don't know what facinated me the most - the machine or the music. Both I guess. I also left a comment - I told TK to send me his picture so I could make a statue of him at my house and worship it :P haha. I had a period of about 10 years when I learnt to appreciate dance music of this kind shown in the video. And I used to produce that kind of music, but I never quite got it right, because at the time I had only a Soundblaster and shareware midi / (poor)audio sequencer called voyetra digital orchestrator plus. The soundfonts could never match real synthesizers - or emulated like VSTi. When I first got myself a real DAW system - after about 10 years of "soundblasting" I also played in a band, and that band leaned towards the prog metal / symphonic metal genre, and also my genre-interests changed acordingly. Don't get it wrong - I still love a good trance / dance tune, but I like it more when I can produce what ignorant people call "real" music :). A full mbseq would be very nice to have, but I am really not sure I know exactly what to use it for in my setup right now :) - However - I need the system we really discussed here :) Youre right - it would be a nice introduction to learning mios C programming. But I have no idea on where to start when it comes to the midi part - and interacting with my DAW - so any input would be very appreciated. Please feel free to come with your thoughts :)

Seems like youre on to something there. I use a borrowed cp300 as stage piano and a simple radium61 key controller for most gigs. Frequently used vsti for my gigs involve refx nexus and spectrasonics atmosphere. Its mostly piano patches from the stage and some ambient sounds layered over the piano from either mexus or atmosphere. I use the radium for leads and soundfx. The cp300 strikes me as an advanced piano and it can do a lot, for example transpose the vsti wired to it, but if i transpose that one i suddenly have an impossible setup with one keyboard transposed different to the other one. Its confusing keeping track on diting a song to say it in a nice way. So short answer is that i dont know exactly what i can do midi wise with my setup, but i would be surprised if it couldnt be done... As long as the cp300, cubase and those two plugins accept the right midi commands i would be home free. As for using the mbseq, seems a bit overkill. I could use the firmware but i would lile to keep the firmware and hardware as minimal as possible. So that it does what i need only, i dont want a full featured mbseq just to do this... It probably involves changing the program, but if the functions are there in mbseq it should be doable to program a version showing only the menu functions in the lcd that i need? Im np big programmer, but im sure witj some help i can do it... Or?

Hi, I started out with a mbsid build - under construction - and two gm5x5x5s. My ambition is to build a mb lc for my studio but planning job is big, cost is big and i really dont have the time yet, but i cant drop midiboxing in the mean time. Too much fun. Ive asked this around some midi and recording forums but cant seem to get any answer. I have one big problem on gigs, configuring my synth and stagepiano during a song. So i watched some dream theater behind the scenes on utube, and rudess is switching between preconfigured scenes at the push different keys on the controller. What i like is to have a mb that do just that. A small one to fit besides my main controller at gigs. I use cubase or vstack on gigs and also one or two hardware controllers. I want the box to be able to change scenes - that is changing vsti and patches in the vsti from one setup to another. Also i would like it to have a global transpose up down functions. Im not as fluent in keys that include playing on many black keys hehe, so if i play one song in A minor and i want to modulate the song to bb minor i wish i could just press "up" and every active patch both on my vsti and hardware synth transpose. In my simple mind i dont understand how this work in my daw, what i need to program and what functions the midibox should have or if this is doable in mb platform at all. What i also like is that when i change to another scene it should either reset transposer to 0 or transpose to a preselected key. I could always use my keyboard and assign some keys to do the scene change but it would be stupid if i missed a note in a song and changed the scene at the wrong time! All info / advice you can provide about hardware part of this and also how to program cubase / vstack to do this is deeply appreciated. My cubase version is sx3. I have tried to do this with a keyboard controller bwfore when i first discovered this method, but havent succeeded yet since i have viritually no clue on where to start and know nothing about how it really works. Any advice to get me started? I wrote this on my htc (nightmare how slow it is to write with a phone) so just ignore any typos that might be there. Ingebret

Hehe, Altitude - I get the point :). I can vividly imagine the loads of time it takes to do this backlight, and also it's so tiny... but this is not something I can't do :) - Just gotta get myself a new soldering iron now. After soldering two GM5x5x5 boards and preparing several components for the mbsid the tip of the iron is useless - it's a cheap weller iron I bought through my job. I asked for a good one, and some extra tips, but the answer was that it was cheaper to throw it away and buy a new soldering iron than to switch tip on it... Anyway - I'm getting myself a real soldering station when I decide I can afford it!

cool, thanks!

Is there a standard size of the smd leds, or is there any special ones to buy that fits better than the other on a normal encoder? What do u mean it's not for the "faint of heart"? Using a resistor for brightness or the whole concept of backlit encoder knobs? :)

Hello guys. Anyone has tried this before? I just recieved this: http://www.satistronics.com/myfiles/file/LCD/RT204-1.pdf Mine says "RT204-1 (VER2.0)" The datasheet above was the closest I could find, and I am 99% sure this is the same as mine only mine is red / black color. I bought it off ebay. This is compatible with midibox right? And is there some special cares to take when connecting it?

hey, I see in the list you mixed up my numbers - but it doesn't matter... good either way. I guess when my first project is over (the mbsid) I will be stuck with about 30 extra, so I will have the freedom to choose whatever I like on the mbsid - the rest probably goes on a MBLC, but that is ahead in time... one thing at the time - not just for the calm of my soul but also for not emptying my wallet as my wife will go pretty mad :P - When she asks how much this project of mine cost I tell her that I think it might be half of what it really is :P hehe. Oh shit, I hope she doesn't google my forum-name as she will see this post :P. Hehe, the truth will come out eventually - in time :) Exactly how are these trans buttons backlit anyway?

This was what I tried to explain, but without having any info about previous bulk order runs. :) Glad you could make the price estimate a little bit clearer. I think I will want to change my numbers a bit that you wrote in the list in the above post. If this doesnt make a lot of trouble of course.. :) New numbers for me: 30 black/red 20 black/trans These numbers I don't plan to change. I was a bit impressed by backlit knobs, so it would be fun to see how it works out on my design :) Is anyone taking the responsibility to organize the bulk order? - as I said - I can do it, but it makes no sense since it's gonna be a lot more expensive due to the taxes and norwegian VAT I would have to pay wich is a bit higher than german vat - also the overall shipping costs from albs would be lower with a german based redistribution :)

I thought the whole point with a regulated supply was to keep the voltage constant no matter what load is on it unless you overload it or something... I would take it back to the shack.