John E. Finster
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Posts posted by John E. Finster
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Hi, I did some experiments and I found a workaround for the 2. problem, the artifacts. Since they always appeared on the display before the one with the original content, I rearranged the pins and left out every second pin on the dout module, so SR1: dataline 9 - 11 - 13 - 15 and so on... That seems to work, I didn´t notice any artifacts yet. I still have disappearing characters (or parts of them) on the screens, but if I use the meta event "UpdateLCD", most of them can be reinstated.
my regards
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Hi, it´s a pretty easy thing to build, even if you don´t have much diy experience. All you need is a Core Module (here), a couple of lcds and some ribbon cable. There really is not much to understand. You could also take a look here at the different display options. 2 2x40 character displays are fine, but there are other options which (in my own opinion) would be a better fit.
On that topic in the Reaper forum you posted is another guy who used 8 small ssd1306 displays (a little more down) which would fit exactly above the faders of the bcf2000.
If you need any help, we have a very nice and very helpful community here.
Just to give you a little jump start:
You will need:
- 1 Core PCB (available at SmashTV) ~8€
- 1 LPC1769 LPCXpresso Board (available at Watterott) ~24€
- 2 2x40 character displays (available at eBay) ~10€/p
- a small collection of electronic parts (complete list here) ~20€
- SD or Micro SD Card
Prices depend on your location of course.
Think about it.
my regards
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Hi, I came across some problems with my SSD1306 displays:
1. Using big fonts in conjunction with the txt56 syntax doesn´t work completely yet. I wasn´t able to test this thoroughly until now, sorry, otherwise I would have reported this earlier.
When I initialize my box (with mackie emulation) the tracks host message is fine like this:
But when the text on the second line changes the first character still gets cut off:It seems, that the first character on the second line gets shifted 8px above. This is the case for every first character on a track.
2. Another (bigger) problem I came across is that there are a lot of artifacts occuring on all the displays which data lines are not connected to the core, but to a DOUT module (so, lcd 9 and above). This can be seen here:
What is seen here are the 12. and 13. display. The artifacts always occur on the display before (like in the picture) and the characters on the "original" screen sometimes disappear. This can also be seen in the picture.This is not static, but changes every time a button event is sent. I am relatively sure, this isn´t a wiring problem, since I thoroughly checked all connections with a circuit analyzer. No shorts, no broken connections, nothing....If someone has an idea, what I could have done wrong, please tell me.Thanksmy regards -
Hi Spirit, Thanks for the reply. After some unsuccesfull runs trying to link both MF modules, I decided to go with the 3. and 4. midi connections. For the moment, the MF modules are connected to the native LPC midi ports (1.+2.), because I had some trouble with the midi port extension (really bad trouble). But I will take another shot at this soon.
Thanks again
my regards
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Hi, I´ve just solved the problem and I´m amazed about my own stupidity. I built a small pcb extension for a 3rd and 4th midi in/out into my box, which didn´t work. I can not tell yet, why it didn´t work, but for the moment I let it go because this was not a priority for me.
But I didn´t disconnect the defective pcb from the core.....
That caused all the problems I had the last 3 days, the malfunctioned displays, ampere fluctuations, voltage spikes on the core, the broken sd card,...
Anyway, thanks for reading this testimony of my own asininity...
my regard
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Hi, I´m in desperate need of assistance.
I´m building a Midibox_NG with 18 ssd1306 displays and I´m in the final stages. I already assembled the frontpanel and put it in a case. At first everything was fine, but then I caused a small short between the Vss-line and SDA-line for the displays (not 100% sure about the shorted lines though). The displays began to flicker, when I used some button or encoder. I thought this had to be a ground-related problem and after a long night of searching I found the short and fixed it. So far so good.
But now the displays malfunction again, but in a different manner:
After I power up the box, everything is fine. I inserted a syntax that puts a small "ready" message on every display and that works. After a short while (~1 minute or so) and after I´m loading the ngc file I´m working on I notice a similar fault like the one above:
First, the 9th display doesn´t seem to work anymore, same for the 16th. The other displays work at first, but after a minute, little by little, they begin to flicker and the characters shift positions on screen, when I press a button.
After another night of searching I´m pretty sure, there isn´t another short an the board, but there are hundreds of soldering points and I don´t even know where to start.
I also noticed that the ampere of the psu is fluctuating between 0.4 and 0.7 ampere a minute after I power up the box. That didn´t happen before I caused the initial short and everything was fine.
Please, I really could need some help on this. At least some kind of plan, how I could narrow down the fault.
Thanks
my regards
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Hi, thanks for the reply. I´m worried because some times in the past, when I connected midi in/out wrong to the core, the core wouldn´t start and I couldn´t explain why. I just thought that couldn´t be good for the core so I´m trying to avoid this.
How can I define an ID for the modules? Do I have to connect the modules seperately, then assign an ID and then link the modules? Or can I link them together and assign an ID afterwards?
In the NGC file the MF modules have to assigned as "MF n=1 enabled=1 midi_in_port=IN2 midi_outport=OUT2 ........" while n=x refers to the module. Does this n refer to the ID, too?
Thanks
my regards
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Hi, I´m having trouble understanding how to link 2 MB_MF modules. I don´t want to damage anything by connecting the wrong wires.
As I understand this it´s like this:
CORE (midi out) -----------> (midi in) MB_MF 1 (midi out) -------------> (midi in) MB_MF 2 (midi out) -----------------> (midi in) CORE
is that correct?
Which one of these 2 would be the end point?
And how would I choose the one I want to calibrate or assign inside an NG script?
Sorry for all the questions, but I really don´t get this.
Thanks
my regards
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never mind. I forgot to read for myself again :whistle:.
my regards
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Sorry, ich wusste nicht, dass Du einen Pic Core verwendest. Ob deine Idee sich da realisieren lässt, kann ich nicht mehr abschätzen. Ich habe leider von C keine Ahnung.
Da müsste wahrscheinlich ein Anderer ran an diese Frage.
Viel Erfolg noch und liebe Grüße.
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Zunächst denke ich mal, Du solltest Dir mal das neue Midibox_NG Konzept anschauen. Auf den Controller wird hierbei die MB_NG Firmware als eine Art "Framework" draufgeladen. Welche Hardwareelemente benutzt werden sollen und welche Aufgaben diese erledigen sollen, wird über ein Skript gesteuert, das auf einer SD Karte liegt und das über das Mios Studio direkt bearbeitet werden kann. Es ist also nicht notwendig, Mios direkt zu modifizieren. Auch Programmiersprachen wie C oder ähnliche werden dafür nicht benötigt.
Das mal als Info.
Im Skript selbst kann dem Encoder ein relativer Modus zugeordnet werden, d.h. bei Drehung rechts wird immer der Wert 63 gesendet, bei Drehung links immer 64 (oder so...).
Dann gibt es bestimmte Befehle im Skript, wie beispielsweise Event_Sender oder Event_Receiver und If-Befehle, mit denen ein Midievent in ein anderes "übersetzt" werden kann.
Daher kann ich mir vorstellen, dass es möglich ist, die Events, die ein relativer Encoder sendet, also entweder 63 oder 64 (bei CC-Events) in verschiedene Noten zu übersetzen, die dann ausgegeben werden.
Wie gesagt, ich habe es noch nicht selbst probiert, mein Gerät ist noch nicht ganz fertig, aber ich denke mal, so könnte das funktionieren.
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Hi and welcome,
What kind of random data is comming from the core? It might be that the PIC is broken.
The status led will light up after you install the MB_MF firmware onto the core. You have to get it to work in Mios first, though.
my regards
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Hi, take a look at this. Here you can see a standard button/encoder wiring to a DIN module. On this page at the bottom you find other docs and infos about connecting stuff.
But you don´t have to follow those wiring diagrams 1:1. You can simply connect the amount of buttons/encoders/leds (buttons/encodes to DIN, leds to DOUT modules) you´d like to use with your SID and reassign all the hardware components inside the firmware (look into the source code for a setup_*.asm file). Don´t worry, you don´t have to program anything, you just have to modify some variables, which are very well explained inside those setup_*.asm files.
After you assigned all your hardware inside this file, you recomplile the code and get a "setup_*.hex" file to upload onto your SID. You can find the necessary infos about the needed toolchain and the procedures for compiling a Midibox firmware here.
my regards
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Hallo,
Wenn ich das richtig verstehe, meinst Du so was wie beispielsweise Rechtsdrehung = Note C und Linksdrehung = Note D, ist das richtig?
Das wird ohne zusätzliche Programmierung nicht funktionieren, denke ich. Zwei Punkte sind da zu beachten bei Encodern:
1. Ein gerasteter Encoder gibt beim Erreichen eines Rastpunkts mehr als nur einen Impuls aus (encoderabhängig). D.h. wenn eine Tastfunktion damit gesteuert werden soll, kann es passieren, dass Du beim "Sprung" von einem zum nächsten Rastpunkt diese "Taste" mehrfach betätigst. Das muss nicht bei allen gerasteten Encodern so sein, aber bei den üblicherweise hier verwendeten ist das so. Es gibt die Möglichkeit, das beim Definieren der Hardwarekomponenten in der Firmware auszugleichen ("encoder type"), aber so hundertprozentig verlässlich ist das nicht.
2. Es ist richtig, dass ein Encoder an zwei DIN Eingänge angeschlossen wird (äquivalent zu 2 Tastern), aber bei Betätigung des Encoders in eine Richtung wird nicht nur ein DIN Anschluss angeprochen, sondern beide abwechselnd. Beispielsweise bei Drehung (mit DIN A und B) in eine Richtung wird nicht A-A-A-A-A-.... ausgegeben, sondern A-B-A-B-A-B-....
Dies hat zu tun mit der Möglichkeit, die Geschwindigkeit bei der Drehung zu erfassen und umzusetzen (glaube ich :rolleyes: ). Auch hier muss das nicht auf alle Encoder zutreffen, aber auf die üblichen schon.
Es ist also nicht so einfach, zwei Taster durch einen Encoder zu ersetzen, leider...
Hier kommst Du zu einer Wikiseite, die ein paar Infos zu verschiedenen Encodern hat.
Was möchtest Du denn steuern? Vielleicht gibt es noch andere Möglichkeiten, deine Ideen umzusetzen.
Liebe Grüße
EDIT: Mir fiel gerade ein, dass deine Idee vielleicht software-seitig gelöst werden könnte mithilfe von if-Befehlen und relativen Encoder-Events. Habs noch nicht selbst versucht, aber denkbar wäre das schon. Ich kann nicht sagen, ob man das so hinbiegen kann, dass das auch mit den Rastpunkten des Encoders 100%ig übereinander passt, das müsste man halt mal ausprobieren.
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Hi and welcome,
First, congrats on your progress with your SID.
Regarding the display: I´m having difficulties finding a proper datasheet for this one. It might help if you told us where you bought it or, better yet, you contact your suplier yourself and ask for a datasheet.
...audio Jack but I don't plan on using one. I want to use the midi out to connect to my computer where I hope to control my synthesizer in Propellerhead Reason 7.To be honest I´m a little confused. If you are not planing on using an audio jack at j3 (audio out!!!) how do you expect to hear the sound your SID makes. The midi connection itself doesn´t transfer audio signals, but MIDI data. If you want to integrate the SID into Reason the connections would be like this:
SID REASON
Midi Out ----------- Midi In (optional)
Midi In ----------- Midi Out (required)
Audio Out --------- Audio In (into your PC/MAC audio interface then into Reason OR into another Audio processing device entirely (Mixer, Amp, FX Gear,.....))
I´m sorry if I´m stating the obvious here.
best regards
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Hi Spirit,
I don´t understand muchabout what all the parameters do in detail, but I also had some success with different kinds of faders till now. So I can tell you what I learned so far:
Here is an explanation another community member gave me regarding AIN and MF Deadband:
1. PWM Steps: This defines how fast the H bridge is 'pulsed' to control the fader motor. If you find that your motor is sluggish then you can adjust this.
2. AIN Deadband: All A-to-D (analogue to digital) circuits suffer from a certain amount of 'jitter'. The AIN deadband allows you to set a minimum amount of change in the analogue input before it is reported as a 'move' of the fader.
3: MF Deadband: I guess that this is the reverse of AIN deadband? only engage the motor if the input value has moved significantly. although TK will be able to confirm this??/
If you find that the faders are a bit jittery then you should be able to adjust the deadband values to counter it.With the individual parameters on the second page of the Mios tool you can adjust the "way" of the fader (sorry, no other word comes to mind).
So, if your fader is driven to the ends with to much force (you hear a loud "clack" or the fader even jumps back) you can decrease the Min/Max Duty Up/Down values. If the fader doesn´t reach the end completely you can increase the values.
I don´t know exactly what the relation is between MIN and MAX duty cycle though, for testing I put in the same value for min and max. You have to play with these values untill you find the right values for your faders.
The MIN and MAX Value (20 and 1000 by default) is for limiting the highest and lowest position of the fader. If the fader "overshots" the end or doesn´t reach it, you could manipulate these values too.
If you experience jitter while trying to reach the middle position, you can decrease the min/max duty cycle up/down values of the fader, that "calms" the fader while reaching the middle position.
The voltage determines the speed of the fader, but also the noise a fader makes. Generally, faster means louder. If you are fine with 5v (speed and noise) you can leave that.
That´s it so far. I will do some more testing next week with my new faders and maybe I have some new insights to share then.
my regards
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Hi TK, thanks for the info.
I see now, what went wrong. It is definitely not necessary to implement a special option just for my seq4 built. especially, since even I consider this a minor issue. The main reason I brought this up here was, that I couldn´t understand if there were anything I could have done wrong.
On the other hand, I can be sure now, that my seq4 works properly.
Thanks again for the help and the patience.
my regards
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Hi, it´s me again...
I was playing with my seq4 this morning and I was able to confirm my confusion again.
when I´m not in the pattern screen, the green leds show the selected track, the yellow leds show the group. But when I change into the pattern screen, the green leds immediatly also show the selected group even before I press a track button to select another group. This seems inconsistent to me. If I had assigned some of the buttons to select a group, both leds would still show the group and not track and group.
In the videos on the seq4 page (teaser 1&2), this doesn´t seem to happen. I´m wondering what I could have done different compared to the wilba-seq4.
I´m sorry, if I´m completely on the wrong track and just babbling madly.
My regards
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Hi TK, thanks for the info on the motor voltage. I will try that next week.
I was able to solve the jitter problem today. It seems to have been caused by the psu. After I changed the psu (more by accident than intent), the jitter stopped.
As soon as I´ve tested the higher motor voltage, I´ll provide a feedback.
Thanks again and my regards.
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Hi, I´m testing PGFM3200 motorfader atm and am a bit troubled.
1. There are working generally, but they are moving slowly and not very smooth. After a night of testing different settings, I believe, the voltage of 7.5v might not be enough. Is there a way to raise the motor voltage to 9v or 10v?
2. Another thing I don´t understand. If I touch the lever, random midi events are generated around the fader position (e.g. fader value = 40 -> jitter value = 35-45). This happens independently from the touchsensor settings. I have to raise the AIN deadband to 25 minimum to make this stop. Is there a way to avoid this?
Thanks and greetings
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Hi, TK. Thanks for the answer. I don´t have my seq4 in front of me right now, so I can´t do further testing, but I might get back on this topic in a few days...
Thanks again
Greetings
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Same here. Sometimes the core doesn´t seem to respond to MS no more for no apparent reason. Restarting the core and MS normally does the trick.
You could connect the core via midi interface (if handy of course) and check if the core shows the same "symptoms". If so, there might be a problem with the core. If not it might be that your pc has problems with the gm5 midi driver that the Midibox uses (assuming you are using a windows based computer).
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I wouldn´t buy it. First, it seems overpriced. Second, checking an already assembled box for errors can be a pain in the neck and very time consuming. I think it would be faster to build it yourself. And way more fun too.... The error could turn out to be a badly soldered part on one of the modules. In that case you could end up searching for days or even weeks before you find it. No fun, trust me...
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Hi, I´m a little confused by the track and group leds of my seq4:
In my seq4 I only built in 4 track buttons with which I select the group, when I´m in the pattern screen. But I added 4 green leds for the current group as well as 4 yellow leds for the curren group. This works almost all the time, the current track and group is correctly indicated.
But when I´m in the pattern screen, the green track led also indicates the current group. I was under the impression, that the track and group leds always indicate tracks and groups, even in the pattern screen.
I tripplechecked the wiring and I don´t think this is a hardware problem. Is there something in the hardware config file I overlooked? Or am I missunderstanding somthing about the leds/button assignments or even the seq4 system completely?
Thanks and greetings
MF_NG Modul "No Response from Core"
in Deutsch
Posted
Hallo, Ihr könntet laut Schaltplan alle Kontakte mit einem Multimeter (wenn vorhanden) durchmessen, an denen 5V anliegen sollten. Der PIC sowie die ganze eigentliche Midischaltung benötigt 5V. Evtl. hat sich auf der Platine ein Fehler eingeschlichen (kalte Lötstelle,...). Den PIC selbst prüft man am besten, indem man ihn auf eine andere Platine setzt (Mios8 Core oder anderes MF_NG Modul) oder einen zweiten PIC hat, den man jetzt bei Euch einsetzen könnte.
Gruß