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Back from the dead!


Numptee86
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Hi all :)

So....over 10 years ago when I was at uni studying music, I discovered the SID Synth DIY projects and started one....unfortunately I ran out of time and ended up in a job that was too full on, and the whole thing got boxed up and stuffed into storage at my parent's place. A lifetime has gone by since then...but a few days ago I found my old project (was turning a cigar box into a mini MIDIBox SID) in its original state. I had forgotten this stuff exists....I was sad to see a lot of MIDIBox.org is 404 these days, but stoked to see these forums are still kicking along.

My question is....are these still a viable project? I haven't done music in years, but would be really keen to build this thing again. I don't trust my soldering skills from 10 years ago, and remember NOTHING of what I've set up, but I can see I still have the 6581 chip sitting in the main board. I'd probably want to start everything again, but who makes the PCBs these days?

Sorry if these are obvious questions...I'm just stoked to find the thing and finally have a chance to finish it and make some new tunes! :D

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I use my sammichSID regularly albeit alongside a number of other synths (modern and vintage). I still have some of my board layouts for a rackmount 3U MB6582 based synth as well but it's been a bit cost prohibitive to go that route.

So yes it's still viable and useful! The main issue is finding a working SID (or two for stereo) or the various SID-like options (e.g. SwinSID). If you have that sorted the MidiBox SID platform is quite good as a modern and fairly unique synthesizer - explains why I use it in nearly every song I write.

 

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Yup, definitely still a viable project. Quite a few people have built one in the last year or so.

As mentioned, Modular Addict now sells the PCBs, and the forums are still relatively active with helpful people. I definitely suggest going for the Mb-6582 for the control surface and established construction techniques, but the original modular approach is still possible as well.

Regarding the reuse of components from your original project... The SID is probably still good. You should check what kind of PIC chip you have if your build got to that point—it’s possible you were building a v1, which doesn’t use the same chip as the v2, but if you already have the v2 chip, you can probably still use it.

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The one warning I have with the MB6582 is to get the proper ribbon cables between the control surface and the mainboard. I believe some folks may have used right angled headers for one of the boards but there isn't really enough room to use headers for both since the boards connect at the front of the enclosure (where there is the last amount of space). This ended up being my downfall. I got everything else put together wonderfully, except those darn headers. Hence why I want to make a rackmount version...one day.

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Awesome to hear, thanks for the responses guys! I am a bit confused though...back then, and I am going on old memories...I thought it was a synth developed by a single guy, and a few different people printed his PCB designs? Now it sounds like there are multiple designs for making a DIY sid chip synth?

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I think for the original with a single chip you would just need one each of the core and SID PCBS

https://modularaddict.com/midibox-sidmod-pcb

and

https://modularaddict.com/midibox-core8-pcb

the MB6582 is a more complicated up-to-eight-chips thing with a control surface - but is really well documented...

there is still a construcion walkthrough for the simple v2 thing here though:

http://www.ucapps.de/index.html?page=midibox_sid.html

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To add on a bit, it was/is originally built by a guy (TK) but the designs and code are available (with commercial restrictions) which allows for things like the standard module-based setup, the MB6582 and the sammichSID (the latter not being currently available alas) among others. The MB6852 is, more or less, a bunch of MidiBox modules put onto a single mainboard. The code is mostly the same as if you did the same thing with module boards with the only big customizations being for the control surface.

These devices are all just different implementations of the designs. So they're all effectively MidiBox SIDs just with different modules built-in. There have been some fairly customized versions of the MidiBox SID (and FM) that have popped up here from folks that added their own customizations as sort of one-offs. Things like combining MBCV with external filters in a single enclosure, that sort of thing. There's a TON you can do with the platform.

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17 hours ago, m00dawg said:

The one warning I have with the MB6582 is to get the proper ribbon cables between the control surface and the mainboard. I believe some folks may have used right angled headers for one of the boards but there isn't really enough room to use headers for both since the boards connect at the front of the enclosure (where there is the last amount of space). This ended up being my downfall. I got everything else put together wonderfully, except those darn headers. Hence why I want to make a rackmount version...one day.

I think I got this idea from Altitude, but instead of ribbon cables or headers, I just made a ton of short, individual jumper wires. This way if you get a bad connection you can just replace the one jumper instead of the whole ribbon.

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8 hours ago, Numptee86 said:

Awesome to hear, thanks for the responses guys! I am a bit confused though...back then, and I am going on old memories...I thought it was a synth developed by a single guy, and a few different people printed his PCB designs? Now it sounds like there are multiple designs for making a DIY sid chip synth?

Like the others said, the MIDIbox SID project is by a single guy for the most part, but there have been some “remixes” that use the same basic code and circuits, just with specialized circuit boards to accommodate specific form factors.

The MB-6582 is basically four core modules, four SID modules, and a handful of DIN/DOUT modules, all combined on a single board (and a second board for the control surface). It’s nice because the construction and components are standardized, and the entire process is really well documented.

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That sounds about right, pretty sure my PCBs have TK's name written on them :) Just been looking through all the different projects...psyched to get this under way! I was just about to ditch all my old outboard effects but after finding these projects I think I will hold onto them so I can use them for what I originally got them for!

 

As for the Midibox FM....I remember looking back in the day (with no success) for an old sound card that would have the chips required...I did a search just then on ebay and found this:

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5pair-YMF262-M-YAC512-M-YMF262-YAC512-5pcs-YMF262-M-5pcs-YAC512-M/181331807932?hash=item2a3837cebc:g:FMEAAOxy0NtTCX5e&frcectupt=true

 

What are the chances some chips out of china would be functional?

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