TK.

Alternatively you could use 2 COM ports and some old second-hand soundcards for additional MIDI In/Outs. The option for 2 * 2x40 LCDs will be added very soon - I just have purchased the displays at Ebay for a good price (2 for 20 EUR - I can also get 4 pieces for 30 EUR!). After the integration into the LC emulation I will possibly resell the displays to interested MIDIbox users. Best Regards, Thorsten.

;)

The intention of this new board is to publish and to document "small but useful" MIOS applications. This isnt my private board, everbody is welcome to introduce his own creations and modifications here! :) The toy for this weekend is a MIDI delay which works different from the existing ones, because it allows to route the delayed notes to different channels. In this way very interesting sequences can be realized without much effort. My favourite configuration consists of four instances of virtual synthesizers which are playing the same base sound, but with slight modifications (Cutoff-frequency, octave, volume, panorama). 4 independent delay lines are available, they can be clocked by an internal BPM generator or via external MIDI clock (when BPM is set to zero) Here a short demo tune: http://www.midibox.org/mios/magic_midi_delay_demo.mp3 However, this is just a (not well mixed) example - most important point is that I had a lot of fun during live-playing! :) Link to the application: http://www.ucapps.de/mios_download.html (search for "magic_midi_delay") The source code is also a good example, how to interact with the LCD, buttons, pots, encoders, LEDs Minimal configuration: one core module parameters can be controlled via MIDI (see main.asm) Options: one LCD (character or graphical) which shows the parameters 30 buttons to control the parameters directly alternatively 8 encoders to control delay and transpose value of 4 channels and one jog wheel to control the BPM alternatively 14 pots or faders to control the parameters directly mods are welcome! Have fun! ;-) Best Regards, Thorsten.

ooof! 5.8v? Thats is too much! Hope that your 7805 is working? Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hallo Chriss, ja, das liegt am Konzept der alten PIC16F firmware, die noch auf feste Datenstrukturen aufbaute und deshalb zwar eine Menge konnte, aber nicht besonders flexibel war. Die auf MIOS basierenden MIDIboxen kann man sich eher wie ein Logic-Environment ohne graphische Oberflaeche vorstellen. Man kann mit den Ein- und Ausgehenden Signalen also anfangen was man moechte (ja, man kann damit auch den Fuellstand seiner Kaffeemaschine ueberpruefen und ab einem bestimmten Pegel eine Warnmelodie ueber den SID ausgeben ;-)) Gruss, Thorsten.

Mittlerweile sind die Encoder wieder lieferbar - ich habe meine letzte Woche erhalten. ;-) Interessanterweise bezieht Schuricht die Encoder von Albs - wenn man dort direkt bestellt, bezahlt man aber mindestens das doppelte. Ich moechte lieber nicht wissen, fuer welchen Preis ein Grosshaendler an die Motorfader herankommen wuerde... Gruss, Thorsten.

Hi Dan, but it must be the 1k resistor, because "80 xx xx" events are only sent when the dump content is zero. Which voltage do you measure between Vss and Pin RA4? should be ca. 5V (and not 0V) So far as I remember you own some 24LC256 - could you test one in order to ensure that the BankStick interface works correctly? Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi RAF, yes, it must be the contrast pot. Your minimal setup will work. You could also try the LCD checker under Concepts->MBHP->Test programs... Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Rogic, sure, I|m interested in the driver. Thanks a lot for your input - a third driver is a great backup solution for people who have the same troubles! :) Best Regards, Thorsten

You could save one core module by using two boards stuffed with the PIC18F and by using MIOS. This will be clear as soon as I've finished the documentation. Displays: a solution for one display in a multicore setup will also be documented in the next days. All functions which are necessary have been already integrated into the operating system :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Mickey, this library is dedicated for USB hosts, USB clients don't need such a complex library. For clients, the most stuff is already implemented in the hardware, so that the software nothing more has to do than to react on requests which have been initiated by the host. The Atmel programmer uses a Cypress chip (btw.: the same chip can be found in MIDIman USB interfaces.. ;-)) - it"s a SMD chip... :-/ Best Regards, Thorsten.

Thats correct - the data sheet says: long-term maximum voltage 5.5V, absolute maximum voltage (before damage): 7.5V So, you can use the IR sensors without the prodection diodes if you are sure that 5.5V are not exceeted. Best Regards, Thorsten.

Mabye its enough when I just adapt the MB64seq to MIOS and release the source code in order to give you the basics? Because this application will include a chord parser (used by the arpeggiator) and a sequencer engine for 4 independent tracks (the length is scalable to up to 64 steps). The user interface is well adapted for the MIDIbox64 hardware, but it could also be changed for a TB303 like surface or something similar. The source code will give you the answers... ;) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Ian, since I noticed that the performance of PIC18F (and MIOS) is much better than expected, my MIDIbox NG is now working with one core module only. This means, that for your desk two cores modules (instead of 4 like suggested before) are required. One core has to emulate "Logic Control", the other "Logic Control XT". And you have to connect the cores to two different MIDI In/Out ports (it's restricted by the host application, not by MIDIbox itself) I hope that you also planned the use of rotary encoders? Because these are the most important control elements of the LC! My impressions: I don't want to miss it anymore! :) Before the LC emulation, the biggest problem with logic was the creation of a perfect control environment for my needs. I never completed it. due to the effort, so I controlled only the volumes and sometimes VSTIs with a MIDIbox. But with the LC emulation, I can control and automate everything from the control surface - without an `environment` - a completely new (and much more efficient) workflow! :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Kieran, one 18F452 as master device, and the 16F877s as slave devices will work. In fact the control surface will control the SIDs similary like the Java GUI, therefore you don"t have to expect compatibility problems. :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Dan, could you check if the 1k pull-up resistor between pin RA4 of the PIC and +5V is connected properly? Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Gilles, the link to "Lights" does not work, but the other two songs have something really interesting. Several times I had the impression to hear the sound of a thunder and a rush of steam beside and behind me - very quiet, but noticable - how did you realize such 3d effects? Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Nenad, thanks for the detailed descriptions, they are very helpful. It's not clear, why you are not able to use the MIDIbox Editor, but MIDI-Ox possibly fails due to misconfiguration. What is happening: the integrated MIDI merger of MIDIbox64 is enabled by default. It can only be disabled in the configuration menu (but you don't own a LCD) or via SysEx (which fails). This explains, why you are receiving all the sent SysEx strings (memo for myself: the ping command should return a different string). When both virtual MIDI Outs of the roland driver are enabled, and when MIDI-Ox sends the string over both ports, the MIDI protocol will be violated. It seems that the Roland driver is not able to regognize this error and to prevent the violation. However, so it will only work with one enabled port. I cannot say, why MIDI-Ox sends nothing when you are only using one port. But - a very important input is, that the MIDIbox responses to a different application. This means, that you've found a running configuration which will help you to upload the file. The program comes with a send delay - it should be set to a value greater than 10 (or 20) ms. Thereafter load midibox64_generic.syx. Since it's still not clear, which device ID is currently set, you should modify the generic dump manually: It begins with: F0 00 00 7E 43 02 ... Now try to send 8 different variations of the whole dump with a modified device ID. First try the file unchanged, but with different send delays Change the 6th value (02) to: 12 Send it again Change the 6th value to 22 and send again Change the 6th value to 32 and send again Change the 6th value to 42 and send again Change the 6th value to 52 and send again Change the 6th value to 62 and send again Change the 6th value to 72 and send again (I love copy & paste ;-)) If your MIDIbox returns: F0 00 00 7E 43 xF F7 (x=device ID) after one of these trys, you've found the correct device ID. If this didn't help, try a "Read Request": F0 00 00 7E 43 01 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 11 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 21 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 31 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 41 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 51 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 61 F7 F0 00 00 7E 43 71 F7 If you receive any data, please post the first 10 bytes here in the forum Best Regards, Thorsten.

Perfect! I have to update the JDM page anyhow for the PIC18F :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Perfect! I have to update the JDM page anyhow for the PIC18F :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Hi Dave, currently everything has to be programmed in assembler language, which is more difficult than C and requires some practice (try&error prototyping) at the beginning. In difference to C you have to learn funny mnemonics (instructions) and you have to "tell" the PIC step by step what he should do. However, this increases the performance of applications a lot, thats maybe the reason why I'm mostly speaking about delays of some nano or microseconds (and not about milliseconds like known from the PC world ;-)). On the other hand it consumes some time to learn and understand the language if you don't have the technical background. However, I've already started to search for a good programming language which simplifies the implementation of common control tasks. XPL0 looks interesting: http://www.idcomm.com/personal/lorenblaney/ Here are some programming examples: http://www.idcomm.com/personal/lorenblaney/guess.html I haven't evaluated this language yet, but maybe it could be supported by MIOS. Best Regards, Thorsten.

It's located under http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html Take the "JRE" package. Alternatively you could download Opera (the famous webbrowser) from http://www.opera.com, because it comes with the same java environment :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

Some months ago I used a shielded cable which was longer that 3m w/o problems. At was a common audio cable for stereo, the shield should be used for the ground and Vss connection, the two wires for +5V (Vdd) and the AIN pin Best Regards, Thorsten.

Thanks! :) Best Regards, Thorsten.

The first MIOS release and a nice example application (MIDIbox LC) can now be found in the Concepts->MIOS->Download section. For all people who already purchased a PIC18F452: good luck! :) Best Regards, Thorsten. P.S.: a lot of additional documentation for MIOS itself and the MBLC wiring has not been written yet - so take it like a text adventure ;-)