the becoming of a midbox fm.

MIDIbox FM
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as my midibox sid now works, i am now confident in my own quality of work and the quality of TKz designs.

i have now 2 soundblaster chips with 1 opl3 chip and 1 YAC512 each.. pictures will follow later..

i will document here.. as i have documented my “becoming of a midibox sid” topic..

this will be substantially more difficult as i will have to solder SMD parts.. however im confident i will succeed..

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and now for some photos..

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I found that if you keep your iron sharp, then surface-mount soldering isn’t that much of a pain.  For just those three chips it’s okay.

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I took a very small Screw driver, I put it beteewn The YAC Body and the leg, and then I heat the leg short and at the same time I pick up the screw driver- now the Legs are twistet but free, and it works- greets van da sids phat

_I_I_I_I_I_I_I_I_

I…I

I…I

I…I

I____________I

..I..I..I.I..I..I..I..I..

_I_I_I_I_I_I_I_I_

I…I

I…I

I…I

I____________I…_____

..I..I..I.I..I..I..I.-I-----------I_____I.. Screwdriver

…/.…I

…I…/… Pull it in this way…

Soldering Iron

And now go the OPL3 chip and make one pin

the next pin mak on the yac…and so on

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i have actually tried it on an unimportant smd chip first..

and the technique ill probably use is as follows..

first desolder it with desolder litze(wick)

let it cool down..

put a thin metal wire in the space between the pins and the body..

one end is connected to something.. the other end is used to pull the pins slightly up when i solder them..

its described on the opl3 page on ucapps..

the technique of alternating between chips, thats something i havent thought of.. that wouldnt hinder workflow as much.. good idea..

as for keeping my iron sharp.. yeh.. ill put a new head in especially for this..

but ill have to order the opl3 PCB first.. and prolly a core module aswell so ill have to wait for funds to rise a bit.. :stuck_out_tongue:

SmashTV??? why do you only supply the OPL3 module without parts.. is it cuz of the weird oscillator?? not enough interest from midiboxers?

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Hm… I’m pretty curious about some pictures how to set things up, as there’s no “walkthrough” available for the FM synth yet. And it kinda tickles me more than the SID atm… just minimal though. :wink:

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as soon as i have some time ill be continuing.. but right now its still kinda hectic here..

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well.. ive ordered and received some other parts for my MBfm

PHOTOS!!

the TL074 Chip..                                                                      and this time im using black knobs for the encoders.. these babies are cheap! and perfect!

the tactile push button.. im not going for mec anymore.. too expensive.. also these are easier to find! allthough i had a mixup with the caps on top of these.

and next tot the tactiles.. a better jack connector..hopefully this one doesnt disintegrate!

love this switch.. looks awesome.. almost exactly the same switch as on my Motu 828MK2.. almost.. as the motu switch doesnt have 0 and 1 on it..

the 40x2 display has been ordered again together with some other stuff like rotary encoders from voti.nl..

but that has yet to arrive..

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Hey Wisefire! Where’d you get the cheap knobs? Do you have a part number for them?

Thanks!

-drin

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i got them from rs-components.nl part number 467-6106 24 euro cents!!

and they look great!

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right.. the 40x2 lcd is in.. the buttons on the tactiles will be in very shortly..

i also bought an oscillator.. which is 14.318180mhz

is that the right one??? as it has an additional 0.00018 mhz

or will it be allright?? its the only one i could find  :-\

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I think that’s what the sound cards run the YMF262 at.  My Aztech sound card says 14.31818, my Sound Blaster 16s just say 14.3 on their crystal.

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hmm, ive got a crystal that runs at 14.31818 but that only has 2 legs.. and on the other card ive got a 28.2240 oscillator with 4 legs..

can anyone give me a statement about this?

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Such small differences don’t really matter. Ok, 28.2240 does matter (cannot be used…)

But you need an integrated oscillator (4 pin devices). A crystal with 2 legs definitely won’t work stand-alone, and building an own oscillator is too error prone

Best Regards, Thorsten.

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thnx TK,

ive got the right one.. 4 pin oscillator..

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well, boards ordered from Smash.. and the parts from other sources..

also ive found 2 other soundcards with the required chips so i can make 2 MBFMz..

i was wondering though.. is it possible to link 2 MBFMz together like the MBSID?

no picz… im tired..

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hey Wise, seeing as you’re tired, could you PM me the details of those cards so I can update the wiki? Thx mate :slight_smile:

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hey stryd,

i will do an update with some pics of the cards..

also i dont exactly know what cards they are.. they look like aztech cards.. but no name or such on them..

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“What kind of card is it?”

“FM.”

“FM?”

“yeh, F*$#ing Mystery”

:wink:

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well, school is finished.. kind of.. i still have to do one mayor project or assignment or what ever.

anyhow.. my FM boards are finally going to be shipped.. smash has been absolutely swamped.. i feel for him..

as for the info on my latest aquisitions as far as opl3chips go.. here is the link to the fullsize pics.. hope you

can decipher what they are..

http://www2.hku.nl/~ijsbrand/midiboxsid/cheap%20finds/

now ill wait.. and maybe look into programming .. bleh..