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MB-SEQ V3/V4 Control Surface PCB and matching case


Wilba
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Core32 is available from Smash TV. I think it makes sence to make the seq v.4 right away.

I come to think of two issues.

- The Core32 has just two midi in/out. Is there some way to extend that?

- The possibility to save your work on SD cards sounds so great. Would it be possible to incorporate that in this solution?

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For those who haven't bought their tactile switches yet, search mouser.com for the following part #:

612-TL1100-6JBLK

This appears to be the same tactile switch, including a black cap.  For 58 pieces they are 50 cents each (USD, from the U.S. site).  For 100 pieces they are 39 cents each.  

Including the cap, that's a steal.  I doubt you would find them cheaper without going wholesale or bulk-order.

(I have not ordered this personally, because I already had bought the switches from digi-key a long time ago)

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edit:  This is the same switch, but the cap is not the one specified for this project, and is probably a little different.  (Sorry - I got excited).  However, ordering this switch including a cap using the part # above is only a few cents more than the same switch with no cap.  I'll probably put one on my next Mouser order just to see it.

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That's not the same switch/cap combination that I'm using... I can't tell what the cap is, but it's definitely not the same rectangular cap, as they come from a different manufacturer.

Please note that any future bulk orders of the PCB will include an option to buy the matching tactile switches and caps, for less than the prices you can buy the same quantity from Mouser and Digikey. I'm pretty sure even the US "bleeding edge prototypers" got their switches and caps cheaper than they could buy them, even including the shipping from Australia.

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On the topic of 12mm tact switches, I've got 200 of the Rapid 78-0640 going cheap. These have a 3.8mm square actuator, not a 3.3 as on the Mouser ones. ( got caught out by this doing a bulk buy for the x0xb0x). There seems to be two 'industry standard 12mmm switch' types.... Rapid have both round and square caps for them.

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got caught out by this doing a bulk buy for the x0xb0x.

For people who don't know, this MB-SEQ board is designed to use the same switch/cap combo as the x0xb0x... the switch needs a 3.30mm actuator to fit the rectangular button, hence the specific e-switch tactile switch which is slightly different to 3.80mm which every other goddamn manufacturer of this kind of switch, including ALPS. However, the good thing is, they fit the funky cap from C&K. All the parts specs I used can be found here.

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So ... did you check to see if, with the rapid caps, they would fit your x0xb0x?

Rapid don't do a rectangular cap that would fit. The x0xb0x uses the caps Wilba uses, which are 3.3 mm only, and only seem to be available Stateside. I have a maddening problem from that run too - I found out, too late to do a return, that one bag of 100 caps from Mouser only contained 99, so I'm 1 white cap short for my own last x0x. I need to wait until I can do another big order to Mouser. Moral here is always to order a few extra.

On the sequencer front, I've also got some High reliability 12mm standard ones from Omron, (they might be actually made by Alps), which are specified for 10 times the number of operations than the usual 12mm tacts. I intend to do my own panel, and perhaps use round buttons. With ergonomics or panels, I often  do a scruffy hand drilled 'ghetto' style panel, and use that to work on the layout. I find that, as far as using a device goes, sometimes there is no substitute for actually working with the thing to get the layout right. Those Re-An encoder knobs you got are the best thing I've found for the sequencer front: knobs like the ones on the MB6582, whilst looking great, would mean a very wide,  untidy spacing, or a double, staggered, row, to get a good finger spacing for me.

A trick I've been trying, to help with layouts, is to stick bits of self adhesive magnet strip to the back of some knobs and button caps, and juggle them on a bit of mild steel sheet, with graph paper stuck to it. I'm just making up some mock displays to  go with them. Not quite worked out a way to do toggle switches yet. I'm currently working on layouts for 3 analogue sequencers: a Ray Wilson 16 stepper, a Klee, and a Milton. Along with the MB Seq and a P3, I might own up to a slight sequencer fetish....

(edit for typo)

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lol I was about six black caps short from an order of 1500. 25 orders x 60 caps = 1500. Annoying. Luckily I had some spares from an earlier order.

btw I can spare a white cap if you don't mind 2 AUD postage ;)

Totally agree on the mock-up idea... I print panel layouts onto paper then stick onto cardboard and cutout holes for switch caps, knobs etc.

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When this bleeding edge prototypers run was first announced I ordered the parts I didn't already have on-hand from Digikey, including 50 tactile switches.

A couple days ago as I was snapping the switches into my PCB I discovered I was short 1.

Maybe for every 50 or so who build one of these sequencers, somebody gets one for free!

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Topic updated to "MB-SEQ V3/V4 Control Surface PCB and matching case", as I'm still not using V4 yet... I only have a half-finished Core32 prototype PCB.

I am thinking of ways to add SD card to the front panel and it would be nice to have a slot in the middle of the encoder row. I suspect there is not enough space to add a card edge connector from a floppy cable, but since i don't have neither sequencer pcb nor connector yet, i can't verify it. If somebody has got a card edge connected floppy connector feel free to post the dimensions of it... one obvious limit is the height of 10mm... maybe there is some low profile connectors available...

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solder it on veroboard with an additional DIL and put it in the bottom of the enclosure.

another solution is to use a straight floppy connector on a vero and screw the vero on the panel.

(or more gribish : the floppy connector of the C64 !)

HE 902 :

http://www.electronique-diffusion.fr/product_info.php?cPath=23_412_445&products_id=10921

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If you really need a place for an SD card that badly, I'd put it on the rear panel.

But MB-SEQ is not a digital camera.  Extremely complicated sequences are likely to only require a few kilobytes of storage.

Personally, I plan to bury a 2 GB card inside the finished sequencer enclosure and never look at it again.

It should cost me well under 10 bucks.  Just to get really sassy, maybe I'll even solder right to the card.

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If you really need a place for an SD card that badly, I'd put it on the rear panel.

Well, I don't. I have thought of that solution too and burying inside the sequencer is probobly a good idea. One reason to change card would be to separate different projects, but putting the slot on the rear side is deffenetly enough.

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