midi to control Boss tap tempo

[martinsomerville]

Hello

I am a beginner but am looking for something that converts a midi signal into an electrical signal so as to tap tempo some boss pedals.

For the DD-6 I have added an extra footswitch. A normally off/open momentary switch in parallel which works fine.

I saw these products – but being new to electronics, not sure what they do. Could they be used in my application so every time midi clock signal it closes a circuit temporarily to trigger the boss switch ?

any help would be great.

Cheers

Martin

Australia

[Durisian]

Hi Martin

Welcome to the MIDIbox community!!

Yes, it's possible

MBHP DOUT modules can be connected to relays (via a ULN2803).

The relay would replace your momentary switch.

Using a custom application you could set the relay on/off based on the incoming midi signal.

you might need to use a timer to trigger the relay off

eg. to simulate stomp every quarter note

when recieved 0xF8 24 times - Trigger relay on and start timer

When timer reaches... hmm.. dunno how long... maybe 50-100ms - Trigger relay off.

etc.

You might also be able to do it without a timer like this

when recieved 0xF8 24 times - Trigger relay on

when recieved 0xF8 12 more times - Trigger relay off.

when recieved 0xF8 12 times - Trigger relay on

etc.

it will take some experimenting to find the best solution.

I'll throw you some bones (just because it your first day ;D)...

Read up about the various MBHP modules on ucapps and in the wiki. (understand this stuff first)

MIDIbox Wiki

Midi Spec - great source of midi info

Flo's FX Looper (in develpment) - some chat about using relays and some schematic ideas

MIDIO128 - There are some basic schematics in the download section dealing with relays.

Also check out application development in the wiki - Writting apps for MIOS is not complicated if you'e got some programming knowledge

Controlling 128 LED's Example - Same principle as controlling a relay, your implementaion would be vastly different though

now READ READ READ!!!

[stryd_one]

Welcome aboard Martin. I see you've already had the obligatory introduction about read read read heheheh

Where are you mate? There's a few aussies around these parts.

[stryd_one]

Ah Brisvegas. Been thinking of moving there lately - but I do that every time I have to put up with a Melbourne winter.

I think you'll be quite relieved once you try this out and discover how easy it is. The only tricky part for you will be the electronic interconnection, as (of course) the DD6 is not designed with this in mind. Fortunately the midibox is ;)

And remember - there are no stupid questions, just stupid ways to ask them ;)

[stryd_one]

Hot in summer I can deal with - I'm from Perth ;)

Plan looks pretty good. I'll give you a tip though - try to get everything from smash that he has available. For example, get ribbon cables from him rather than jaycar.

We can move this when it becomes clearer where it should go :)

[sneakthief]

i've thought about this many times over the years - there are a ridiculous amount of devices that would benefit from this type of midi->tap tempo interface, although some of which would involve soldering wires directly to the tap-tempo switches ...in my case, namely for a redsound c-loops (aka peavey grabber) and a kaossilator.

[Durisian]

I live for the cold. Melbourne suits me fine!

The main problem I see with your plan - not enough beer!!!  ;D

[/tilted/]

I likey!!

I always felt that the biggest downfall of the RC-20 (XL) was the lack of MIDI sync.

Of course the big mamma does it (apparently)... what is it, the RC-50 or sth.

But that sucker is like 3 times as much as the RC-20...

Cool idea.

[martinsomerville]

thinking aloud..

080929 setup architecture.pdf

080929 setup architecture.pdf

[martinsomerville]

still don't know what i'm doing.

don't expect people to look at this but thought I'd post anyway

just thoughts...

080929b clock.pdf

080929b clock notes.pdf

080929b clock.pdf

080929b clock notes.pdf

[martinsomerville]

...and footcontroller ?

080929b clock foot.pdf

080929b clock foot notes.pdf

080929b clock foot.pdf

080929b clock foot notes.pdf

[nILS]

J5A = 1st 1/2 of J5

J5B = 2nd 1/2 of J5

Together they are J5 :-)

You can use any Vs and any Vd pin - they're all connected as there is only one Vd (+5V) and one Vs (Ground).

From your post my biggest suggestion to you is to do a lot of reading on ucapps. And I do mean a lot ;-)

[stryd_one]

I followed the steps by Jim and surprisingly, the voltages came up good (I'll have to let him know that one of the test points are wrong I think in the diagram. I'm sure he's been informed though a thousand times).

Who's Jim? Do you mean TK?

Guessing I was putting too much on and for too long. I decided I liked the omo approach - a little on the stain, the rest in the wash (was that omo?). Ie dab a little solder on the soldering iron and pin to get the heat transferring faster and then get the solder into the pad/pin/ on the opposite side of soldering iron. I have a $15 iron from Jay car - 25W. It seems a bit fat but seemed to do the job ok. Will only get better I guess with practise.

The cheapo iron won't help, but you did get it right. That process is known as 'tinning' the iron.

The home page link http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=projects shows the midimon in red and the link doesn't work. There are other links to here though http://www.ucapps.de/midimon.htm

l

That's because there's no wiki page for it. Feel free to rectify that situation ;)

I have used a kit from smash TV. I am confused about the J5, J5a and J5b. Smash doesn't provide enough single pins for the J5 and Jim seems to mention that the single SIL pins aren't used anymore or something.

Jim again? JimHenry maybe? All the J5 pins are there. There's strips of DIL headers, and the two SIL headers are also included for backwards-compatibility. You can use either. So long as what you build matches the schematic, it's all good :)

I am not sure if I need to buy a resister array (the picture I found doesn't really tell me much) or buy a board and solder in separate 10k resistors and switches?.

You can decide. I'd just use individual resistors. FWIW, the point of that picture is the dot on the R-net. It shows which way you should align the package. Obviously you have a different core PCB to that, so the pic does not apply completely.

The midimon diagrams show a single J5 array of pins (but smash and Jim guide towards not using this)

Jim? Bugfight? As for J5 you choose. Heck you could use half of each. Just stick to the schem ;)

If A and B which Vs and Vd terminals do I use

You choose, they're all the same.

This is my first attempt and the midimon search doesn't come up with much as far as I could see.

Hint: If you use the search bar in the top right, you only search this subforum, not the whole forum.

Most of the stuff you want to know is about schematic interpretation or the smashtv board you're using, not the midimon project ;) (maybe google would be more appropriate than a forum search?)

My aim was to do a couple of straightforward constructions and then do further reading to work on more complex things.

Good plan dude. This one has some unusual hardware configuration but it will probably help you to gather up some basics and other useful info. Just so long as you wire it up like it says in the schem, all will be well.

[stryd_one]

LOL yeh that Jim :) Your post does make a lot more sense now.

Just invent a link and the page will appear like magic. Clcik them and you'll see what I mean:

http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=your_new_page

http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=some_junk_i_made_up

Try the syntax in

http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=wiki:playground

[DrBunsen]

I'm from Perth ;)

Ahhh, explains a lot ...  :P

[martinsomerville]

hey stryd

I have deleted most of my posts as they are not relevant to the initial topic and way too basic for this section. I have left the initial post of mine and some pdf sketch ideas. There are some relevant suggestions/comments from others but feel free to delete some to keep thread lean.

I figure may be good idea to leave the post though as it may pique someones interest. I'll be more ready to tackle it in about 6 months or so I reckon. Still so much to learn.

I have found the trouble shooting page and going through my midimon and learning more. Intend to run a newbie guide for  a midimon and post it somewhere, including all the tips received in this post - maybe as a link off midimon wiki page. :o

Oh and I'm sure I'll be posting in the troubleshooting area soon. Have just built second core and finding same result - ie buttons no good. That would indicate error in the resistor array board but I have a feeling I am overheating the capacitors or damaging the optocoupler or something.

cheers

martin

[stryd_one]

Please don't delete posts. I have moderator rights especially for the purpose of things like doing a clean-up for you, if it's needed to keep the thread on-topic. Really you just did it to save face, which is just silly vanity. We're all newbies once! You never know when even "basic" stuff may be helpful to others.

See you in the next thread then!

[martinsomerville]

I didn't really. I don't care that I'm a newbie. I'm quite happy with what I have achieved so far. I just don't belong in this section at the moment.

You can put them back up if you like. I'm sure they are on a server somewhere.

I did get the feeling I was nuisance posting on a topic 1) not related to the section and 2) not related to the thread so I wanted to start another means for me to do that. It would be annoying for people to see a possibly interesting project discussion only to find me asking which Vss to use or "I'm not sure what to do with these double pins when the schematic has single pins" for an official project.

...or "here are some random resistor numbers. What do I do?"

As I said, I have started to create info for newbies like me wanting to build a midimon, incorporating the newbie questions.

It is far from helpful at the moment but started nonetheless:

http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=martinsomerville

Although I won't delete in the future. I can see your point.

Cheers

Martin

[stryd_one]

I did get the feeling I was nuisance posting on a topic 1) not related to the section and 2) not related to the thread so I wanted to start another means for me to do that. It would be annoying for people to see a possibly interesting project discussion only to find me asking which Vss to use or "I'm not sure what to do with these double pins when the schematic has single pins" for an official project.

...or "here are some random resistor numbers. What do I do?"

Yeh just ask me to move them, that's what I'm here for! :)

[martinsomerville]

no worries