Today I feel defeated by…
…a synthesizer kit!
I’m trying to think of what to check, but it’s just. not. coming.
All ICs seem to be receiving appropriate voltages on the pins you’d expect power to be coming in on.
Something seems weird with the voltage regulator ICs, but I might be metering them wrong, I think.
< sigh >
Next is to ask the smart people at PAiA for help.
So I got the PAiA FatMan assembled… And it doesn’t work. The power LED lights, the MIDI LED blinks when a signal is sent, nothing smokes, but it just doesn’t work. Needless to say, I’m slightly disappointed. I’m going to email PAiA with a link to all the photos. Hopefully they’ll be able to help me out or something.
So, the PAiA FatMan arrived today. Of course I had to start on tonight…
Well, after 176 solder points and a few hours of work cataloging parts, writing down what’s missing (this frustrates me to no end), cutting, bending, and soldering, this is where I’m at. All jumpers in place, all resistors (except the couple which I’m missing) in place, ready to start placing the caps tonight. Hopefully PAiA will come through right-quick with the replacement parts. I’m missing things like the socket for the CPU (for the MIDI bits), a set screw for one of the knobs, an op amp, etc.
Oh well, at least there’s parts of the kit to work on in the mean time. :D This is fun.
Can anyone recommend a good brand/model of digital multimeter? I’ve got a decent Radio Shack-braded Fluke knock-off, but I’m having mild concerns about it’s accuracy. I don’t want to spend too much, but some nicer tools would be handy.
Oh, YES!
The Evolution X-Session
Someone *finally* made a commercially available MIDI controller with a cross fader. I’m glad I didn’t make one of these a few months ago… Now the big choice… This, or a small key-based controller with knobs?
Well, it seems that I should be able to use the digital out from my motherboard fairly easily. That means I only need one piece of coax for audio run from the computer to the receiver, and it should be relatively noiseless, as it’ll be a digital signal. Video seems like it’ll be a bit more interesting, though. See, iTunes visualizations only run in 640×480 when full screen, so I think that composite *should* do all right. I just need to find a way to extract a composite signal from the board. There’s a five-pin connector that hookes to a $15 Asus TV-out adapter, but I don’t want to pay that. I figure there’s a common ground, one pin for composite, and the other three pins for s-video. If I can only find out which two pins are for the composite, and if the chipset properly detects a TV when this is connected, I’ll be in good shape. :) I think the appropriate thing to do would be to order some Belden 1807A, two s-video connectors, and the Asus adapter, but I’d rather not spend any more on this project.
If this idea had only popped into my head about four days ago. :\
One update on the last post… If anyone needs some decent-quality RCA interconnects, I’ll make them and charge only parts. Other people going in on cable will let me afford the slightly larger spool. (500′ is only 3x the cost of 100′) Let me know ASAP.
Well, it seems that the audio interconnects that I made need to be replaced. Turns out I was using standard, good-for-RF RG6. This has a copper-plated steel core with a 60% aluminum shield. Not bad, but it explains the extremely hard time I was having with soldering to the braid. Whoops.
Anyway, I think tomorrow I’m going to get a hold of Graybar and see if I can get 100′ of Belden 9259. It’s an all-copper coax, with a stranded core. Should be quite a bit easier to work with… I’ll just have to get some more connectors and resolder things. Shouldn’t be a big deal. :) The subwoofer does function right now, but I’m concerned about using a cold solder to hold the ground together. It just doesn’t seem like the best idea, to me.
So, hopefully this will work out for the best. I’m wondering if I should get more than 50′, in case I want to make more custom interconnects in the future… I’m just not really sure right now. I’m thinking that it might be nice to make a run from my test 2003 machine to my home theater stuff, that way I could listen to streaming audio in the basement…
Hmm…
Would anyone be interested in some coax for making custom, high quality audio interconnects / subwoofer cables / whatever? For about $0.30/ft + connectors and with a soldering iron you can make your own high-quality interconnects!