midiphy SEQ v4+

[pat_00]

Congrats, shop looks great.

What are your plans for customers outside the EU?

 

[tehsparx]

3 hours ago, pat_00 said:

Congrats, shop looks great.

What are your plans for customers outside the EU?

 

On 8/9/2018 at 8:39 PM, Hawkeye said:

John from MA stated, that he wanted to resell all boards! Probably, shipping will be quite a bit cheaper, when you directly order from him in the states! As far as the last discussion went, he might not stock every "essential" part, just the PCBs.

Many greets,
Peter

Edited August 20, 2018 by tehsparx

[Hawkeye]

5 hours ago, pat_00 said:

Congrats, shop looks great.

What are your plans for customers outside the EU?

 

Thanks a lot! :)

We will also ship outside the EU, but shipping to America probably will not be as cheap as from Modular Addict, just as tehsparx quoted.
If your country is not yet in the list of shipping countries, please just send us a mail, we will add it then.

Have a great new week!
Many greets, Peter

 

[slo]

The store looks great!

Quote

Yes, John from MA stated, that he wanted to resell all boards! Probably, shipping will be quite a bit cheaper, when you directly order from him in the states! As far as the last discussion went, he might not stock every "essential" part, just the PCBs.

So the N.America users should order the essentials pieces from the store? How about cases at Modular Addict? they probably incur a significant shipping cost when shipped from Europe

[u-link]

Is my understanding correct that the final production case will be printed with the functions of the smaller round buttons, and that there's gonna be a set of labels to put into the transparent Matias knob caps? How is the "light spill" with the fully transparent knob caps? Would one ideally paint the caps' lower section from the inside (like an R/C car lexan body) so only the top ( where the printed inlay is transparent) lets trough light? 

 

[Antichambre]

Hello Peter,

Just some kind remarks to perfect this new amazing webshop ;)

• In France and maybe other country, 'street number' is before the 'street', I thing formatting must be changed depending on country(during or after validation, after is maybe easier). Putting the street number after can cause delivery mistakes here. A workaround, I putted a space in street number, and the number in the street to get it right and accepted.
• In the shopping cart, I don't find a way to delete an item line.
• Put the net sum and VAT lines after the real sum,  as they will be clearly seen as indications. Better for our mind ;)

Have a good day!
Bruno

Edited August 21, 2018 by Antichambre

[Hawkeye]

Thank you all for the great feedback! Also, the first shipments are out, thanks for trusting us!

Regarding your questions:

Quote

So the N.America users should order the essentials pieces from the store? How about cases at Modular Addict? they probably incur a significant shipping cost when shipped from Europe

Indeed, we have only discussed PCB resales with John at the beginning of the year and did not focus on that, getting the shop up to speed was our first priority, sorry!

Regarding shipping costs, i've just measured the weight of the fully loaded prototype v4+, and it comes in at exactly 2.92kg, despite the sturdy metal case. That would mean, that you could probably get it shipped to the U.S. in a 5kg insured package, with all parts for 39€ shipping. Imho, that should not be too bad, especially as you can get hold of everything "difficult to get" in a single shipment (PCBs, special/rare parts like the OLEDs and the case). Only a single other order from Mouser required and you should have all parts.

 

Quote

Is my understanding correct that the final production case will be printed with the functions of the smaller round buttons, and that there's gonna be a set of labels to put into the transparent Matias knob caps? How is the "light spill" with the fully transparent knob caps? Would one ideally paint the caps' lower section from the inside (like an R/C car lexan body) so only the top ( where the printed inlay is transparent) lets trough light? 

I've attached a "planned" silkscreen of the case for your convenience :). Light spill is imho really not bad, but you could always "tune" the Matias switch caps with a custom solution. No fixed inlay labels in the two upper rows, as their functions are dynamic! The upper Matias row is GP1-16 (i.e. enable/disable steps, menu functions), the lower Matias row is dynamic depending on the "round selection mode wheel". It could select tracks, steps, bookmarks, layers,... :)

 

Quote

• In France and maybe other country, 'street number' is before the 'street', I thing formatting must be changed depending on country(during or after validation, after is maybe easier). Putting the street number after can cause delivery mistakes here. A workaround, I putted a space in street number, and the number in the street to get it right and accepted.
• In the shop basket I don't find a way to delete an item line.
• Put the net sum and VAT lines after the real sum,  as they will be clearly seen as indications. Better for our mind ;)

* Great feedback with the stree number before the street name for many countries. Thanks! We will correct that, got similar feedback from a US customer as well. We will just put in a free address form field, that will allow to put the street number ahead of the street name. If your country is impacted by that, please hold your order, until the shop is updated :).

* Delete cart items by clicking on the "minus" symbol to reduce the quantity to zero.

* Regarding tax line order: like for shipping addresses, there are different "normal representations" for every country, here in Germany, we usually put the net sum before the total, i will have a look at it, but cannot promise it :). If you order from outside the EU though, the shopsystem will automatically remove VAT, so moving to a nice tropical island would also solve your request, hehe! :)

---

Here are some promised update pictures:

The new v4+ UI PCBs, including the mini LED matrices and the integrated Beat LED, as requested by TK.! :)

 

A photoshop montage of the v4+ labels and the mini matrices. The final look may differ a bit, of course!

 

Enjoy and many greets!
Peter

[Antichambre]

27 minutes ago, Hawkeye said:

Delete cart items by clicking on the "minus" symbol to reduce the quantity to zero.

It was not working before... thanks!

 

28 minutes ago, Hawkeye said:

Regarding tax line order: like for shipping addresses, there are different "normal representations" for every country, here in Germany, we usually put the net sum before the total, i will have a look at it, but cannot promise it :). If you order from outside the EU though, the shopsystem will automatically remove VAT, so moving to a nice tropical island would also solve your request, hehe! :

Don't worry, it doesn't matter, keep your time for something else ;)

I'm waiting for new UI PCB before checkout... I suppose the ENC plates don't change, I've got v1.0?

Best
Bruno

[u-link]

I

2 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

I've attached a "planned" silkscreen of the case for your convenience :). Light spill is imho really not bad, but you could always "tune" the Matias switch caps with a custom solution. No fixed inlay labels in the two upper rows, as their functions are dynamic! The upper Matias row is GP1-16 (i.e. enable/disable steps, menu functions), the lower Matias row is dynamic depending on the "round selection mode wheel". It could select tracks, steps, bookmarks, layers,... :)

 

Here are some promised update pictures:

The new v4+ UI PCBs, including the mini LED matrices and the integrated Beat LED, as requested by TK.! :)

 

A photoshop montage of the v4+ labels and the mini matrices. The final look may differ a bit, of course!

Thanks a lot for the info. So one could also go for switch caps that only have a transparent indicator line, similar to the ones on the TR-909 or the Cirklon. I personally would prefer that, as it gives a more focused indication. A friend of mine has the TR-8, and when we used it live in a club, it was annoyingly too bright (IIRC there's a dimmed setting, though, but it was still very bright). I also wonder if both the Matias switches and the round buttons won't outshine the displays?

I was asking about the labels because in the old thread, the idea for the transparent switch cap only came up in conjunction with the question on how to label the switches. Doing away with the Menu Shortcut names seems like a good idea, as these are shown on the screens as soon as you hit menu, and it will promote customization (on my Wilba panel, 16 is labelled "SYS EX" - not something I ever used, I put the remix function there). I for one would still like to see numbering from 1 to 16 in between the Matias rows or between the top row and the encoders. Anything that helps identifying a step at a glance is good IMHO.

[latigid on]

We could still label the Matias switches e.g. between the Matias rows. As you mentioned, the "GP" labels are printed on screen anyway. The selection row does change its function, and not all functions are 1-16, e.g. for selections regarding tracks, the group terminology (GxTy) is still used. Personally I quite like the "clean" look without extra labels.

Regarding brightness, Peter has gone for a fairly bright incarnation. If it was too much, you could easily increase the RJ values to limit the current. Personally I don't find the brightness too bad with 49R9s in my build. 

There are two further options that might help. First, we are ordering a set of relegendable switchcaps. These won't be available for some time, but could be a type of upgrade. The cost will be more than the default DSA clear (which by the way have some diffusion on the top of the cap), as each cap comprises two parts. Then all Matias switches could be independently labeled.

Second, you can choose the colours of the step LEDs. Notice on TK.'s demo that positions 1/5/9/13 use a different step colour to the rest. This might help to differentiate them.

Best,
Andy

[latigid on]

As far as painted keycaps go: it could work. I spent weeks emailing trying to get painted caps, but they would have been fully painted and much more expensive. So the idea with model train paint could be cool!

Personally I love the look of blank illuminated keys:

 

 

[latigid on]

5 hours ago, Antichambre said:

I'm waiting for new UI PCB before checkout... I suppose the ENC plates don't change, I've got v1.0?

Enc plates I think are unchanged since v1.0. Perhaps some diodes were moved around to lessen the chance of accidental shorts.

le mec is now at v1.3. Basically unchanged but some differences (mostly to do with minimising ghosting).

[Hawkeye]

Just a little update:

worked on the address editor now accepting "free format" address lines, e.g. "45, Street name", that is required for many countries.

@Antichambre, as you requested it originally, could you try it, if it works on your side? No need to submit an order, just see if the simulated address sticker prints correctly on the "finalize order" page. Thanks a lot, man! :-)

Many greets,
Peter

[Antichambre]

Hi Peter,

The address lines were lost, blank. I put it again. Billing Address is fine now if you close the page and come back... But if you logout and login, Shopping Cart is lost and the Billing Address is totally blank...
I suppose this must jump the Address Input page when the user has logged in and he already fill it in a previous session. Note: Don't find how to change the addresses in the 'Customer Account' page.
Country list suggestion: Good to get keyboard shortcut when 'country' combo box is active, e.g. hit 'f' key go to 'F' countries in the list.

Best regards
Bruno

Edited August 22, 2018 by Antichambre

[Hawkeye]

Thanks a lot for testing Bruno, and sorry for spamming this thread with shop tech discussion, if there is more to be discussed on that matter, we should probably move to PMs! But your feedback was really helpful and very welcome - because you develop a bit of a "developer blindness", when you work with such a system for years, it is great to "see" it through new users eyes, and hear any comments. Thanks again!  :)

Some remarks:
* The now blank address fields are expected, this is to be explained with the changed address form, i.e. it could not remember everything, as it is now stored to a new dataset.

* But: your updated address will be remembered after your first order, no way to change it in the customer center currently (other than deleting your account and reregistering which is a brute force method, but should also work! :)). The shop always remembers the last valid order address (or the first address entered when creating a customer account.). In short words: you just need to enter your address normally for your first order. Then you should be set and it should remember it.

* The cart should be remembered during your web session, as long as your browser window is open. We might add "persistent cart storage" a bit later on.

Good feedback on the country list, keyboard searching helps for sure! The shipping country list is also growing larger by the day: as that request came up, we've now added more shipping countries, especially Australia and New Zealand. :).

As shipping to these countries is not the cheapest (prices identical to DHL prices listed on their page), we would recommend everyone interested in a v4+ from these countries to wait for the availability of the v4+ cases. Then everything crucial should fit in an insured and tracked 5kg parcel and it won't be that expensive anymore.

For the EU or for everyone wanting to have a functional v4+ (without case) as soon as possible: Andy will test the new UI PCB boards as soon as humanly possible (it is a lot to build and verify!). And if it all checks out, we can offer the new UI PCBs and all relevant essential parts (like OLEDs, Matias switches and Keycaps) as another essential kit, even, if the second and final video tutorial (which depends on the case) will take a bit longer until it is ready.

Have a great evening!
Many greets, Peter

[latigid on]

16x8 LED matrix works well!

 

Edited August 25, 2018 by latigid on

[latigid on]

 

Adrian is getting the last details of the case sorted. Don't know about you, but I'm impressed!

[ilmenator]

On 25.8.2018 at 5:21 PM, latigid on said:

16x8 LED matrix works well!

You've got the ON / OFF phases of the LEDs reversed!

[latigid on]

The matrix works fine :). The software is not yet optimised to work with the "inverted" sink driver.

[LongShoreDrift]

So very interested in this!

Is there a list of all parts required anywhere or will everything be stocked in the midiphy shop to enable a full build?

I know its probably the wrong time & thread for it but, if anyone is willing to build one for me  I will pay for all parts etc & obviously pay for the labour involved to complete the SEQ v4+.

Amazing work to everyone involved !

Spoiler

 

 

[Hawkeye]

@LongShoreDrift

Thanks!

Regarding BOMs, yes, we are working on an integrated solution, that will directly export parts from the PCB CAD files into the shop. For a first look of a completely auto-generated bill of materials, look here:

https://www.midiphy.com/en/shop-details/138/2/

(it is yet incomplete, some parts are still missing, still working on it :))

The cool thing about this method is, that it should be theoretically completely error-free! No copying and pasting, no google spreadsheets, and so on. This method also allows to aggregate necessary Mouser parts even for kits consisting of multiple PCBs! There will be a "download mouser cart text" file button below each BOM table and the generated text file can just be copied&pasted it into your shopping cart at mouser. Will try this method for the video documentation of the UI interface PCBs myself, to see if it works and if any parts were missing :).

Regarding builders:
We cannot provide built units for legal reasons.
But there are known and reliable builders around, that you could hire on a personal basis. Some of them have even registered on this thread. A recommendation is to find someone from your country to minimize shipping costs and do a phone call first. If you found someone with a track record of built MIDIboxes, then everything should work out, the build process will be fully video documented and should (hopefully) be fairly easy to follow.

Many greets,
Peter

[LongShoreDrift]

@Hawkeye

Thanks for the detailed information.

A member on the forum has PM'd me & so the possibility of a v4+ built has increased a little!

All the best everyone

LongShoreDrift

 

 

 

[Hawkeye]

A little update:

Finally, we have finished the bill-of-materials 'bot (nicknamed b.o.m.b. ), that generates complete BOM lists and parts placement/solder guides, for each PCB. It also automatically aggregates those lists for multiple PCBs contained in a kit and creates mouser-cart compatible text output, that can just be copied & pasted into your mouser cart for your convenience. The idea behind this effort was, that you should be able to get everything needed for a build on mouser and midiphy only, and that it should be very easy to import needed parts into the shopping carts.
Hope you enjoy the reduced time for parts sourcing  :)

These BOMs have been derived/automatically created from the PCB CAD master files. In theory, they should be good: I tried to double-check every part during its creation in the parts database, but we would be glad, if someone could externally validate the parts list, to see if the 'bot works correctly, thanks a lot! :)

https://www.midiphy.com/en/shop-details/0/1#bom

There is a copy & paste link to conveniently put all necessary parts (from all PCBs) into your mouser cart, just follow the link to mouser, you might need to login at mouser first before the "copy & paste" text window appears.
If you test this order from mouser, please give us some feedback, if every part was correct, thanks a lot!

Now, on to the UI PCB & parts kit and to the case finalization :) - it will still take a bit of time, but we are confident, that you can haz all of your Seqv4+ parts and start building during autumntime or early winter in 2018 :).

Many greets,
Peter

[mcmurray]

Hi Peter, thanks for the Mouser BOM!

Is there any mechanism with your website which could alert us via email when the complete kit (minus Mouser components) can be ordered?

Definitely interested. Cheers.

Edited September 3, 2018 by mcmurray

[Hawkeye]

3 hours ago, mcmurray said:

Hi Peter, thanks for the Mouser BOM!

Is there any mechanism with your website which could alert us via email when the complete kit (minus Mouser components) can be ordered?

Definitely interested. Cheers.

You are welcome!

Make sure to refresh the BOM, as some gremlins mixed up the crystals for the I2C PCB, 20 MHz instead of 10 MHz are needed. We've instantly updated the BOM and notified all kits purchasers, our apologies!

Regarding your question, yes, a notification feature when something is "back-in-stock" is definitely planned, but it will work only, if a product is already available. Will think about it, how it could be best incorporated in the case of not yet existing products.

Many greets,
Peter