Help getting started.

[Greg Robinson]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, hopefully I'm putting this question in the right spot. 

I'm looking to put together a pretty simple midibox, basically an x/y pad (with on/off), a hold button, two level controls, a patch/program control, and maybe an LCD to display the selected patch/program number. 

By my count, that's 4 level controls, two button controls, and one program control, so fairly simple compared to most of the projects on the site. 

I know I could put together something to achieve this with the modules on the site, however I intend to mount this in an instrument, not a box as the modules are intended, so I would like to keep it compact and the parts count low. 

If anyone is able to direct me to a simple project that would achieve my aim, or even just point me in the direction of an IC or circuit that could get me started, it would be much appreciated. 

I have a fair amount of analog circuit design experience, but none with digital. I'm pretty sure I could muddle my way through modifying a circuit to suit my needs, but I don't know where to start as I have not toyed with midi circuits before. 

Thanks in advance for any assistance that anyone is able to provide.

Regards,

Greg.

[ilmenator]

Hi Greg,

you seem to have identified the modules that you need for this already. You could now try to see which of the elements on the modules / boards you actually need, e.g. on the DIN board there are four times 8 inputs - if you need less, and everything must be very compact, then you reduce that number, and place every component you need on your own / custom made printed circuit board. This would require that you take a look at the schematics, design the board (probably using SMD parts), and then have your board fabricated somewhere.

From this you can see that it involves quite some effort. Also, having the board fabricated is not for free. I believe it would be a good idea to start building a prototype of what you want using the available modules, see if that does what you want, and then afterwards go for a more compact and integrated (one PCB) solution.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[Greg Robinson]

Hi Ilminator,

Thanks. I've been reading through the material on the site (there's SOOO much of it!), and have started to realise how simply most of the modules can be scaled back. They really are quite elegant.

I think I will start exactly as you have suggested, & just start with the full modules as a prototype before scaling back.

Thanks!

Greg.

[Greg Robinson]

Oops, sorry ilmenator, I misspelled your tag in my last post, my apologies.