Param1

A little update. I try to keep it as short as possible. Situation before Thread: Sammich 1: Distortion Socket L Sammich 2: Distortion Socket R Sammich 3: No Distortion Situation Now: All Sammichs and Sockets Distorted. (when playing 3 notes at the same time (chords), Filter on (Lowpass is worst), and 2 Waveforms selected) The reason why Sammich 3 is distorted now is unbelievable. I wanted to resolder some joints on Sammich 1 or 2 to see if it helps but took the wrong pcb and resoldered 3. (where are the facepalm smilies?) Now, of course this is a strong hint that the soldering points are the cause but even after resoldering some more nothing worked. I resoldered with care, especially the transistors. I measured lots of continuity tests, voltage tests with and without SIDS and everything looks OK (to my noob eyes). I once found some anomalies but they were actually related to the SID that was in at that time. (had higher voltages at some pins compared to the others) But what I find strange is: Why the exact same issue on all three Sammichs? Why not for example: Sammich 1 - receives no midi in , Sammich 2 - can not store data , Sammich 3 - no Sound at all Possible Reason for all of this: 1. Most likey Me. a. Maybe everything is soldered badly so it sums up and the Sammichs distort? Reason would be a regular mistake. b. If only some joints don't work corectly, why at the same positions leading to the exact same issues? Unregular and unlikely cause? 2. If it is something else, it could be a. A central part because the issues are always the same. A central part would be the power supply. In fact my power supply is sub optimal. It only delivers 11.5V max although specced 12V. If I want to have 9V at the 8580 I have to bypass the bridge Rectifier. b. Specific components in the audio path (and communication path with the main processor?). But these would be many parts. For instance: transistors. 6 transistors need to malfunction. Or filter caps: 12 filter caps need to malfunction. - unlikely imo. :-(

Thanks for the offer. You don't have to pay the shipping cost lol... the only one who transfers some money will be me.

I am not able to fix the problem on my 2nd Sammich. And I am totally out of ideas and totally disapointed about the overal time invested into this. And it does not make sense to me why I can't fix the 2nd one by fixing the resistors. It had the problem on the opposite socket and it showed the low voltage on the opposite resistor row. I fixed it, yet the problem is still there, opposed to the other Sammich. I checked 5000 connections with the continuity tester and I measured voltage at 5000 points on Sammich 1 and 2 to check for differences but there are none.... The sockets sound the same now but they are both distorted when the Sustain Level is about 10 (and volume 127), filter on and two waveforms.

Wilba, I think I mixed the Sammichs. One has distortion on the Left and one on the Right. I fixed one of my Sammichs tho. Seems like it was related to the Resistors R2L R3L R4L on the one Sammich and R2R R3R R4R on the other. The pins 27 of the distorted SID Sockets only had about 2.8V instead of 5V. By moving the resistors with my finger nails I was able to change the voltage lol... I resoldered them and one Sammich is now working. The other however not but I will work on that again and report back, also when successful.

I made a little .ico file of the sammichSID and connected it to the Midibox related Folders and the Editor Shortcuts. So everything looks nice :-) It's attached to this thread. You can make ones yourself with this freeware tool: http://www.chip.de/downloads/IcoFX_28266149.html Just click "Zum Download". Actually it's not freeware anymore since v. 2 or so but the linked to 1.6.4 is. sammichSID.ico

Thanks for chiming in Wilba. Well I did this interesting test and it brought up an interesting result: Both channels sound the same BUT DISTORTED. I expected that if they sound the same that they sound right because the left Socket was used. After the test I removed the bridge and testet Socket Left (IC1L) solo and it sounded ok again. So I have not isolated the problem to the audio buffer? I am not sure what the audio buffer is anyways :-( edit: Or should I also remove the Filter Caps of socket IC1R when doing this test? @Imp the voltages seem to be OK editedit: The ensemble shows me (via Editor) that the Filter Range is the same for both sockets.

Without the filter it sounds OK and with just one waveform selected it sounds almost normal. The filter cap sockets seem to be soldered well. I swapped the filter condensators and it did not change anything. Can condensators actually saturate? Maybe it's the transistors T1L or T1R ? But I soldered them with caution. But maybe I broke them?

Hi guys, I have a question. As stated in the topic, the SID in the left socket distorts very early. The one in the right socket basically not at all and it can be very loud. Distortion level depends on: - Filter needs to be on - Amount of notes I play at the same time - Global Volume - Sustain Level - Amount of waveforms selected Please note: This is NOT SID related. If I change SIDS the problem remains in the same sockets. I made two sound examples: A small loop with - d-minor chords - triangle & saw at the same time - Sustain 10 - lfo sweeping activated Lowpass - Manual sweeping global volume from around 50 - 127 Of course the question is: How come? :question::shocked::question: p.s. I got actually two Sammichs and on the other one it is exactly the other way around :turned: Sid Location Left.mp3 Sid Location Right.mp3

An important note about the Hardsid: You can only edit one oscillator at a time and not copy the settings to other oscillators. The End.

lol, it's mean to scare a noob like me, I am already scared by condensers :nuke: :frantics: :w00t: You know what, seriously, if I short the big condenser of the Sammich with my fingers, after turning the Sammich off, would it hurt or even be seriously dangerous? Or is it to small?

OK, I can understand that, but if my PSU and polarity is right - and they are right - then there is nothing bad about it?

Guys, I somewhat talked BS. I just had a look at the pcblayout.pdf. What I did is overriding the bridge rectifier by using shunts at JBP. JP is set to 8580. I thought overriding the bridge rectifier meant overriding the whole voltage regulation :logik: But as I can see from the layout, everything is behind JBP, the big condenser, 7809 etc. So I assume I am safe from PSU Spikes and the like, is that right? And my original question needs to be: Is there any disadvantage by NOT using the bridge rectifier? p.s. I use a stabilized psu (NOT switchmode) which delivers 11.5 V. If I use the bridge rectifier the SID only gets about 8.5V. I guess exactly the 0.5V missing at the PSU itself (11.5V vs. 12V!) Board Member rbv2 has the same PSU by the way. He also gets 11.5V although the PSU is advertised with 12V. http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/518322/STECKERNETZGERAeT-PA-1000S-LED But I would not care if overiding the rectifier is no problem in the long run. Thanks guys

I connected my power supply directly to the SID 8580 because the power supply does not deliver enough voltage for use with the sammich power regulators. It works fine tho. I am wondering if there is any disadvantage in doing so. SID Longevity or something, dunno.

Well, there are basically four options, if they want to sell this product: a. Sue them b. Let them go c. Convince them to stop before the situation escalates d. Cooperate and get revenue a. Not sure how resources and chances are. There should be some motivated lawyers out there tho. b. Well, that is not really an option, I guess. c. Worth a try, dunno the attitude of TBS tho. Judging from above post it is not a good one. d. Well, not sure if that is an option anymore. Because usually, they should have contacted your first and then negotiate a deal. And not the other way around. Like "Hey we simply build your product now but we are so kind and you can negotiate with us after we set the facts." Me, an unimportant Noob of course, sees one good thing about a commercial MBSID tho: It would open the possibility for people who do not dare to solder one themselves. (no skills, equipment, time) But I know there have been discussions about it. And good reasons against it. For instance, as I understand many people contributed to the Midibox Project, so it would be hard to share revenue fairly. And there seems to be a non-profit spirit here, that I, as someone who is really down on capitalism, and who sees this project as another proof that people can make great things happen without capitalistic pressure, really like. Not that I am asked but I could see the Midibox SID become a cool commercial project if: - the main makers get a fair revenue - if the final product does not have the maximum-profit price - if the real midibox project (do it yourself, people sharing their stuff, helping each other, the whole good vibe that is going on in this forum) continues. That was my (surely limited) view (as of today). :hairy:

http://www.musotalk.de/event-reports/video/article/musikmesse-2011-mode-machines-synthlab-sl-1/ After 40 seconds you can see the device at the lower left corner.

@ Thorsten : I wrote you a PM. Just forget it :-) (Deleted my question anyway but you were to quick hehe) What I do not understand is that they did not contact Midibox (Thorsten). Heck, they could even ask him in person because they actually do not live far away from Munich. (184km)

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Behind the synth is the company Touched by Sound and it's interesting, that they try to sell this over at ebay: They still did not sell it: http://cgi.ebay.de/15x-Commodore-C64-Brotkasten-Megapaket-Zubehor-Bastler-/250775699699?pt=Klassische_Computer&hash=item3a636580f3 And yes this is gossip and even a bit off topic. Sorry :zorro:

I am a Noob myself so I can just give a general tip. I found 2 problems by closely looking at http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?hash=a55f1b&media=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mb6582.org%2FsammichSID%2FsammichSID_Base_PCB.pdf and measuring / continuity testing my board.

omg... reported for spam. :mad: Cya Param1, the party pooper. p.s. just kidding :zorro:

I can verify what Shuriken said. Tested a bunch of chips lately.

Thanks for chiming in guys. I focused so much on the Filter Cutoff thing, that I didn't notice that pulse wide modulation does the same thing. And there were a couple of other problems, when the SID did not react well to the editor changes. By the way, the Editor "destroyed" my midi ouput to the Sammich also when I was not in my DAW. But you probably noticed that I used past tense, and the reason for that is, that the problem seems to be solved. :sorcerer: And because I think it is always important to state how a problem was solved (and not just ask for help and silently solve the problem) here is the (not surprising) answer: As stated earlier I used MidiOX and Miditrix in combination with MidiYoke. I tried different setups, for example the one here: http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_sid_manual_ed.html I think I actually tried the right setup very early with MidiOX but it did not work because of the lack of midi defragmentation (I assume). What did (for example) not work? Editor: What I mostly did , was to send the Editor Data to virtual Midi Yoke cables and from there to the Motu Device and from there to the Sammich. (and visa versa) Daw: Send Midi Note Data from my Keyboard to Motu In, from there to the DAW Midi Track, from there with Midi Through to the Motu Midi Out and then to the Sammich. What did work? Editor: Same as above. Daw: Send Midi Note Data from my Keyboard to Motu In, from there to the Daw Midi Track, from there with Midi Trough to a third virtual Midi Yoke Cable, from there to Motu Out, from there to the Sammich. So right now I am really happy. And of course thanks go to this helpful community. A special thank has to go out to imp. Your last post basically made me try miditrix with 3 virtual cables. Cheers :zorro:

Well, I gave Miditrix another try, tried this and that but it did not change anything (including defragment option). So just to recap: Once I changed the Filter Cutoff, the next change of ANY other param stops any midi note data to the sammichSID. The editor itself actually keeps on working. For instance, if I change the Cutoff and, say, the waveform of OSC1, it does that. Sammich and me are very sad. Today Sammich showed a sad smilie on his LCD Display. :bye:

OK, the sample rate thing can simply be circumvented by starting the editor first and then the DAW (not surprising really). But the sample rate thingy is worth to be mentioned anyway. On another note, I tried Java 32 and 64 bit meanwhile and it did not help. I also tried miditrix but I gotta give it a second try.

Hm, I don't have your issues with the Voltcraft PSU.