nuxx.net
Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

Category electronics

Stuff gets done…

July 5, 2006

Hrm. I got stuff done today. Personal stuff, but stuff none the less:

· MIDIbox SID-NUXX PCBs ordered: v1.0 S1 (photo gallery retired) (S1 means ‘set one’, as in, the first set of boards I ordered)
· MIDIbox SID-NUXX Bill of Materials mostly published to the forthcoming wiki, which will eventually become all of nuxx.net.
· Watched STS-121 lift off and reach orbit.
· Made more iced tea, and drank almost all of it.

Getting the PCBs to the state of ordering took a lot of time. Much of it involved manually looking over parts and ensuring things are exactly what I wanted, and that they fit. Then the documentation… Waiting for the online DFM check… Needing to eat… Writing a new CAM job… etc.

Anyway, yeah. Now it’s time for bed.

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

MIDIbox SID-NUXX

July 2, 2006


MIDIbox SID-NUXX PCB (In Progress…)
(Click for 300dpi version.)

Ah. It’s finally coming along. I’ve redrawn the schematic (image no longer available) and laid out the board. Now comes the few days of tweaking and polishing and validating that everything seems to be right. Then… The scary part. That is, the day when I plunk down $80 or so to have five of those boards made. And hopefully I’ll have done everything right and they’ll work.

So, yeah. It’s coming along well. I’ve also got all of the basic parts here for the front panel, so I can begin laying that out. That will take a slightly different approach, because I have to fit this LCD, a rotary encoder (or two buttons), six buttons, and two LEDs in the front panel of something about the size of an external hard drive enclosure. Oh, and build a simple board so it can all be connected with a few simple cables.

If you can’t tell, yes, I’m looking forward to it. I really like doing this kind of stuff.

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

MIDIbox SID-LC Update

June 23, 2006


MIDIbox SID-LC v1.0-PROTO PCB Layout Draft 1
(Click for 300dpi version…)

Wow, I didn’t think I would get this finished tonight, but… Well… I have. This is the first draft of the PCB layout for the MIDIbox SID-LC v1.0-PROTO. That is, the first draft of the design for the prototype for the MIDIbox SID kit I’m hoping to produce and sell.

While it is true that I’ve already built a working SID-based synthesizer (photo gallery retired), I want something a bit more. So, I’ve come up with this… It’s a bunch of the MIDIbox modules all squished on to one board. Basically, this is everything one needs to build a MIDIbox SID Step A (Basic Control Surface) on one easy to assemble board.

I’m feeling pretty tired now, so I think I’ll head to bed. Well, as soon as I make a backup of all that work.

Suffice to say, I’m pretty happy that things have come this far… Now I just need to order a complete set of parts for it, confirm that they all fit the on-paper layout, then order a set of prototype boards.

If that all goes well, then I’ll start seriously looking into what it will take to assemble 50 or 100 kits and sell them.

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

MIDIbox SID + Airwolf

June 19, 2006


Detail of a SID from used to record the Airwolf theme clip.
(Click for more SIDbox / MIDIbox SID-LC Photos…)

It works.

I don’t know what else to say… What I started a few months ago (with a hefty break in between) as an idea for a single board MIDIbox SID, the SIDbox (photo gallery retired) has now become a whole, working prototype. It plays SID-type sounds via MIDI, or can also play .SID files when loaded with SID Player software which makes it compatible with the SidStation‘s ASID protocol.

Now it’s time for me to start working on what will hopefully become the MIDIbox SID-LC. That is, a for-sale kit based on a bunch of the uCApps.de designs, in my own implementation.

I only made a few mistakes in this design, even through they were pretty substantial, I was able to work around most of them. If you look at the back of the SIDbox board you can see a number of the hardware patches I made. Two of those aren’t needed, I just cut the wrong traces twice and needed to fix things. Oops. I *think* it is all fixed in the current schematic. That will be confirmed another day.

Anyway, here’s that sound file again. It is a SID version of the Airwolf theme, played via this piece of hardware right here. Maybe I’m just a dork, but I find these especially nifty. I spent a good part of the night just listening to old SID files from the massive collection at The High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC) sent to the SIDbox (photo gallery retired) by sidplay2/w.

(Just as a reminder / disclaimer, what I am currently calling the SIDbox (photo gallery retired) is based almost completely on the MIDIbox project. Thus the future name change, especially if I will be selling the boards…)

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournalmusic

Bird Feeder and Curry

June 18, 2006


New Bird Feeder
(Click for more flower pictures…)

Today came over and hung out while I did some work on the SIDbox / MIDIbox SID-LC (photo gallery retired) project. I confirmed that the LM7805 getting really hot was because I was feeding it too much power. I also confirmed that it will work fine when being fed 12VDC and 15VDC, for the 6581 and 8580 SIDs, respectively. So, I need to re-figure the power supplies used.

I also figured out that I left out a component on the schematic, essentially prompting me to lay out the PCB in a manner which keeps the RST line on the SID at +5VDC all the time. Whoops. At least that would explain the weirdly stuck notes I was having… I’ve got a fix for it on the prototype boards, I just need to implement it.

I think that I’ve managed to identify the last bug in the current design. That means I can move on to laying out the next prototype (beta?) design for what I hope will become the MIDIbox SID-LC.

Oh, and about that bird feeder up above? Well, after the bit of hanging out and going to Ashoka for some lovely curry, Brian and I ended up at Home Depot at 26 Mile and VanDyke. I’ve been wanting a bird feeder for a while, and I was finally able to find one that I like.

It is now hung in front of the porch, in a location which can be seen nicely while I stand in the kitchen or sit in the living room. Hopefully birds will start visiting it.

I also took some new photos of the flowers. As you can see here, they are growing fairly well:

Purple and Red Salvia: Just Planted · Today
Violet Snapdragons and White Lobelia: Just Planted · Today
Margarita Orange Portulaca: Just Planted · Today
Herbs: Just Transplanted · Today

around the houseelectronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

DS lite and MIDIbox SID-LC

June 2, 2006


Nintendo DS lite vs. Nintendo DS
(Click for more DS lite photos…)

Well, the photos of my Nintendo DS lite (photo gallery retired) are up. Like the phoot above there are also comparisons to the original DS. The screen is amazingly better. There’s almost no comparision… Oh, and the form of the device itself is much improved. The new one is so, so, so much nicer.

Also, last night I got that SID-based synth (which will hopefully become the for-sale MIDIbox SID-LC) to make its first sounds. At first I made this sample which has some background noise due to what I think is a bad SID. So, I then replaced the SID with a newer version one, supplied it with appropriate power, and got it to work. However, before I applied the proper firmware there was all manner of nifty glitchyness going on. Listen to this file right here for all the wonderful glitch: midibox_sid_first_-2.mp3

That was made by triggering a MIDIbox SID-LC prototype (stuffed with a MOS 8580R5) with an x0xb0x set to ‘Random’, occasionally switching back to keyboard mode and hitting a few keys.

acquired thingselectronicsgamesmoved from livejournal

SIDbox

May 31, 2006

Well, the SIDbox / whatever MIDI problems are sorted. I’m also able to load apps and things like that… The problem now is that it’s not making any sound. I’m not sure why yet, but that’s okay. At least one half of the device appears to be functioning as designed.

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal