njosnari Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Hi, New to MidiBox and looked around the forums a bit, but I could not find out if it would be a suitable solution for midi retrofitting an Oberheim DX drum machine?.Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lylehaze Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Hi,New to MidiBoxWelcome aboard!A good place to start might be to read the post just above yours, titledPlease Read Before Posting New Topics: What is a "User Project"?There you will find a detailed description of what kinds of posts should be posted under the "Midibox User Projects" Forums.After looking around a bit more, you might find a more receptive audience under "Midification", or perhaps "Design Concepts". Once it's built, we'll all help you work out the bugs in "Testing/Troubleshooting", and if it comes out really pretty, you can even post pictures in "Midibox of the Week", where it will surely get lots of praise from everyone.It's all just an effort to keep things somewhat organized.Again, welcome aboard!LyleHaze Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njosnari Posted October 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Ok, thanks for moving the thread. I didn't see the MIDIfication area here... :PI'm a little confused by the paramaters of the AOUT, AOUT_LC, and AOUT_NG modules. I'm not sure if I need 12bit/4bit or 8bit, gate, etc.I'm looking to add midi to my pre-midi (of course) Oberheim DX, which has 6 CV inputs for the voices, 1 click, 2 footswitch inputs for "start" and "next" trigger input, clock (48ppqn, i think) in and out.Electrongate has a midi upgrade for the DMX (doesn't seem to be compatible with DX), that offers the ability to send and receive MIDI note-on/note-off messages, system exclusive sequence dump messages and MIDI clock, song select, start and stop messages. I'm wondering if this type of functionality is possible with MIDIBox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futureman Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 I installed the 'electrongate' MIDI kit for my DMX and it rocks.. incredibly robust, and awesome functionality.. Nice helpful guy too... but yep, just for the DMX.If you want to be able to trigger your DX via MIDI notes etc for its 24 or so pads, that should bet not soooo hard, but you still will have your work cut out for you.If you want to include the CV inputs for tuning, then things will start getting more complicated. (And expensive)Personally, I'm of the mindset that drum machines should be treated as a drum machine, and not as a 'sound module'.. If you hunt around for something that converts MIDI's 24 ppq to 96ppq (I do think the DMX and possibly the DX use 96ppq , not 48ppq) then you can at least 'slave' the DX to your setup, jam along with it & you'll have more fun than using the DX as a sound module.. Another option, while not as good, is just to sample the DX.. it's an 8 bit drum machine, and while no sampling will perfectly recreate it's punchy and dirty character, it will get very close.To me, it seems that for the Price of adding CV & triggers etc to your DX, you could go out and buy a Sequential DrumTraks (Also 8bit and with Midi..) or a DMX, or even a Sequential TOM (Much more agressive sounding.. great midi specs)Best of luckRegardsMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njosnari Posted October 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Thanks for the reply Mike!I was hoping to find a nice balence between functionality and cost/effort. I hadn't planned on adding MIDI -> CV tuning for the voices, but now that you mention it... Only kidding. I'd be happy if I could rig MIDI sync and next/previous pattern selection on the DX. Even happier to sequence the DX via external MIDI sequencer. Just to open up a bit more funtionality with the machine. The electrongate's ablitity to use sysex dumps really interested me as well, but not all that important as I assume that the DX can save and upload patterns with the tape save function. Sampling... I have made loads of samples with my DX, and in my opinion, the character suffers a bit. It does have to suffice though, in those gig situations when I can't justify taking the unit with. And I also have the Sequential TOM (amazing machine). I just feel that I am not using the DX as much as I could, if it had MIDI capabilities.I also need to dig to find the service manual for this machine. And to learn a bit more on how it operates. I've never had it connected to a CV sequencer, and I'm curious how the CV signal changes to trigger each of the soft, medium, and loud samples per voice. Am I correct in assuming that the core, DIN, and AOUT_NG would be the correct modules to handle something like this? Am I wrong thinking that I would need 3 or 4 AOUT_LC modules for this project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futureman Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 I'm not that well versed in the midibox Midi-CV, but essentually that is what you want if you want to control the pitch of the sounds via midi.Search around there, and see what the Midi-CV project involves and what it gives you.. (Me, I've built a few sequencers and a Custom SID synth based on Wilbas MB-6582)You certainly will be able to use the low cost AOUT kits as resolution will not be that critical.. (No one is going to complain about the tuning of your snare drum if it is out by a few 1/100ths of a semitone)After a quick look at the DX user manual, it looks not as straight forward to CV & Gate up as the DMX would be.No CV in's (Unlike the DMX), and only one trigger in (Unlike the DMX which has 8 )The 6 CV's for the pitch of the 6 groups could be done with a bit of extra circuitry (after all, there a the 6 trimmer pots on the back), as could the 18 trigger pads for the sounds (Piggybacking off the 18 trigger buttons) But I recon you will be on your own here.. I don't think many have been down this road before... On the plus side, some of the people here who have midi'd up organs etc have done waaaaaay more complicated retrofits and it def is do-able.I'm still flying the flag for a Midi -> 24/48/96ppq box and just slaving the DX to midi clock... cheap, and effective.I've found from personal experience, that just because you can control a whole lot of features via midi and sequence them, doesn't always make for a better instrument. It's about getting your hands dirty and the magic of the moment.RegardsMike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njosnari Posted October 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Hi Mike,Which manual are you reading? The only one that I have been able to turn up on the net is for the later, MIDI version. Feeling a bit stupid now. Looked closer at the back of the unit and the ports I thought were trigger inputs are the disreet outs... :-[DMX=8 ins DX=0. Now I finally understand why there hasn't been a MIDI retrofit commercially available for the DX.I may begin with the midi clock solution and build it up from there. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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