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11 Midi Out Ports on MidiBox Seqv4


renegadebliss
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So at this page:
 
it states this:
 
"multiple MIDI Out ports (up to 11) for reduced MIDI latency"
 
I would like to implement that on my MidiBox Seq that I plan on building or as close to that many
as possible.    
 
How exactly would this be done?    I'm hoping to use the LPC17 ---
 
We have the 2 Standard with the LPC17 board.
 
then the 2 More In and Out's as per here:
 
 
(This would be a custom PCB or Breadboard, right? No prebuilt PCB's for Midi 3 & 4 In/Out for LPC17?)
 
So that's 4 In and 4 Out's.
 
Then we have Quad IIc_MIDI from SmashTV
 
which is 4 OUT's and 1 BLM connector:
 
 
So now we're at 4 Midi In, 8 Midi  Out and 1 BLM Connector
 
How do I get the last 3 Midi Out's - would it be from another Quad IIc_Midi PCB/Kit?  
 
 
 
So hardware wise, what needs to be done?    And Software/Firmware wise, what needs to be done?
 
 
 
Thanks!
 
 
 
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That's a possibility, but looking further at it today, I saw this in the Hardware section of the User Manual:

http://ucapps.de/midibox_seq_manual_hw.html

 

 

MBHP_IIC_MIDI modules

Up to 4 MBHP_IIC_MIDI modules can be added if desired (note: with a simple hack in the IIC firmware even 8 modules could be accessed from the sequencer - infos available on request).

 

 

 

So it looks like there is a hack for the firmware to achieve this. But still not sure what that is ,as well as how to actually achieve it on the hardware level.

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It might involve specially programmed 16F88s. Note that the Quad IIC has a circuit-level implementation (EDIT pins 12 and 13 as shown on the schem.) for addressing the IICs (MIDI OUTs), so you might need a custom PCB for more outputs.

Edited by latigid on
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It might involve specially programmed 16F88s. Note that the Quad IIC has a circuit-level implementation (EDIT pins 12 and 13 as shown on the schem.) for addressing the IICs (MIDI OUTs), so you might need a custom PCB for more outputs.

 

Ok, that's what I was afraid of... :)    May have to later that for my next build or add it on at a later point.      

 

Thanks for your input!

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Hi,

 

you could also chain a few (two or three) synths via MIDI thru (if available) on every SEQ MIDI out chain - it does add a bit of latency, but not really audible. Like this you could add 12 synths to the four standard MIDI outs and live a happy life! :-D

 

Many greets,

Peter

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Hi,

 

you could also chain a few (two or three) synths via MIDI thru (if available) on every SEQ MIDI out chain - it does add a bit of latency, but not really audible. Like this you could add 12 synths to the four standard MIDI outs and live a happy life! :-D

 

Many greets,

Peter

 

The Midibox Seq that I'm building, I'm hoping to replace my Sequentix P3 with, which has 4 Midi Out's, so I'm already doing that currently :)  

 

Since this is going to be the heart of my studio, was just trying to maximize as much as possible.   I may just have to make one with what I can right now,

and then when I can determine how to add more, make a new back panel to accomadate any changes that I make.  I have some weird MAM Drum modules and other things that don't have Thru's and eat up my Midi setup quick and I have a MidiTimePiece AV but just looking to optimize things from the start as everything's filled up now as it is.

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I have a SEQv4 with 7 outs, I used the BLM connector as normal MIDI and used an IIC module (you can get kits from http://www.midibox-shop.com/buy.html). The additional 4 ports are USB but I don't think these are designed to be connected to synths,they are used to connect to a PC/DAW.

Edited by gomiboy99
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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes, correct.

 

In the documentation I changed the number of ports from "up to 11" (which was for the STM32F103 based core, and includes UART, IIC and USB) to "up to 12" for LPC17 based core.

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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  • 1 year later...

Dear Thorsten,

 

Could you please explain how the "hacked firmware" works.    http://ucapps.de/midibox_seq_manual_hw.html 

 

I have ordered 2xQuad IIc + 8x16f88 from Tim, and asked him to burn them with this "hacked firmware", but he didn't know about it.

 

If I understand it correctly, I can have 12 MIDI OUT on the Seq 4 on STM32F4, 4 from 2x MBHP_MIDI_IO boards chained on J11E, and 8 from 2xQuad IIc boards connected to J4A and J4B.

 

Is the hack on the IIc firmware on the PIC's, or in the Seq 4 firmware, or both?

 

Best regards, Hal

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Dear Thorsten,

 

Could you please explain how the "hacked firmware" works.    http://ucapps.de/midibox_seq_manual_hw.html 

 

I have ordered 2xQuad IIc + 8x16f88 from Tim, and asked him to burn them with this "hacked firmware", but he didn't know about it.

 

If I understand it correctly, I can have 12 MIDI OUT on the Seq 4 on STM32F4, 4 from 2x MBHP_MIDI_IO boards chained on J11E, and 8 from 2xQuad IIc boards connected to J4A and J4B.

 

Is the hack on the IIc firmware on the PIC's, or in the Seq 4 firmware, or both?

 

Best regards, Hal

Hi Thorsten, I´m also intrested in this "Firmware Hack" rsp. how to implement this on the PIC 16F88 side.

Thanks in advance and best regards,

Jo

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In the PIC16F88 based firmware, the IIC_DEVICE_ADDRESS value has to be changed from 0x10 to 0x18 (the value is defined in src/iic.asm)

 

In the MBSEQ V4 firmware, MIOS32_IIC_MIDI_NUM has to be changed from 4 to 8 in mios32/mios32_config.h

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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Following up on Peter's post: I've built three of these, 5x MIDI thru boards. It might be the IIC modules offer stuff which people need that is not available with these, but they're simple enough to build on a proto board. They do require a PSU (or a battery), but one could probably equip the back of the SEQ4 enclosure with a few extra DC out sockets which just route out what's going into the enclosure (given that you're feeding DC into it). This way all you need is a cable to connect to the thru board (which has its own 5V regulator).

Edited by jjonas
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
In the PIC16F88 based firmware, the IIC_DEVICE_ADDRESS value has to be changed from 0x10 to 0x18 (the value is defined in src/iic.asm)

 

In the MBSEQ V4 firmware, MIOS32_IIC_MIDI_NUM has to be changed from 4 to 8 in mios32/mios32_config.h

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

 

I have now built the SEQ V4 with 2x MIDI I/O boards and 2xQuad IIC boards.

The two Quad IIC boards are connected to the STM32F4 module. Number 1 to J4A and number 2 to J4B

The first has standard IIC firmware on the PICs, the second have modified firmware.

 

 

I have also changed MIOS32_IIC_MIDI_NUM to 8 in mios32/mios32_config.h and recompiled.

midibox_seq_v4_88

 

In the SEQ V4 menu still only the standard MIDI outputs come up, Default - - - IIC4

 

Anything I have missed?

 

Best regards

Halvor

Edited by eptheca
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The second IIC_MIDI board has to be connected to J4A as well (J4B isn't used by the firmware)

 

 

In the SEQ V4 menu still only the standard MIDI outputs come up, Default - - - IIC4

 

I don't know which menu you mean...

however, how many IIC ports are displayed when you enter the "router" command in the MIOS Terminal?

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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I was a bit quick with the "all working"

 

On the sequencer, in the MIDI router menu, and the other menus where MIDI port can be changed, only the standard MIDI ports are listed.

-Def.

-USB 1-4

-OUT 1-4

-IIC 1-4

etc.

 

The "extra" MIDI ports, IIC 5-8 are not listed

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