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MIDIbox of the Week (MIDIbox SID of Seppoman)


TK.

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The MIDIbox SID of Seppoman --- he wrote:

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Here are some pictures of my new MidiBox SID, called "Der Brat." (difficult to translate...  the german verb "braten" means "to fry something" (on a pan using fat) so if  a sound "fries", it sounds fat... nevermind ;) ).

It is a MB SID with only one SID 6581, but with a slightly changed control surface. The nine keys on the right provide direct access to the submenus, with "return" you get directly back to the preset selection - no more need to step up and down through menus. The Menu encoder is only used for patch selection, and for scrolling in the OSC and Config menus. Below the 2x40 LCD are ten soft/assign encoders so you have direct access to every shown parameter. I find the box faster to use this way, but it´s also less "future-proof"( fixed number of menu keys...)

The switch behind the RUN/STOP key is the original shift lock switch from the C64 keyboard and toggles a relais (Power). The Commodore key toggles between normal menu soft encoder function and a "fun layer" - that´s a collection of parameters I found useful for live tweaking (the white encoder labels). I wanted this key to be illuminated from behind when "fun mode" is active but found it too complicated to achieve a clearly visible but indirect lighting, so I will use a bi-color LED as power LED to indicate the status.

Today I borrowed professional photo lights and color filter foils from university and took a few pictures:

seppoman1.jpg

seppoman2.jpg

 

These are made using only green and a bit of purple light - the MB SID is definitely red and the pictures were not processed in any way :)

seppoman3.jpg

seppoman4.jpg

Some from the inside (just flashlight...). The key pads were built using old Cherry typewriter replacement switches. I used them because the C64 keys fit perfectly. But the switches are very long so I needed to bury them in a huge amount of hot glue...

seppoman5.jpg

seppoman6.jpg

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That part looked especialy neat, it must have been hard geting the c64 logo of the case, those things are glued on arn't they?

it´s not too difficult. The logo is mounted with kind of a soft double sided glue tape. You just have to get under it somewhere. I used a small screw driver and pushed it on the plastic frame near the logo till there was a scar deep enough to get the screwdriver under the logo. Then lift the sign off carefully. It can get bent a little (it´s made of metal)...

Seppoman

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Yeah!!!  :D :D :D

Reeeeeeaaally nice case and design!!

Thank you :)

Will there com in some more 6581s someday? There´s room left inside!  ;)

You are right, the case is mostly air inside ;) Actually I built the "Brat" for a friend who is not into electronics but badly wanted a MB SID (don´t worry, I´ll take care of any support myself :)) He didn´t want to spend too much money and doesn´t need 4 SIDs - and it was also less work for me. Instead he had many good suggestions regarding design and user interface and forced me into some nights of programming ;). I will be rebuilding my original (quad) MB SID to be the great brother of this baby ´cause I like this user interface so much :) And probably build another "Brat" for myself ´cause it really hurts to give it away  :'(

Seppoman

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Thank you all for your comments :)

Can you tell us where you bought the knobs?

I bought them from http://www.buerklin.de, order number 24H4252/24H4256. Buerklin normally sells only to commercial customers, but they have a store here in Duesseldorf where nobody asks about a commercial license. The knobs are from Mentor, Type 521/523, don´t know if you can get them somewhere else.

Seppoman

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

sooo nice=)

thanks :)

Did you manipulate the mios for the encoders? Can you upload that firmware?

Yes I did. The menu encoders function is already provided by MB SID. Modifications were necessary for the "Performance Mode" - I changed both the OSC and ENV encoders to have only two mode settings. Both are switched with the button at the same time from menu encoder mode to the custom layer.

Another modification was necessary because normally you need the buttons to select and use the Name edit and SAV menu.

Last some modification was necessary for the direct menu access buttons, see http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=concepts;action=display;num=1101114495

If someone wants the complete firmware, just PM me your eMail adress and I´ll send it to you.

Seppoman

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