Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 3, 2009 Members Share Posted July 3, 2009 And now for your entertainment, the ElectricPuppy Players and a dude with questionable powers of common sense presents: DEATH OF A MIDI BOARD! (Allerian: You might want to look away.) [scene: The Innocent Heroine!] [Cue the villian music!] [Gasp!! How humiliating!] [The Heroine shivvers despite the warm California air! Have you no decency, sir!?] [Enter the Dashing Hero! Cue fanfare!] [but what is this?!? NOOOOOOOOOO!!] [The "Hero" sizes-up his conquest! Oh the huge manatee!] What will become of our poor heroine? Tune in next time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crawling Wind Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 I can't wait to find out what happens next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frogmonkey Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 You better not leave us hanging like Deadwood:cop: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BonsoWonderDog Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Best post I've seen in ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Glued to this thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 For those that don't know, that AVR board is a development platform intended to help designers mess around with their AVR line of microcontrollers. That's exactly what I intend to do. I've yet to be happy with any of the MIDI keyboard controllers I've used or tried in terms of build quality and UI. I've also been itching to make a synth or keyboard related device of my own and stretch my embedded design chops more than I've been able to do at work. SO! I'm going to make The Real Ultimate MIDI Keyboard for myself. Yes, I'm aware of the MIDIBox stuff and the Arduino, etc. For me, the end product is only half of the goal; The other half is in making it myself. I want to do as much it as I can from scratch; PCB design, case fab, all the interfacing, all of the programming... everything. Yes, I'm a backwards person. I'm using the SL161's keyboard as a test subject because a) I already have it and wasn't using it anyway, and b) it ought to be electrically identical to FATAR's TP/9 keyboard, which is the one I really want, but I can save a few bucks until then. I think this is a TP/7 keybed, I'm not sure. Now I'm off to figure out what I need to get from Mouser to hook everything together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members suitandtieguy Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 TP/9 is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Swami Digital Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 For those that don't know, that AVR board is a development platform intended to help designers mess around with their AVR line of microcontrollers. That's exactly what I intend to do. I've yet to be happy with any of the MIDI keyboard controllers I've used or tried in terms of build quality and UI. I've also been itching to make a synth or keyboard related device of my own and stretch my embedded design chops more than I've been able to do at work. SO! I'm going to make The Real Ultimate MIDI Keyboard for myself. Yes, I'm aware of the MIDIBox stuff and the Arduino, etc. For me, the end product is only half of the goal; The other half is in making it myself. I want to do as much it as I can from scratch; PCB design, case fab, all the interfacing, all of the programming... everything. Yes, I'm a backwards person. I'm using the SL161's keyboard as a test subject because a) I already have it and wasn't using it anyway, and b) it ought to be electrically identical to FATAR's TP/9 keyboard, which is the one I really want, but I can save a few bucks until then. I think this is a TP/7 keybed, I'm not sure. Now I'm off to figure out what I need to get from Mouser to hook everything together! Cool Project! I thought of doing the same thing a while back, but as always I got lazy, and then busy with other things I had procrastinated! -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Swami Digital Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Wow, those AVR microcontroller systems are pretty cheap. I guess these days there are a lot of good cheap microcontollers; I've just been doing embedded DSP for the last five or six years so my pricing sense is skewed. -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 5ku14 Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Teh Puppy Rawkz!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Allerian Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Today on KSS: Allerian's old midi board is gutted (with pics)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Buuzer Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 This is totally shocking! Fap, fap, fap, fap, fap... ...etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChristianRock Posted July 6, 2009 Members Share Posted July 6, 2009 When is the next installment??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 6, 2009 When is the next installment??? Well, I'm not sure that future installments are going to be all that fascinating, unless you want to see pics of hacked-together parts and screenshots of test code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Metrosonus Posted July 6, 2009 Members Share Posted July 6, 2009 Will our hero electric puppy save the day by raising the controller from it's ashes? or will the villian, dastardly dirk, succeed in his fiendish plot to destroy it by tying it to the rail road tracks? stay tuned for more adventures of "The Resurrection" or "Would you quit fooling around with that thing and come to bed?!?!" How about a little pian'e for these nice folks while they wait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 6, 2009 :D:D MetroSonus, you now have a permanent spot inside the velvet ropes of Hai Guyz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 9, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 9, 2009 This is my first successful use of a toner transfer method. I've tried the blue press-n-peel stuff before, but never got it to transfer to the copper reliably, so I always fell back to using transparencies and pre-sensitized boards. The photo method works great, but the boards cost more and I've always been kinda iffy about the UV exposure times. If you blow it, the boards ruined and you have to get another. This stuff I just used is a wet toner transfer paper; You print your image on it, place it over the board and run them through a laminator to stick the toner and paper to the copper. Then you soak the thing in water and the paper lifts off of the board, leaving the toner on the copper as a resist for etching. It took me about 3 tries to get it right. The first two times my printer apparently wasn't leaving a dense enough toner image on the paper and it wasn't sticking to the copper. I may also not have been thorough enough in cleaning the copper. The third time I REALLY laid into the copper, scrubbing like crazy, and I cheated on my laser printer by telling it to print in color; That causes more toner to be laid down. Voila! The board's ready for etching! What's it for? This is a temporary "adapter" board that will connect between the Fatar and the AVR board, and also provides a MINI IN and a MIDI OUT port. Wheeee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wa2C Posted July 9, 2009 Members Share Posted July 9, 2009 I'm actually looking forward to seeing pics of hacked-together parts and screenshots of test code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members augerinn Posted July 9, 2009 Members Share Posted July 9, 2009 You, good Sir, are a nerd. And I mean that in a good way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted July 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 10, 2009 Hey baby, wanna come up and see my etchings? This is the board after I etched it. It turned it really well, so I guess I'll give this toner transfer thing another try next time. Next was drilling. UGH. I used to be able to get my eyeballs right up on this stuff and see clearly but now... I really struggled to get the drill lined up with the holes. If I do any more of my own boards, I'll really need to invest in a good magnifier and a smaller drill press. Here it is, drilled and ready for stuffin'! Behold! All stuffed! The MIDI IN/OUT connectors are obvious. The red connectors mate with the ribbon cables from the keyboard, and the pin headers connect via jumpers to the AVR devel board. Finally, here's the whole thing hooked up: I'm out of time today, so I haven't even smoke-tested it yet. Tomorrow! Cross your fingers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flat earth Posted July 10, 2009 Members Share Posted July 10, 2009 Excellent work Puppez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gribs Posted July 10, 2009 Members Share Posted July 10, 2009 Hats off to you sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members augerinn Posted July 10, 2009 Members Share Posted July 10, 2009 *fap fap fap* Hey EP, you know there's on line PCB place too ? YOu can design the PCB using their software, and order your PCB whn happy with it. IIRC, it's really chaeap, like 75-100 bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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