Front Panel Design

[Jaicen]

Hey guys,

I'm working out my front panel designs at the minute, and I was hoping for your input. This is important as it will define how many encoders etc I need to get. 

Below is a rough sketch of my initial ideas. I hope that the surface will fit in place of the original C64 keyboard which I think will be a nice touch. Indicator LED's (If I include any, not sure I need them yet) will probably go in the F key cutout on the right hand side to show waveform for each osc. I might also include an indicator for which osc is being edited, though that's not really necessary. There will be LED's for HP, BP and LP.

I have a few questions as well. Firstly, am I right in thinking that the ENV section is used to shape the filter response??

Secondly, will my navigation scheme for the LCD work?? I don't intend to use it that much so I want it minimalist.

My last question is regarding the arpeggiator function. I'd like to include realtime control for this, which could fit above the LCD, but i'm a little confused as to how it's implemented. I was thinking of using buttons to assign UP, DOWN and OFF but is there any function to allow Major, Minor sweeps??

All thoughts and ideas are welcome.

EDIT: I thougth of another question  ::) Am I correct in thinking that I could achieve the control surface below using just 5 shift registers for the DIN module???

I think it should also be possible to use just a single shift register in place of the DOUT module to allow up to eight LED's to be implemented, but i'm not yet sure how that works ;) Am I correct??

Thanks Guys

PS, if anyone in the UK has one of these empty cases, please let me know. This is the style I plan to use this front panel with.

[raphael]

I have a few questions as well. Firstly, am I right in thinking that the ENV section is used to shape the filter response??

From the MBSID feature list:

2 additional envelopes with optional non-linear curve which can be assigned to Pitch, Pulsewidth and Filters

Secondly, will my navigation scheme for the LCD work?? I don't intend to use it that much so I want it minimalist.

I`d prefer placing the navigation buttons below the LCD. Otherwise your hand will cover the LCD while navigating which isn't very practical ;)

And I think that only one is possible: inc/dec butons OR datawheel (See main.asm). So you'll have to modify the software to use both.

I thougth of another question    Am I correct in thinking that I could achieve the control surface below using just 5 shift registers for the DIN module???

I think it should also be possible to use just a single shift register in place of the DOUT module to allow up to eight LED's to be implemented, but i'm not yet sure how that works  Am I correct??

Yes, you can relocate DIN and DOUT connections of all control surface elements (see cs_menu_io_tables.inc for buttons and mios_tables.inc for encoders).

Raphael

[Jaicen]

Thanks Raphael!

I guess I missed that part about the envelopes in the features list.

I think you misunderstand my use of the LCD buttons. The two left and right buttons are for navigating parameters and the data wheel is for increasing/decreasing values. Is that possible? The buttons are above to allow them to be pushed by my thumb without moving my hand off the data wheel. Plus it looks cool  8)

[Random_hero]

I like your design but I agree with Raphael that buttons under the LCD are more ergonomic.

I would add some LED's too so you can see a parameter is configured by just looking at a led (and ofcourse, for the coolness of it  8) :P).

[illogik]

The two left and right buttons are for navigating parameters and the data wheel is for increasing/decreasing values. Is that possible?

this is the same thing in the midibox; inc/dec or left/right can be done by either 2 buttons or an encoder.

if you want an encoder just lose the nav. buttons and add "exit" and "select" buttons.

more ergonomical is when you put more select buttons>> under all the visible menuitems on the display (on a 2x40 this would be 10 buttons)

about the design; i don't understand some choises/questions you make (pulsewith in filter menu?, up down for arpeggio?)

i think you should build step A first (LCD, encoder + buttons) and play with the sid, you can access virtually every parameter, and see what it does and in which menu it is situated.

this way you can customise the hardware better and more easily

good luck, marcel

[Jaicen]

I think you guys are probably correct that I should play with the thing before deciding on a final config, but I was just wanting a general idea of what I need so I can get all the components in one large order to save on shipping.

With regards to illogik's questions, I have the Pulse width control with the filter section so that I can manually sweep the width. I built a guitar pedal using a schmitt trigger with a similar idea and I like the sound quite a lot. It just seemed like a logical idea to group the realtime controls on the right hand side so they're accessible.

[TK.]

The selection buttons for each (visible) menu item are required, there is no alternative option for incrementing/decrementing the selection. It's even not done with a small software change, since there are pages which require the buttons, like the name edit page:

For MBSID-D the selection buttons have a different purpose in the main screen (select drumkit, instrument, MIDI channel), and it could be that I will optimize the main screen of the common MBSID release, too - it would be too bad, if you wouldn't be able to get use of new features, just because you decided to realize a different menu interface...

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[Jaicen]

Ok, it's starting to make sense to me why people don't have full size LCD screens then! I guess this is an instance where it would be obvious if i'd ever seen an MBSID.

Here's a question then; how often do people find they use the ADSR knobs on the fly??

I'm wondering wether i'm going to need to edit all those paramers all at once. I'm starting to think i'll just implement ADSR for the 2 assignable envelopes to save on a shift register.

I'm definitely going to build the MBSID with the LCD control buttons on a 1xDIN on perfboard. That leaves the DINx4 free to be dedicated to my control surface. As suggested, this also means that I can play with the thing before I get to finalising my control surface.

[TK.]

I frequently use the second layer of the upper DADSR knobs, to control finetune, transpose, arpeggio speed, portamento and pulsewidth. Especially portamento (slide) and pulsewidth are important parameters which should be tweaked live in order to get a lively sound. So, you don't need seperate knobs, just press the Ctrl (layer select) button (I miss it at your panel). You may also want to add a OSC button, because each oscillator has it's own parameter set. Of course, you could control all three at the same time, but setting them to different values makes more sense. I also don't know, why you've removed the Env Depth knob, IMHO it's important, too.

In fact I strongly recomment to use the complete set of controls, otherwise you will miss something sooner or later. Things which could be omited are: waveform/sync/ring buttons/LEDs, modulation matrix, filter channels and type buttons/LEDs. If your box is only stuffed with a single SID, then you could omit the 4 SID select and Link button/LED. CC button could be useful if you would like to record parameter changes with a sequencer in order to automate changes. The edit button could get a different purpose in future.

Best Regards, Thorsten.