wallofnoise

Awesome, will do. Thanks again! :smile:

Thanks for the feedback, it makes sense. I'm having tons of fun messing with this awesome little box and may even get around to painting it sometime. ;) I have been looking at the 'audio in' on the sammichSID and was wondering how that would work. I've read a bunch of posts here on the forums and in the MIDIbox SID V2 user manual, but I'm not sure how they relate to what's in the stock sammichSID, as they seem to be more towards other projects. Could I give the sammichSID a standard line level input (like off a sound card) and then process it? I know I read about filters that can be used, is there a preset patch that works better for this type of thing? Thanks for any info! wallofnoise

I just checked and I'm getting a solid 12.5v into the 7809 with both boards attached using the 10.5v setting of the power supply. It does have the 9v, but when I tested it, it was about 10.2v at the other side of the power connector which seems like it's cutting it a bit close. Would it harm anything if the 7809 went under 10.5v at times or do you think sticking with 10.5v is best? Thanks a lot! wallofnoise

Great news, good call, I wasn't getting continuity between the 7809 ground pin and the ground point right nearby, so I re-soldered the pin. It's a little strange as the pin looked to have ample solder on it, but I made sure it flowed in there and it's working great. I put in all the ICs after the voltage tests passed and I'm good to go. I did change the shunts back to support the 12v 800mA ac supply, as the 12v dc is on loan. I'm seeing about 18v coming into the 7809 and the heat sync is getting hot, but I can still touch it after around 10 mins of use. Does this seem ok for a long term setup? I did notice my 800mA power supply has a 10.5v setting which is putting out a solid 12.25v opposed to the 14.5v on the 12v setting. Might this be a better long term solution? I just don't want to burn something out after using it awhile. Thanks again for all your help, it's so awesome to have it running! :) wallofnoise

I'm getting 8k resistance between the grd and 9v pin of the 7809. I'm getting 11M ohm on the gnd and 9v pads near the 7809. I'm getting 10M ohm on both the right end of the 'L' shunt as well as off the upper diode. Also I went back through and did some continuity tests and I'm not getting anything on any of the 5v points. In fact it seems between the 12v / 9v and grd pins on the 7809 are the only ones that pass. Thanks a lot, wallofnoise

I've checked the 3 other 9v points near the 7809 and they are all less 0.20. Does that help narrow down which component might not be working correctly or perhaps the left pin of the 7809 isn't making good contact with the board? Thanks again, wallofnoise

I switched to the other power supply and am getting 15.5v (DC probe setting) on all of the 12v points, which is about what the power supply puts out, so I'm not sure it's regulated. This is with both shunts on JBP. I'm getting about 0.15 off the left pin of the 7805. This is using the middle pin as ground. The right pin marked at 5v is 0. I'm setting both LCD pots all the way anti-clockwise. JBL is default 5v, JR4 is off (no shunt). Thanks a lot, wallofnoise

Thanks for the fast response. I checked all the ICs and I did have 2 chips swapped. After confirming all the rest were in the correct positions the control panel and all the LEDs started working correctly. I proceeded to installing the bank chips and watched them format with no errors. I then uploaded the default patches which went fine. I then put in the SIDs (6582a), set the jumper horizontal, installed the 4 22nF caps (positions 1,3,4,6) and turned it on. It worked great and I started going through the presets playing notes off the keyboard in MIOS Studio, after about 5 minutes of lovely SID goodness, the unit just turned off like I had flipped the power switch. I turned the power off and then back on, however nothing happened, no LCD / LED activity. I had unpulled the power when I installed all the components. I checked the power supply and it was still working correctly. I double-checked all the solder points on both boards, but didn't see any shorts. I then pulled all the ICs and the 4 SID caps off the bottom board and tried the voltage tests again. I'm not getting 5v at any of the points I was before. I am getting 9v off the left 7809 pin, but I'm getting 18v off the right pin where I should be getting 12v. The 0 off the right 7805 pin. This was with the multimeter set to DC. Any suggestions of what to do next? Thanks again, I really appreciate it, wallofnoise

Thanks a lot for the help. I went through the steps and got it running (I had missed installing the bridge rectifier). I'm now able to pass the voltage tests on both boards. I've now added all the ICs besides the sid and bank chips to both boards. I also got MIOS studio going and successfully uploaded the newest firmware. I'm about to install the bank chips and the sids, but I'm not able to pass the buttons test. I went to the sid manual online and tried pressing the buttons to go through the menu, but I can't get past the first screen which reads: EInt|PInt Ld Chn. 1 1***|Lead Patch I've tried pressing every button. I also tried pressing the buttons while running MIOS to see if the midi note messages were being sent as the manual said, but I don't see anything in the midi in window. Also I've noticed that the first and last columns of LEDs (6 total) are on all the time. How would you recommend I proceed? Thanks for any input, wallofnoise

Thanks a lot for the fast response! :) I've tested the 12V DC and it's unregulated, so I'm going with the 12V AC which seems to be more reliable with a voltage pretty steady around 12-15v. I've connected the 12V AC and turned the bottom board on (flicked up) and I'm getting 0 off the J2 when I have the black probe to the ground and the red to +5v. This is using an old but reliable Fluke multimeter which seems to work fine as far as I can tell. What do you recommend I try from here? I have continuity with all the points and I've double checked all the component placements. This really is an awesome kit and I've had a lot of fun getting it together. Thanks again, wallofnoise

Hey guys, I've finished soldering on both boards and I don't have too many pieces left over. ;) I've done the continuity tests on the main (bottom) board and everything checks out based on the page in the build guide. Now I'm to the point of giving it power... I went and picked up a 9/10.2/12/13V AC 800mA (set to 12v) power supply from Radio Shack based on a post I saw here on the forums from Wilba. They didn't have a 500mA. I also have a 12V DC 1500mA positive tip power supply that fits it. Which should I use? I'm using the standard lcd that came with the kit and 6582s. Also is the rocker switch turned on when the bottom end is depressed or out? Thanks a ton! wallofnoise