Great Success! [Another Completed MBSID]

[glitched]

Hi, everyone:

Just wanted to let you know that another MBSID has been born!

It's called, "NES_SID".  See why, here: 

http://flickr.com/photos/75742538@N00/sets/72157601677467147/

(Take it easy on me...this is just a prototype anyway!)

Here are the stats:

Experience level: newbie with some soldering experience, but very little knowledge of electronics

Apprehension level before jumping into the project: 6 (out of 10)

Actual difficulty of project: 3 (out of 10)

Most difficult part (conceptual): the optimized PSU

Most difficult part (physical): creating the display cable with the proper pinouts, using an IDC header so I didn't have to solder directly onto the pins of the LCD (a good choice)

Other most difficult: cutting holes in the NES.  The lcd port came out fine, but I couldn't hold my hand steady enough to drill the holes for the buttons. 

Time elapsed from first solder to sound output: 4 days (and I work during the day, too!)

Some tips for first-time 'boxers:

+Get the Smash TV boards.  Save yourself some time and effort (and money).  It's as close as you'll get to "soldering by the numbers". 

+Buy more than you need at the electronics retailer.  You may mess up.  You may want to add components in the future.  I ran out of those stupid crimp pins and I knew I'd be swapping the boards in and out of cases, so I had to sacrifice some perfectly good equipment for their connectors.  Also, find a good wire stripper for stranded wire. 

+Test everything before moving on to the next step.  You don't want to discover that you soldered the wrong wire somewhere after you've hot-glued the thing and sealed your case up, like Han Solo in Carbonite.

+Check polarity!  Especially on components, such as capacitors.  This shouldn't be a problem with SmashTV boards.  But check polarity on other things too, like the midi connections.  I spend a good hour trying to figure out why MIOS wasn't receiving a signal from the MIDI OUT; swapped the white for the black and it worked.

+Search, search, search the forums.  It seems like a cliche at this point, but you have to do it.  Even if you don't find what you're looking for, you may find a post that will be useful for the future.

Other recommendations:

+Blue/White 2x20 Microtips LCD - It's 18$, but it's beautiful. 

+Go to http://www.nuxx.net --c0nsumer's site.  He goes into great detail about his project and lists all the parts used, along with mouser links.  He helped me quite a bit.  (Thanks, c0nsumer!)

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'm sure I can add to this...and I will.

In fact, I will make good on my promise to write something of a guide, but I'm going to start all over and do it right with a completely new kit.

Thanks again!

-d

glitched.org

[stryd_one]

(Take it easy on me...this is just a prototype anyway!)

Hey it might not be the prettiest, but how does it sound? :D

[glitched]

It sounds great!

I'm amazed at the depth of this thing.  With V2, the menus seem endless.

If you saw this feature set on a Waldorf or Roland, it would cost upwards of $1,000. 

To tell you the truth, I've attempted to make music with it, but I get caught up in exploring the patches!  That wavetable is crazy.