sammichFM

[Wilba]

Click for full size view. More photos on Flickr.

sammichFM Assembly video made by Siempre La Luna (featuring backing track by TK!)

sammichFM

sammichFM was designed to be the "no excuses" MIDIbox FM synthesizer kit - i.e. for all those people who want a MIDIbox FM but consider building it with modules too time-consuming, too newbie-unfriendly and/or too hard to design and construct a control surface.

sammichFM therefore has the following design constraints/features, which support each other:

• looks a lot like sammichSID
  
• cheap (relative to fully modular MIDIbox FM with "pro-looking" control surface)
  
• small
  
• DIY newbie friendly
  
• minimal control surface
  
• single "walwart"/AC adapter supply, no bipolar PSU and mains power wiring!
  
• "sandwich-style" stacked PCB design, no wires!
  
• laser-cut 3mm acrylic case by Ponoko, customization possible
  
• industry standard 2x20 character LCD, customization possible
  
• common control surface parts used, customization possible
  
• available as a complete kit, including PCBs, components, case, hardware and new OPL3 chipset!
  
  
  MIDIbox FM Synthesizer features
  
  

  • One Core module and one OPL3 module, fully integrated on one PCB with power supply.
    
  • 4 simultaneous instruments of 6 voice polyphony each, plus drum kit. Each voice is a 4 operator waveform.
    
  • Each instrument can be routed to one of four audio outputs, via two stereo 1/4" phono jacks.
    
  • Five "BankStick" slots, so you can store 5 banks of 128 patches, 32 "Ensembles" and 16 "Drumsets"
    
  • Minimal control surface with up/down arrow buttons for fast menu scrolling.
    
  • 2x20 character LCD with support for low-power (25mA) or high-power (250mA) LED backlight.
    
  • Potential for future upgrade to 32-bit microcontroller via an undocumented "daughterboard" header.
    

  BATCH #1 SHIPPED APRIL 1st 2011. I HAZ SPAREZ!

  BATCH #2 (50 kits) SCHEDULED TO SHIP MAY 1st 2011

  Go here for more details: sammichFM Info

[nILS]

Awwww, sammichSID's brother! :hug:

[stuartm]

Very nice! Congratulations guys ! (now, where's the KaffeSeq ? ;-)

This needs some SMD soldering of the OPL chip, right ?

[nILS]

Correct, the OPL chip and two opamps need some SMD soldering - nothing tiny or hard that requires any voodoo though :)

[Imp]

mkay, this makes things less obscure!

I wanna be a lucky fella! (seriously)

Can i haz kit 4 special needz?

(no pic, no opl, no hairy cows either)

Btw: Nice video! And nice sammich of course!

[Siempre La Luna]

Btw: Nice video! And nice sammich of course!

Most fun video I've made to date.

Additional sammichFM Fun:

More Flickr photos here: sammichFM, terrible prog-rock cover here: Hocus Pocus, decent art-rock cover here: Red Rider

[JRock]

Congratz Guyz!!

Beautiful :thumbsup:

[Imp]

If you want teh sammich to look even better, i can upload a pic of my 1st attempt at building a FM :wink:

[xmodz]

@Wilba

So you have spares, eh? When I got your initial email 2 months ago about getting in on the first batch, I had no cash. It looks like I should have some cash available in the next week or two. Are you sending out confirmation emails for batch #2 pretty soon? I think you bumped me into that list.

Keep up the good work. :thumbsup:

[grizz]

Hey. The 2 trimmer pots... one is 103 and one is 503, so I am assuming they are different values. Which one goes in P1 and which in P2?

Cheers,

grizz

[Wilba]

Hey. The 2 trimmer pots... one is 103 and one is 503, so I am assuming they are different values. Which one goes in P1 and which in P2?

[grizz]

Of course I wasn't serious :unsure: DUH! The 103 is a 10k and the 503 is the 50k, CLEARLY labeled in the parts spreadsheet you gave me... Geez... (This is where the emoticon of me poking myself would go if it existed)...

Edited April 12, 2011 by grizz

[Wilba]

and in the build guide:

P1, 50K trimpot, Marked “503” on back.

P2, 10K trimpot, Marked “103” on back.

:poke:

[ALEXDAMAN]

What was that I said about mitigation... :console:

[grizz]

and in the build guide:

:poke:

Build guide? I used magic... :sorcerer:

[psxc]

Please tell me I'm not too late to order :D (just sent mail to the address on the wiki page)

This kit is my dream come true with adlib music!

[Wilba]

Not too late, plenty of places left.

Plus I just bought 100 more OPL3 chipsets, so there will be a batch #3, eventually.

[Flemming]

I took off my pants too while soldering 'that part'...

It probably wasn't necessary, but to me it felt right :yes:

- Very nice synth

- Very nice kit

- Very nice video

I wanna thank everyone involved for doing a hell of a job!!

[Wilba]

BTW some of the circuit was stolen from this: http://xkcd.com/730/

but shhh... don't tell him, he may want royalties.

[Antix]

vERY nICE tRACK

[Flying Panther]

BTW some of the circuit was stolen from this: http://xkcd.com/730/

but shhh... don't tell him, he may want royalties.

Hahaha, I had a good laugh while reading that schematic! Thanks! :)

[Hawkeye]

yo, cool background track! mbfm-powered? very nice!

[Siempre La Luna]

yo, cool background track! mbfm-powered? very nice!

TK really brought 'cool educational television theme song' vibe on that track.

[m00dawg]

Will the schematics be posted online? I am trying to be a bit more diligent about testing as I go and really want to make sure I get continuity on the tracks for the SMD devices. Since some of them run under the chips, it would be easier if I could have a PDF I can zoom down into (much like the MB6582 one). If no, I can make due but thought I'd ask :)

[Wilba]

Wiki updated:

Here is the PDF of the base PCB. Ground plane is removed. Pads with no tracks can be assumed connected to ground.

http://www.mb6582.org/sammichFM/sammichFM_Base_PCB_Rev_1.pdf