All boxed up and ready to go...

[NeurDis]

So I finally finished my MB SID (well, it's finished for now  ;) ) This is the first DIY electronics project I have ever attempted, so I initially set out to make the bare minimum SID. I figured I would just use JsynthLib and the VST plugin made by S.M. (which are both awesome by the way)

I used the kits from SmashTV. At first I just ordered the Core, SID, a bankstick, and a ribbon cable. I got the rest of my tools and supplies at Frys for under $50 USD . Just in case you don't know what Frys is, it's basically Disney Land for nerds  8). While I waited for the parts to arrive in the mail, I figured I'd better learn how to solder (yes, I'm that much of a noob). I found everything I needed to know with a quick google search. The parts got here about a week and a half after I ordered them, which gave me some more time to learn about what exactly I would need to do.

Populating the boards was a lot easier than I had expected it to be. I got a little confused between the modules shown on ucapps.de and the ones I received. The documentation on SmashTV's site was really helpful though. These boards were a lot easier to solder on than the ones I had been practicing on. I eventually got the two boards populated and tested the voltage on the various sockets....no mistakes so far!

My first real hang up was when it came time to connect the two modules. I got confused again with the differences between the boards on the walk-through and the ones that I was using. I couldn't figure out what pins connected with what between J2 and J10. Wilba was kind enough to answer my question here: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=8636.0

Once I got the two modules hooked up, I was able to load the program on to them. It took a little while for me to sort this part out. It was nothing that a little reading couldn't solve though. Once I uploaded everything I was able to get the first sounds out of it! Here are a couple of pics of the two modules right after I tested them (with a US quarter shown for scale, for those that haven't made one before):

As you can see, I went for the "messy spider web of confusion" approach for the SID-to-Core connection.

At this point I decided that I might as well make a control surface. I chose to go with the 2x40 LCD and the 10 buttons.  I ordered them from www.jameco.com. I also placed a second order through SmashTV for a DIN module, and encoder and some panel mounted MIDI jacks.

I wanted to make the labels and the logo on the control surface light up somehow. I had been toying with the idea of using a clear case and loading the inside with a bunch of extra lights. The plan was to make reverse stencils for the lettering/labels and stick them on the CS. Then I would spray paint the whole thing black. Once the paint dried I would peel away the stencels to expose the unpainted parts. The light would then shine through the lettering but not the rest. Eventually I found this:

It's actually a plastic display case for a collector's Hockey puck, and was only $7.00USD.

I got the SID and core mounted on the bottom of the case and started drilling the holes for the jacks and buttons. I had a hard time making the rectangular hole for the screen. I wound up using a saw bit for a Dremil. I decided to mount the DIN module on the underside of the control surface to make wiring the buttons a little easier. I was still undecided regarding a light source for the inside of the box. I wound up using a short string of Christmas lights! I'm using two seperate PSUs rather than the recycled C64 PSU, so I wanted to have a single AC-in jack on the back (this helped for the lights too) rather than having multiple DC-in jacks.

So at this point everything seemed to be hooked up. I was able to play and edit patches via MIDI, but the CS didn't work. After some poking around I noticed a wiring problem. Once this was fixed I was able to get the first four buttons to work. The other 6, the encoder, and the menu still didn't work though. After a little poking around a couple of posts on the forum: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=8905.0 I was eventually able to get the rest of the CS working. I had neglected to enable buttons 6-10 in the cs_menu_io_tables.inc file. I also misread the connection diagram a little, so I had to re-assign the encoder, menu and #5 button. After that was fixed, the CS worked as intended.

About this time I decided that I didn't want to paint the case. The lettering wasn't going to turn out like I originally planned, and I wasn't confident that my paint would do what I wanted it to. Plus, I really like how it looks clear. Here are a few pics of the current setup:

I'm pretty much done with it for now. It turns out that the case isn't going to hold up as well as I'd expected. I may re-box the whole thing in a sturdier case at some point. Now that I'm done with this, I've got a whole of future MidiBoxes planed :)

In the mean time I need to actually make some music with this thing! My current project is sort of an Industrial/Metal/DnB hybrid, so the gritty, Lo-Fi sounds of the SID should fit in nicely!  :D