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MIDIbox SEQ V4Lite


TK.
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I looked into the datasheet: http://www.reichelt.de/index.html?;ACTION=7;LA=3;OPEN=0;INDEX=0;FILENAME=C200%252Ftaster.pdf;SID=11TVLbZ38AAAIAAG9MIgIec1e46ae3eb4fc2fe4e011f269170227

Indeed, the footprint doesn't match exactly with the PCB.

Instead of 0.3/0.2 it has 0.256/0.177 (resp. 6.5 / 4.5 mm -> seems that this button is optimized for metric measure system)

I don't find this so dramatic, but for the perfectionists it would be interesting to know if there are buttons with 0.3/0.2 footprint?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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Building the first of two Seq V4Ls All tact switches now in place. A couple required a bit of tweaking to line up, but as TK said, they fit well enough and the end result looks good. I am almost done - 4 LEDs left to do and I have run out of solder.

Kevin

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One Seq V4L completed and working. Wish I'd read TK's post about the J15_S jumper earlier, I spent hours trying to figure out why various buttons and LEDs were not working!

Has anyone successfully added the BPM digits to the V4L?

I have a second PCB to do and am intending to add the BPM digits and encoder to this one. Probably not for a couple of weeks though.

Kevin

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TK,

I have now started on the BPM encoder for the V4L, I wonder if the external DIN is disabled like the DOUT was?

I ask because I have assigned SR1 for the encoder and this disables the Tempo button on the V4L.

Thanks in advance

Ooops, helps if you wire it up right! It works fine.

Tim.

Edited by gomiboy99
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Hello!

First of all: Thanks to all involved for another great Build!!!

Today i wanted to order the Panels designed by cd. As i copied the drawing into Formulor's Template there was so much space left that i tought to me, myself and i that i'd design a Full Case based on cd's Panels! As my Core PCB isn't populated yet i have two questions to the ppl who already built a V4L:

How much heat is the LPC Core generating? Is a Ventilation Grill/Fan Assembly needed? (Don't think it's much heat but better ask before burning down the house :blush: )

Second, is there any Template (dxf, dwg, svg) xor exact Measurements/Distances for the Connectors and the Position of the Core Module on the Backpanel from cd?

Thanks and Regards

Gregor

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I looked into the datasheet: http://www.reichelt.de/index.html?;ACTION=7;LA=3;OPEN=0;INDEX=0;FILENAME=C200%252Ftaster.pdf;SID=11TVLbZ38AAAIAAG9MIgIec1e46ae3eb4fc2fe4e011f269170227

Indeed, the footprint doesn't match exactly with the PCB.

Instead of 0.3/0.2 it has 0.256/0.177 (resp. 6.5 / 4.5 mm -> seems that this button is optimized for metric measure system)

I don't find this so dramatic, but for the perfectionists it would be interesting to know if there are buttons with 0.3/0.2 footprint?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

It seems as if 6.5/4.5 is the industry standard for 6x6 switches. I can find a few with the vertical spacing right, (listed as 5mm), Closer fit, but not checked but they all seem too wide, (I'll have to get a few and check). My conclusion is that the KiCAD library item is simply wrong, or for an obscure make of switch. The footprint Wilba used for the MB-6582 is perfect.

The only ones I could find that should fit directly are the C&K KSA and KSL series. The advantage is that these are high quality switches, and you can buy caps for them, the disadvantage is the cost, the price from Digikey being £21.08 for 50, plus VAT. Digikey switches

This reminds me of the actuator fitting problem on the 12x12 switches - Limor Fried used a US standard for the x0xb0x, meaning you have to buy the button caps and buttons from a US supplier, when the Euro/Japanese standard is a little bit bigger, (and has a wider range of caps too!).

One bit of good news for UK builders. Rapid has The standard tact switches at both 9.5mm and 13mm height for less than £0.02 each: Tact Switches at Rapid

Another source of confusion for these is that some suppliers quote the height above the PCB, and some quote an actuator length! Rapid seem to quote overall height above the board, so choose depending on what you make your panel from.

They also have SIL sockets for mounting the LPC module. Rapid SIL sockets page

In fact, you can get most of the sequencer parts in one hit, from Rapid, and qualify for free delivery.

Edited to add Digikey reference and general tidying.

I'm guessing that a small bulk order from Digikey might get the switches to about £25 for 50, delivered in Europe, (this is just guessing at postage and palypal fees). If 8 more people want a pack of 50 (gives a couple of spares), I'll do it, though I need to check for fit, first. There is another option involving a low profile version with an actuator cap, though these come out a little more pricey - I'll do some checking, to make sure they are a possible.

Edited by TheProf
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Finally got mine in a case. I have also started designing an enclosed case for my second V4L. I don't seem to be able to upload .svg files, but this may be a good thing as the design may well contain some hideous error! This is only an initial attempt as my second V4L will have a BPM encoder and LED display and I need to make room for these.

Oops - I didn't realise the photo was so huge

Kevin

post-9872-0-21329000-1326499015_thumb.jp

Edited by gslug
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Yes, it should be possible, am planning on using a step up converter with two AA batteries - providing 5V @ 250ma, which may be sufficient.

There are some really cheap "china" solutions out there, you can find them when searching for the term "usb emergency charger".

Of course, there are also dedicated chips for this, if you want to build it on your own - i´ve failed miserably @ my first attempts :-)

Other solutions would require more batteries and voltage down-regulation.

Greets,

Peter

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Hi,

just pointing this out as I am not sure if it is a bug or not and it might help avoid confusion for others.

The BPM display does not behave as expected in slave mode.

The V4 manual states "in slave mode SLA will be displayed instead". The set BPM is displayed in all cases.

It also does not matter which midi in is used.

From my point of view this is no big thing, I am just pleased to be able to set an accurate BPM via the encoder.

Tim.

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I remember that I wanted to display the received BPM tempo rate, but haven't added the appr. extension into the seq_bpm driver yet.

Once it's available, the "SLA" indication wouldn't be required anyhow :)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey All, I'd like to report a successful build. I enjoyed building this great sequencer as it took me to new areas in DIY and I want to thank TK and Smash TV for the great service to the community. I used switches from Digikey, they stood above the PCB but still topped out @ 5mm. It worked first time with no problems from the documentation, except maybe the jumper section needs tweaking. Two things I noticed. #1 The tempo is global when in master mode and is applied to all patterns saved. Is this normal for a stand alone seq? can we have individual tempos saved with the pattern? #2 I see no easy way to delete a note from a track. Again thank you for a really fun project.

George

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Great that you got it working first time! :)

Yes, it's normal that the tempo is not part of the pattern, because usually it would be disturbing if the tempo changes when you are switching to another pattern.

Is this really important? I'm sure that most users wouldn't like this option.

In order to delete a note of a track, just enter the Trigger page and disable the step.

The same can be done from the Step and Live Recording page.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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i am really happy with my seq v4Lite.

there is one small feature i miss though.

it would be great to have a midi clock divider when in external sync mode.

could be choosen when holding down Master Button and choose divider with the GP buttons (1= normal, 2 = /2, 3= /3, ...) for example.

this would be great for slow chord progressions and stuff.

i have no idea about programming, but i imagine it would not eat up a lot of cpu and is relatively simple to implement.

please think about it, TK

edit:

it also could be saved globaly, like the tempo, so it would not interfere with the data structure of the patterns

Edited by loderbast
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MBSEQV4L is based on the MBSEQV4 firmware, accordingly all features which are described in the MBSEQ User Manual are available, but most of them are just not accessible... ;)

When you search for "clock divider", you will notice that such a function is already part of the firmware.

The parameters are stored in the patch structure, individual dividers can be selected for each sequence (resp. even for each track), and Triplet dividers are supported as well.

Making them accessible is a good idea, but I doubt that the double-usage of the Master button is practical, because you will toggle between Master/Slave mode whenever this button is pressed.

This means in other words, that your sequencer will switch to another tempo (or even stop if no MIDI clock is received) whenever you press the Master button to change the divider settings.

So, which button would be better suitable?

Or would you prefer to replace one button which normaly isn't used (like RecArm) by this function, configurable in the HWCFG file?

And which divider presets should be assigned to the 16 GP buttons?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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nice, that it is already implemented.

i saw in the seq v4 manual it is even possible to make it faster than the master.

i think it is not the best sollution to have to change the config file.

maybe it is possible to do it this way:

use the tap tempo button (hold tap tempo + one of the 16 gp buttons) to set divider.

the seq v4l would recognize this as the first tap for tempo also, but this could be cancelled, as soon, as a gp button is pressed while tap tempo is hold down.

it might be usefull for some people, to also be able to use this to make it faster than the master, but having original tempo at gp1 would be the most induitive i guess. because with the fx (lfo etc.) it is the same thing (gp1 = off)

so i suggest:

gp1= original external tempo, gp2= *2, gp3 = *4, gp4 = /2, gp5 = /4, gp6 =/8, ...

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  • 2 weeks later...

MIDIbox SEQ V4L.056 is available:


MIDIboxSEQ V4L.056
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

o the step lengths (clock divider) can now be configured in new "Tempo" page
(press Tempo button)
Following step lengths are available:
GP button 1..7: 64th, 32th, 16th (default), 8th, 4th, 2th, 1
GP button 9..15: 64T, 32T, 16T, 8T, 4T, 2T, 1T (triplets)
The tracks will be automatically re-synchronized to the measure on divider changes.
[/code]

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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