MIOS Studio 2 released

March 6th, 2010

MIOS Studio 2 is now available for download.

Giana 64: MIDIbox SID based Commodore 64 Keytar by jbartee

February 26th, 2010

A quick demo of a keytar I built out of a Commodore 64. It uses two SID 6581 chips and was made using the Midibox Sid platform from www.ucapps.de. Better video to follow later.

Link to forum article

Chaos Matrix Demonstration (part 1 of 2)

December 13th, 2009

Chaos Matrix is a custom built programmer for a Oberheim Matrix 1000 analog synthesizer. It’s capable of manipulating all 126 voice parameters including 10 programmable matrix modulations buses, ramp generators, 5 point tracking generator, 3 five stage envelopes, 2 oscillators, 2 LFOs, and much more.
It features edit buffer synchronization for visual feedback and inspection of all Matrix 1000 voices parameters, patch compare, patch init, advanced performance options for some parameters as well as containing all 1000 original patch names. Seeing a name make it a lot easier remembering favorite patches instead of numbers alone.

Chaos Matrix is currently a work in progress and is nearly complete. It was built with help from the MBHP (MidiBox Hardware Project) using the MIOS operating system. It uses 1 DIN module, 1 AIN module, 1 DOUT module and 1 core with a PIC18F4620 microprocessor.

Wiki Page
Forum Article

MIDIbox 64: controller inaugural performance with Ableton Live

December 12th, 2009

MIDIbox 64: controller inaugural performance with Ableton Live from Stuart Mitchell on Vimeo.

Link to Forum Article

Bass Guitar with integrated learning help

December 12th, 2009

Project created by Graham. He wrote:

I’ve been working on a MIOS-powered project for a few years now and am finally ready to share the results. It’s still very beta, but I thought others might enjoy seeing the project regardless.

Basically, the idea is to provide a kind of “active tablature” right on the fretboard of a bass guitar. MIOS runs an onboard sequencer module which controls a bunch of LEDs embedded in the fretboard (125 of them!).
Currently, I have some (PC) software for converting MIDI files to fingering patterns. This data is then sent via MIDI to MIOS which controls the storage, loading, and playback on the LEDs. There is basic support for features like pause/playback, tempo, track scrubbing, and the ability to set A-B points. I’m still working to fix some bugs in the time stamping code, but thought the community might be interested anyway.

Here’s a link to relevant webpage:
http://www.ee.columbia.edu/~grindlay/active_tab.html

Forum Article

sammichSID by Wilba

September 28th, 2009

sammichSID

sammichSID was designed to be the “no excuses” MIDIbox SID synthesizer kit – i.e. for all those people who want a MIDIbox SID but consider building it with modules too time-consuming, too newbie-unfriendly and/or too hard to design and construct a control surface, and where MB-6582 is too expensive, too daunting and/or too hard to source all the parts.

sammichSID therefore has the following design constraints/features, which support each other:


  • cheap
  • small
  • DIY newbie friendly
  • minimal control surface
  • single “walwart”/AC adapter supply, no C64 PSU brick!
  • stereo SID, optimized for 8580/6582A, 6581 optionally supported
  • “sandwich-style” stacked PCB design, no wires!
  • laser-cut 3mm acrylic case by Ponoko, customization possible
  • industry standard 2×20 character LCD with low-power LED backlight, customization possible
  • common control surface parts used, customization possible
  • To be available as a complete kit, including PCBs, components, case, hardware and (optionally) two 6582A SIDs!



MIDIbox SID Synthesizer V2 features:


  • One Core module and one stereo SID module, fully integrated on one PCB with power supply.
  • Five “BankStick” slots, so you can store 4 banks of 128 patches, plus 128 “Ensembles” (engine and patch configurations)
  • Jumpers to configure the power supply, allowing a regulated 12V input to power 6581, or unregulated AC/DC input to power 8580/6582A.
  • Minimal control surface with three user-customizable buttons and LED matrix for maximum bling.
  • 2×20 character LCD with support for low-power (25mA) or high-power (250mA) LED backlight.
  • Potential for future upgrade to MIDIbox SID Synthesizer V3 using add-on board

More details on this Wiki page, discussions in this forum article.

MIDIbox SEQ V4.0 Public Beta released

September 13th, 2009

After almost one year of work on the new MBHP_CORE_STM32 module, MIOS32, some example applications and documentations, I’m happy to announce the availability of “Core32″ kits in SmashTV’s MIDIbox Store, and the release of MIDIbox SEQ V4 as a public beta version!
(press the Reload button on your webbrowser if you don’t see the updated pages)

MIDIbox SEQ V4

List of major changes:


  • uses the new MBHP_CORE_STM32 module (ARM Cortex M3 based derivative)
  • firmware completely rewritten in C – it can be optionally emulated under MacOS
  • patterns/songs/grooves/configs/etc. now stored on SD Card in a FAT32 filesystem
  • USB MIDI natively supported, MIDI events are sent more than 100 times faster to a DAW/virtual synth
  • two “common” MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports, up to 8 additional MIDI OUT ports can be added with MBHP_IIC_MIDI modules
  • track length increased to 256 steps
  • track memory can be partitioned, e.g. 64 steps and 16 parameter layers, or 256 steps and 4 parameter layers. Each track provides 8 trigger layers
  • resolution increased to 384ppqn (16 times faster than common MIDI clock)
  • new MIDI event scheduler concept priorises and sorts queued MIDI events
  • new parameter layer options like “Pitch Wheel”, “Roll” and “Probability”
  • special drum mode for easier editing of percusive patterns
  • additional chords (now: 32 in Major/Minor scale)
  • new track progression parameters like “Interval/Repeat/Skip”
  • groove templates can now be customized and stored on SD Card
  • Echo Fx with variable number of repeats, damp, tempo change, note incrementer (can be forced to scale!)
  • LFO Fx with different waveforms, synchronized to track clock, step based selection of period and reset, assignable to Note/Velocity/Length + separate CC with definable ppqn resolution
  • value range Limiter Fx
  • Loop Fx (also nice for editing)
  • overworked realtime record function with better quantisation
  • hardware configuration file now read from SD Card. No need to recompile the firmware on changes.

Future beta updates will be announced here

A big thank-you goes to nILS for creating the layout of the MBHP_CORE_STM32 module, Bugfight and especially StrydOne and This for MIOS32 beta testing, Seppoman for providing the first STM32 presoldered prototype boards to programmers, SmashTV for providing STM32 presoldered PCBs to users, Wilba for creating the beautiful looking MBSEQ Frontpanel, Marco and Francois for beta-testing the firmware on their MIDIboxes, and to everybody else who gave me helpful proposals and mental support.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Monome x Arcade Buttons Midibox

September 10th, 2009

Travischen wrote:
Monome x Arcade Buttons all finished! My goal for this project was to be compatible with existing Monome programs and utilize big, fun to press, arcade buttons. For Monome compatibility I’m using a custom midi->osc converter running in Max/Msp. As long as it’s running, any Monome 64h program works with my matrix. Theoretically there are some bandwidth problems using midi but I haven’t run into any issues with the programs I’ve been using. On the midibox front, I got 1 CORE, 2 DINS, and 2 DOUTS.

Follow the build at my blog (and bookmark me for out-of-this world updates!):
http://www.defcon6.com/?cat=15

And Video

Link to forum article

MIDIbox SEQ V4 will be released soon

September 5th, 2009

Check out this demo video which demonstrates the new possibilities:

MBSeq 3.4 Demo from stuartm

January 25th, 2009

Check out this awesome video:!


MIDIbox SeqV3: Sync and Flow (demo #3) from Stuart Mitchell on Vimeo.

As posted on the forum thread Video: MIDIbox SeqV3.4: Sync and Flow (demo #3) by stuartm.

alexglvr Sr.’s Beautiful Electronic Pipe Organ

September 23rd, 2008

organ

Just lovely. Read and see more at the MBOTW post : A electronic Pipe Organ (Photos)

MIDIbox SEQ V3 for Live Recording

August 30th, 2008


Midibox Sequencer V3 for Live Recording from Stuart Mitchell on Vimeo.

Forum Posting

Stereo MIDIbox SID V2 made by vout

July 20th, 2008

Forum Article

Stereo MIDIbox SID V2 made by poumtaq

July 16th, 2008

Forum Article

MIDIbox SID V2 Bassline Demo #5

July 13th, 2008


MIDIbox SID V2 Bassline Demo #5 on Vimeo.

(Forum Article)

Stereo MBSID V2 made by Swindus

June 28th, 2008

Swindus created this beautiful looking MIDIbox SID:

Forum Article

Recording of a live session, done with the MBSID, MBSEQ and a Roland SP404 Sampler for the drum sounds:

MBSID V2.0RC21 Demo by seNoa

June 27th, 2008

seNoa created a little Bassline Track with only 1 drum loop, 1 ride and 1 Midibox SID 8580R5 V2

It demonstrates the new O23 features of RC21:


Building a core module in 4 minutes…

June 27th, 2008

Video from 8O: “Assembling the core module for the midibox hardware platform from ucapps.de” (Forum)

MB-6582 MkII

June 18th, 2008

Ca. one year after Wilba introduced his famous MB-6582 to the world, which became one of the most popular MBSID designs with dozen of PCB/kits orders, he created a new version with a lot of improvements: the MB-6582 MkII

Forum Article

MIDIbox SEQ in a modular environment

June 8th, 2008

Picture by Lars aka. creatorlars:

The trigger pulse outs of the SEQ are hardwired to all the trigger inputs of my modules (drum modules and envelopes) from behind the panels — this way I don’t have to patch them. (The 6 modules on the left side are cloned 808 voices and other drum circuits.) You can see there is an “AOUT” module with the 16 jacks for CV/Gate outs. The back of the synth has an auxillary panel with the 2 MIDI ins and 4 MIDI outs from the SEQ. There are also two Footswitch inputs, for seq start/stop. I use it mainly to sequence analogue gear, the MIDI data is sent to sync our video projection software, etc. The Midibox SEQ is the core part of my rig and I’m in love with it. :) I want to build a new panel soon, with the 64 LEDs, and maybe a second MB808 seq too. I also am going to make a dedicated tempo display/BPM encoder.

Full resolution

New MIDIbox SID V2 Construction

May 29th, 2008

This MIDIbox SID V2 has been built by Kevin aka. Subatomic (Forum Article)
Don’t miss his interesting work(b)log!

New MIDIbox FM construction

May 29th, 2008

This MIDIbox FM has been built by Markus (Forum Article)

[Bulk Order] GM5: Least-cost USB-MIDI Interface Chip for 3.50 EUR

May 7th, 2008

If you are interested in one or more least-cost USB-MIDI Interfaces, join the bulk order:
Forum Article

MIDIbox SEQ V3 in a C64 case

May 6th, 2008

This MIDIbox SEQ V3 has been built by Pascal (Forum Article)

SwinSID X2 PCB

May 4th, 2008

SwinSID X2 PCB

Crisp created a PCB for the “DualCore SwinSID”. The two AVRs are piggybacked to simplify the connections. Both AVRs are plugged into sockets, so that it’s still possible to flash a new firmware (Forum Article).
The extension board can be plugged into the SID socket of a C64 and MBHP_SID module.

Swinkels started to update his webpage.
There are new sound demos in the music section.. New schematics and firmware will be released very soon.

For the case that you missed it: link to SwinSID Review