Sid in a rack? (1st post)

[jrkirkish]

Hallo, all. I'm just starting out on my SID adventure. Ordered my Core and Sid kits from SmashTV the other day, and I'm excited to get started.

I would like to know if anyone has put a Sid in a rack. The ucapps page has a link to something called the "SIDrack" but the link is broken. I'm curious to see if it can be put in a 1U rack, specifically a half-sized rack, as I've got this gaping 1U half rack hole in my synth rack that needs to be filled. I'd love to have a SID fill it!

that and any encouragement would be appreciated. I just hope I'm not in over my head.

[seppoman]

have a look at the midibox gallery. Several people made 2U or 3U rack versions (including e.g. Pay_C, TwinX and me  ;D). But it seems as if desktop versions are more popular these days (also with commercial gear...).

Half rack should be possible with only one SID and the minimal control surface. you will probably have to put the buttons left or right of the display as the PCBs of common displays are nearly 1U high. I´ve got no idea though where to get a suitable enclosure with rack mount screw from below etc. Perhaps you could get a broken old crappy expander on eBay for cheap, e.g. a Yamaha EMT-1, and reuse the case.

Seppoman

[Altitude]

My 8580 will be 1u.  The big problem I have encountered is finding a display small enough for a 1U rack. Generally, 1U racks which are 1.75" in height will only have 1.4-1.5" of usable height before you hit the top and bottom lids most 2x20 LCDs are more than this (40mm). The one I finally arrived at was this thing:

http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/2002d/index.html#CFAH2002DTMIET

Which comes in at 21.5mm/0.81" in PCB height which will clear the top and bottom by a wide margin AND allow for all 5 buttons underneath (which is critical IMHO) You can pick and choose the other controls but real estate is real limited

The problem however is that the LCD is interfaced via a damned contraption by the name of ZIF connector.  This is the 1mm pitch super flat ribbon cable which can only be terminated by another ZIF connector and there are no commercially available ones that will convert it to DIL so its either solder the ribbon cable from the IDC to a ZIF connector (thankfully they make thru hole mountable ones) or etch an adapter board.

My desktop is at a premium so a 1u is the way i am going for sure. Just have to find and build a suitable flat transformer (I hate wall warts)

[jrkirkish]

@Altitude:

It looks like we're doing the same project.  ;D

What I'm looking to do is put a LCD, 5 buttons and a rotary encoder on a 1U half rack chassis. Nothing like 'step b' or 'step c' with all the knobs and such.... I've gotta leave something for my next project, you know. ;) Maybe have a COM port for a bankstick on the front. That would be bitchin'.

Let me know if you do etch an adapter board; I think I've found the LCD I'm going to use thanks to you.

[Jaicen]

That looks really nice Altitude, what kind of price are they going for?

I think a rack mounted SID only really makes sense if you're not using a full CS. I think it would be a little cramped otherwise.

[Altitude]

The slim LCDs are 27.99 USD directly from crystal fonts and I am moving forward with that but I'll probably hold out for V2 before committing to anything else

[Wilba]

A bit of advice for those building things into 1U racks... after a short while you will get really tired of switching between the menus, i.e. jumping back and forth between LFO, Filter and Mod matrix, etc. You obviously don't have enough room for a "step C" control surface, but while designing, consider adding some "shortcut" buttons to jump between the menus (i.e. like Osc, Filter, LFO, Env, Mod Matrix, Arp, etc.).... in addition to adding five rotary encoders which can be assigned to parameters for real-time control, and the very cool PageUp/PageDown button functionality that TK just added in V2.

If I was doing another MB-SID in a rack, I'd go with 2U minimum, a 2x40 LCD and 10 buttons underneath, five "assignable" knobs and a button to jump to most of the sub-menus. But that's just me  ;D

I would suggest to everyone designing a CS for MB-SID V2... build the "step B" on a bit of prototyping board with some cheap switches and a rotary encoder (you don't need the LEDs) and try it out... you'll come up with your own ideas about how to extend it into a "step B with extras" to fit your panel. (I suggest "step B", if you've only got one SID then "step A" is enough). No amount of thinking about what you will need can replace actually using it and discovering it for yourself.

[Altitude]

A bit of advice for those building things into 1U racks... after a short while you will get really tired of switching between the menus, i.e. jumping back and forth between LFO, Filter and Mod matrix, etc. You obviously don't have enough room for a "step C" control surface, but while designing, consider adding some "shortcut" buttons to jump between the menus (i.e. like Osc, Filter, LFO, Env, Mod Matrix, Arp, etc.).... in addition to adding five rotary encoders which can be assigned to parameters for real-time control, and the very cool PageUp/PageDown button functionality that TK just added in V2.

If I was doing another MB-SID in a rack, I'd go with 2U minimum, a 2x40 LCD and 10 buttons underneath, five "assignable" knobs and a button to jump to most of the sub-menus. But that's just me  ;D

I would suggest to everyone designing a CS for MB-SID V2... build the "step B" on a bit of prototyping board with some cheap switches and a rotary encoder (you don't need the LEDs) and try it out... you'll come up with your own ideas about how to extend it into a "step B with extras" to fit your panel. (I suggest "step B", if you've only got one SID then "step A" is enough). No amount of thinking about what you will need can replace actually using it and discovering it for yourself.

Thats actually really good advice, i'll definitely do that