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Today I etched a few more PCBs. Now the control surface is complete. Or that is - I haven't yet soldered on most of the cables on the new boards, but components are soldered, backlight on the menu encoder is tested, ok (looks good as expected hehe) and I laid it out on the workbench to see how I want the frontpanel to be. I think I'm gonna use this setup here, unless I get any bright ideas or any bright tips :). It has 8 general purpose encoders, 8 general purpose buttons, encoder for left/right navigation, it got the enter button (besides the menu encoder, and it got the snapshot button by itself - on the same pcb as the enter button :). The buttons is just the same as in the mb6582. I have looked around the net (especially on ALBS) and found many very cool tactile switches that I could easily used for this box, but the reason why I used these buttons is that I had them in my drawer NOW, and I had a lot of em, so I figured - simple and fast - no waiting for parts etc etc. so that's why the buttons are rather boring - but I suspect they'll do the job anyway hehe. In addition - its gonna have 4 analog inputs on the back (via mini-xlr) - for expression pedals mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Since I have only one pedal now, I have to have a way to ground the unsused input easily without opening the case - so I have ordered in a bunch of dip-switches. I have thought and thought, and I think this is a cool solution - dips available from the back panel. Makes it easy to "program" when I need it, and hard to accidentally operate :). It got the 16x2 LED - wich has green letters on black background, and green backlight for knobs. Any day now, the Core8, AIN, DIN and a bunch of other goodies are dropping in my mailbox from smashTV, and once I get those, I can wire everything up and actually test it. If everything works in a satisfying way, I'm building the case next - I'm doing it simple - just bending some alu plates and put together. Give it a coat and 10 of cool paint, and we're there. If I come across a case I can use, I'll do that instead of making my own - wich takes long time even if it's simple design. Well, enough talking, lets see the picture :). - yes there is only one today :P.

Yo! Just thought I'd do a small blog entry on the sideproject (I consider the synths my main projects). A midibox 64e. This is a short term project, and all parts have arrived or are on their way. It's gonna have 9 encoders, lcd and some buttons + 4 expression pedal connections. One pedal is soon built - waiting for the last parts to arrive from the states :). Anyway, some of you might have seen my picture of the encoder PCB. Now, here is a couple of pics of the finished built pcb. Also fitted on top is a PCB mockup (thick paper). This is gonna be housing all the smd leds for the knob backlights. This hasn't been etched yet because I discovered I needed to do a couple of layout changes - the leds are a bit too close to the encoder shaft than I'd like it to be... :). As you can see, this is gonna be a encoder control surface sandwitch :D. The cables are rainbow ribbon cable from tim's and I have split them up and put on some nylon stockings :P. Heat shrink tubes holds them in place ;).