[Wilba]

Click for full size view. More photos on Flickr.

Full documentation can be found here: http://www.midibox.o...wiki/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 2x20 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.
  
• 2x20 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

Buying a kit

sammichSID was planned from the start to be available as a complete kit, so all the hard work of sourcing parts, checking for fit, and refining the design has been done already.

Kits will be packed and sold in batches of 25.

If you want to pre-order now, just email your details (NOT MONEY!) to: Jason.S.Williams@gmail.com
Include your MIDIbox username so I know who I'm talking to!
"Pre-order" just means I collect your email address, and I reserve a kit for you.
There is no commitment to buy, you can cancel or wait for another batch with no bad karma!
Once I receive pre-orders for all kits in a batch, I'll email people to get confirmation and then send out PayPal invoices.
That will happen while I order and collect all the parts and put them into kit boxes.

Batch #1 Final Price (as of 2009-11-10): (actual payment will be in AUD and include 3.5% PayPal fee)

• full kit, 2x 6582A SIDs: 235.00 AUD (218.37 USD, 145.54 EUR)
  
• full kit, no SIDs: 175.00 AUD (162.61 USD, 108.38 EUR)
  
• registered post shipping to USA/Canada: 29.50 AUD (27.41 USD, 18.27 EUR)
  
• registered post shipping to Europe: 34.60 AUD (32.15 USD, 21.43 EUR)

When pre-ordering, please specify if you want 2x 6582A SIDs

When pre-ordering, please specify a preferred acrylic colour. Dark grey tint (like the pictures) and black opaque (matte finish) are the two popular options which I will definitely sell. Other colours (like red tint or white opaque) might be available depending on demand.

Batch #1 kits are all reserved now. I hope to ship these around 1st November 2009.
Batch #2 kits are all reserved now. I hope to ship these around 15th November 2009.
Batch #3 kits are all reserved now. I hope to ship these around 1st December 2009.
Batch #4 kits are all reserved now. I hope to ship these around 15th December 2009.

Shipping dates are entirely optimistic and do not account for delays in sourcing parts, which might introduce a two week delay.

Pre-orders received now will be collected and put on a waiting list for future batches of kits that I will start selling January 2010.

If there are cancellations and thus spare kits from batches #1-#4, they will be offered to people on the waiting list.

At this stage, the process is a bit informal and I will gladly discuss options with people.

This post has been edited by Wilba: 09 November 2009 - 15:05
Reason for edit: updated prices

[ssp]

in kits do you mean the whole thing wilba? pcbs, case work, encoders, lcd parts etc?

[Wild_Weasel]

gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nebula]

Sweet design.  There's a lot to like about this.  Very nice work.  Congratulations!

I will probably buy a kit or two.  Would the case be available in different colours?

Is the case made of hard acrylic?  For example, if you push your finger in the middle of the underside, does it flex?

[opkod]

nice design ;)

[wackazong]

Very nice. But what does it do exactly? Depending on that, kit, yes please!

Best, ALEXander.

[Wild_Weasel]

I assume it is a stereo SID synth.

[Wild_Weasel]

hi Wilba!
Me again!

Which library do you use for the tact switches and the encoders.
I am searching for hours...

Would be great if you could share them.


cheers,
michael

[cimo]

Can I have a vegetarian version?

[latigid on]

It's tofu, isn't it?

[Futureman]

I'm in!

[Wilba]

Quote

Is the case made of hard acrylic?  For example, if you push your finger in the middle of the underside, does it flex?

It's hard acrylic, 3mm thickness, no flex.

Quote

Would the case be available in different colours?

The idea is to make complete kits that include this case, in dark grey tint acrylic as the "stock" case.

The problem is, yes I could order cases in different colours, but that really complicates things, when the cases are laid out five to one big sheet of acrylic and that's how I've worked out the kit cost... supporting all possible customizations (case, LCD, LEDs) is really hard to manage. It would be really easy if there were five orders for one different case colour, or five orders for no case (just the LCD window). Some feedback from potential buyers is required here... for now, people wanting custom cases can request them and I'll collect these requests and decide what to do later.

Kits without 6582A SIDs will always be an option, that's just common sense.

[clem!]

Great work,
but what do all the LEDs do? Ever heard about EnEV "Energieeinsparverordnung" ;)
Best regards,
clem!

[frailn]

Nice work, Wilba! My 18 year old son came to me last week and told me that a friend of his gave him his copy of Fruity Loops because he didn't want it. Then he looks at me and says, "Now I get it, dad - now I know what a midibox is! I want to build one and use it with Fruity Loops!" So, after talking to him about midibox for the past three years, trying to explain it to him, he finally gets it. This kit would be perfect for him - his first midibox. I'm definitely in for one kit.

[Wilba]

Quote

but what do all the LEDs do?

They really are just for bling, for fun. They aren't like the official "modulation matrix" of the MIDIbox SID full control surface. They're six rows of LEDs which can show meters of the envelopes/LFOs (in Lead engine mode) or act like VU meters per oscillator (in Multi mode or "SID player" mode) or perhaps will be useful in Bassline mode.

There was already a debate about them, likesuchas, why bother with LEDs that don't really do anything when it's supposed to be a newbie friendly design. I personally think soldering 48 LEDs that are held in position by a panel/PCB "sandwich" is no harder than any other kind of soldering, and the extra US$7 in parts will add to the "show off" factor. Unlike my day job, I don't have to justify the "business case" for features... if I want totally superfluous and gratuitous LED bling instead of empty space on the panel, I can haz it.

Seriously, can you imagine one of TK's MIDIbox demo videos that doesn't have blinky LEDs? It had to be done! ;)

[puddingbrumsel]

:o I'm in. Nice work! Is it possible to get the kit without SID's? Because i got two as spare.

[Wilba]

Quote

:o I'm in. Nice work! Is it possible to get the kit without SID's? Because i got two as spare.

Of course! I suspect there are lots of people who already have SIDs and want to build a MIDIbox SID. Making SIDs optional means more SIDs to share with others who don't have SIDs already.

[maniac]

:o Great work !
I'm definitelly in for a kit with sids.

[Echopraxia]

Nice. How soon do you think your ready to roll with these? I am still saving up for my wilba seq panel and case. I would love to get one but have to wait awhile.  I really like the single ac adapter. You gotta show us noobs how to make good ps circuits for sid and fm.

Is it mesh holes because of internal heat? Do you think the elements would be an issue?

Also any chance of you making a BLM PCB for you MB-SEQ build? Would it be a case of just taking your SEQ PCB file and copy and paste x4 the button matrix from that?

Can you show us a video demo of your sammich in action?

Regards,
Echo

[Dr_Nick]

Count me in for one of the kits incl. 2 6582s!