Greetings to all!

[Q.C.]

Hello Midibox... ers? en? ists? ologists?

I've been lurking aroung the forums for more than six months, so I thought it was about time I said THANKYOU!!!!!

I haven't stopped smiling since I first got ASIDXP running in september.

Being a C64 kid in the 80s this brought back so many memories.

Rob hubbard rocks! (esp. commando) even the 'action biker' music put a smile on my face.

I've had a 'functional' control surface for about a two months so I couldn't help playing with it instead of

finishing it, *#%$ /@ $%#^.... Awsome! theres more than regular C64 sounds in there!

So a very BIG thankyou to everyone who has contributed to Midibox but espescially

TK - for Midibox in general, but what you achieved with the SID V1/2 is amazing.

To me it rates among the best synths out there. The C64 has a unique 'voice' (I'm sure my love of techno/

electronc music in general can be traced back to various 'intro' screens from programs of 'suspicious' origins.

Control from new hardware/software has taken a fantastic IC chip way beyond what the C64 could ever do.

Wilba - without help from people like you I may have never committed to such a daunting project. Great

documentation, board design and help sourcing parts (MB-6582As rock) made what could have been a very long messy

process into... FUN!

Smash TV - for suppling myself and the rest of the midibox community with quality boards at a reasonable price.

I did get a little nervous during the wait (I notice other newbies who suffered from these same jitters), but I

once confirmed as proccessed delivery was fast and I couldn't be happier with packaging, labeling and component quality.

Twin-X and various forum moderators - for keeping a very usefull (but complex) resource so neat, tidy and accessable to all.

I HADN'T LOOKED AT AN ELECTRONICS POJECT SINCE THE EARLY 90s in highschool (only one class for six months) And I

remembered very little other than I did make the PCB + case from scratch and finished up with a working doorbell

(just don't ask me how).

Utill the start of this year with too much spare time (no job) and a friend who was looking desparetly for a TB-303 found the

x0xb0x. While he had little experience, he was still willing to go ahead with selfsourcing (and get a soldering iron etc..)

if I helped him build it. 3 months later we got a 303!!! (and learned alot why a 303 is, and will always be a 303) Some minor

issues, Orig VCA chip (662) failed after about 5 hours (replaced with x0x vca), the volume pot has failed (its either on or off)

and, USB still don't work, but don't need it. Not enough to scare us off another project.

I HAD KNOWN ABOUT MIDIBOX PREVIOUSLY but construction of entire projects (especially power supplies) seems if anything, a little

dangerous. So I passed. Building the x0x PSU section helped these fears alot, as did a 'kit' PSU purchased just for soldering

practice (its still dangerous though). The SID V1/2 used a C64 PSU, to easy! Wilbas board design sealed the deal.

So, with minimal experience I somehow managed to build two complete MB-6582As with almost no issues (one remains!).

Issues that did arise were all solved by refering to the forum.

So heres my advice for other noobs

First rule of midbox - read

Second rule of midibox - read again

Thinking about posting a question - read!

If its a 'kit' style project theres a good chance the question has already been answered/asked by some else ( I did have one

'genuine' question but while looking for the answer some else asked it for me!). Again this is a credit to the useful

organisation of so much information.

ONLY MAJOR ISSUE, the second CS PCB had permanently switched on/non-working LEDs which reveld itself to be a possible broken

track (could not see a break but still no signal getting through). Installing a link to make the connection fixed the problem.

OUTSTANDING ISSUE, First box worked fine (for quite some time) with a cheap LCD from ebay. But this was always temporary as

ordered black+ white optrex screens. Which also worked fine, for about 10 hours (use), at which point the LCD screen freezes

while moving an encoder. Note: Synth still completely functional - all encoders and switches still function (Its possible to

save a patch if you can navigate there from memory). Over the next couple of days this problem reoccures with increasing

freqeuncy, but still quite randomly. Anything from a few hours to every 5 minutes, but always while moving an encoder.

Tried test screen again (for a day) and operated without issue - major difference between LCD screens was cable length,

20 cm vs 45 cm (extra length allows 'neat' cabling) Cut 15 cm out of length (now 30cm). Worked for about 10 hours again and

repeat freeze problem (but only once a day).

At this point encoder chassis has not been soldered, and encoder shafts are a little wobbly cos I found it difficult to reclamp

after removing dents. So, finished soldering encoders + reflowed any dodgy looking joints (inc. all CS Main PCB cabling).

JB-Weld used to secure encoder casing (no wobble anymore!) After about a week it froze just once and not since (about three weeks).

The second box has been completed and repeated almost exactly the same pattern (with another optrex screen). First 12 hours of use

- no probs then freezing begins, lasts anything from 5 mins to 5 hours, but always freezes while an encoder is in use.

Have swapped cabling between boxes/LCD screens (second box had 45cm cable)

First box (now 45cm cabling) continues to to freeze (1/2 hr -12+ hrs)

Second box (now 30cm cabling) has frozen but very rarely

Next step will be cutting the cabling as short as possible?

ANY THOUGHTS WELCOME

NOTES specific to my build

In my complete paranoia about sound quality and LED brightness (and knowing very little)large areas of the first main and cs boards

have machine pin sockets (all components on audio input/ouput lines, all LEDs inc. resistors + transistors, LCD resistor R4, and of

course all ICs).

While much of this turned out to be unnessary i'm still glad i did it. Tried 'hand' matching parts on audio lines vs randomly picked

and theres very little if any diffence between audio signals.

My main concern was getting a 'mono' sound from a stereo signal ( i.e. two independant sound generators) , this was not an issue. I'm

only guessing but I think wilbas 6582A SIDs are the key to this (16 chips and they all sound virtually identical) using different

revison SIDs and/or filter caps might change this???

Also I had my mind set on using white LEDs (originally with a white case, changed to black)

and cheapest I could find were clear 1500-2000 mcd, at $0.81 AU, next best were low level diffused but price was more than $3 each!

(112 + spares = far to much to spend on an 'experiment' so I got 200 with the aim of using remainder as tests for diffusing/ colouring.

and socketing all LEDs just in case I really don't like it (even though this mean I have to cut LED legs exactly to size for equal height,

this is still an on going process!). However, after some testing I found 10K resistors reduced the bightness level to a acceptable level

(very simialr to LCD levels) but... two noticibly different brightness levels appered (not much but enough to make the Mod Matrix appear

to have 'spotty / blotchy' with all lights on). This turns out to be specific to the LEDs (theres NO difference if run at correct voltages

i.e. blinding!). So rearranging the LEDs, 'softer' LEDs used in Matrix and 'brighter' LEDs used elsewhere, solved this issue (hooray for

socket city - but i still wouldn't recomend it).

Cabling between boards - used standard ribbon cabling (strips of 16, about 90mm length, one end with 16 pin DIL plug, on the other

end each 'pair' of lines are twisted together and soldered directly to CS PCB)

Self cut LCD protector - ?Acrylic? sheet purchased from bunnings also found 'dremel' rip off 'ozito' (170W + 180 bits for $50). No

experience but an afternoon later i got two descent screens (tiny chip on one but don't mind, have another go some time).

Looks like I'll be experimenting with ?acrylic? panels/casing a bit more!

PARTS SOUCES

Smash TV - MB-6582 PCBs (base + control surface) and parts Kits

Albs - Knobs 'waldorf'

Mouser - LCDs (optrex) Encoders (alpha) Switches (alpha?) various other 'spares' (spent enough for free shipping!)

Futurelec - LEDs (cheapest white LEDs I could find 200 @ 0.81AU)

FPExpess - Front + Rear Panels (fantastic work!)

LPR Toolmakers - JB -Weld (Australian supplier)

Local suppliers - Jaycar Dicksmith + alltronics for various bits'n' pieces (DIL plugs, headers, fans)

IM NOT AN ADDICT... YET, but I can see it happening. Next project - basic clip navigation in ableton. Not like the fully fledged

APC or the Rainbow midibox, just scolling, individaul track play stop and mutes (16) and global quatize, I think I can fit into

a 1RU size (desktop mount though)

Cheers, Q.C.

P.S. I uderstand that this is quite a long post (containing a thankyou, short blog, pics etc.., also my first post... ever!)

if it needs to be moved, split up or just deleted please do so or let me know

[nILS]

Welcome aboard Q.C.! :flowers:

Another proof that the midibox concept is working - you got from 0 to 2 mb6582s w/o a single post, congrats!

About the LCD issue: It's freezing after a while and not instantly so possible problem sources might be heat (unlikely but possible) there's also been problems with some of the C64 PSUs so that might be worth looking into.

[Wilba]

Congratulations on finishing two... and they look awesome. I really like your customizations on both the panels... it reminds me of d2k's MB-SID which was the original inspiration for my MB-6582 panel design:

http://midibox.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2900

LCD freezing: this might be similar to the freezing that fussylizard noticed on the Optrex STEP 2x40 LCD... that if R12 was used, it might cause the display to be unreliable. I've also noticed occasional weirdness with an Optrex STEP 2x20 LCD connected to a sammichSID which was working perfectly with other LCDs. I'm still not sure if it's R12 that causes the problem or incorrect/insufficient backlight power supply.

If you want to try taking out R12 on the MB-6582 base PCB, it's labelled R12_CORE1 and it's under the PIC, inside the IC socket. It should be totally safe to remove, the LCD and Banksticks should still work.. it's easier to cut it in half and desolder each half separately than take it out whole.

[Imp]

I once had a problem with a freezing LCD which was similar to yours.

It seems some displays don't like beeing talked to in 4bit, even if the datasheet says it's ok.

I don't know if it is possible with the MB-6582 Pcb, but I wired my Lcd for 8bit, and my problem was gone.

I also remember changing something in the Pic-header to enable 8bit, but i can't recall what it was exactly.