Displays and leds pedalboard

[revhead]

Hi Guys,

               I'm just starting into building up some midi projects, and was hoping one of you could point me in the right direction.

Basically, what I am planning to do, is build a guitar midi floor board controller, but with a difference.

 

I have a Gordius Little Giant, that handles all the data crunching,and all I do is feed it with note on/ off messages from my current board.This comprises of a switch matrix feeding a small circuit I got from Highly Liquid . It works fine, and I even have basic LED status feedback to it. However, there is no display,and the status LED's are limited, only off or on using the Gordius built in send (which was intended for a Behringer FCB1010 floorboard.

 

What I plan to do is build up a MBHP CORE LPC17, that only has to send out note on or off, Some pedal cc's (analogue in board)  and control LEDS and displays with its Midi in,which comes from the Gordius LG.

 

So, what I have in mind is one large 20x2 or 20x4  for program display, about 20odd small 8x2 LCD's for button configuration, and to controll about 24 RGB LEDS.Not a lot different from the new generation of floor controllers just hitting the market. (except I don't like the multi colour diplays for on off status and configuration,I will just use individual RGB LED's for that) All the controll of these LCD's and LED's would be sent from the Gordius LG. This way all my program status LED's stompbox status etc. shows correctly.

 

I was in Sweden on Holiday last year and picked up a couple of LPCXPRESSO boards from the guys in Malmo, and am just about to order the rest of the parts and boards for this project. One for the pedal board,and one to experiment with.

 

What I was hoping was if someone could point me in the right direction to start. What data and info should I be learning? I eventually want to build more Midi projects, so I don't mind learning as much as I can.

 

I have a fair bit of experience in building conditional logic circuits, but only a basic knowledge on programming, so now is a good time to learn.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[John E. Finster]

Hi and welcome.

 

What you definitly want, is to learn how to program scripts for the Midibox NG firmware.

 

Basicly it works like this: You build a LPC17 Core Module (LPC Board + LPCXPRESSO). Once you have done this and have the MIOS OS installed (THAT you have to do before you start to build, but look into the ucapps site, everything is explained there), then you can upload the Midibox NG firmware and connect other modules (for connecting switches, pots, faders,.....) and write scripts to tell your Midibox, what it should do. It can be as simple as that  :happy: .

 

To start, I suggest, you look into the ucapps.de site. You find every module is very well documented there. You will also find a section for the Midibox NG firmware with some nice tutorials and a very comprehensive manual.

 

If you get stuck or run into other kinds of trouble, you always can turn to this forum, it is a very nice and very helpful community, that will help you when you are in need of help.

 

Greetings

Edited June 5, 2013 by John E. Finster

[revhead]

Thanks John,

                         I have browsed Thorsten's site a fair amount,and will download all the info now. Time to start reading and learning.

 

From what I have read so far, it seems what I am trying to achieve is easilly doable.

 

Will have to send an order to SmashTV for more parts.

 

Cheers.

[John E. Finster]

Yes, there is a bit of reading and learning involved at the beginning, but don´t worry. Once you have gone through the basics, a lot of information will just fall in place on its own. Check out, what others have built so far and a lot more becomes self-explanatory.

 

SmashTV is always a good choice to get high quality PCBs for a very reasonable price. If you need other parts it can be wise to check local electronics dealers or ebay to avoid high customs fees (depending on your location, of course).

 

Have fun!

 

Greetings