#423

so… what I was going to suggest is just taping the flexi-pcb in place and then holding it with your finger while you plug in the teensy

1 Like
#424

just tape the 5 contact points to the 5 points on each board? no jstph cable required?

#425

yeah - ignore the jst cable. That can be used, but you’d need a different teensy or other microcontroller.

Did you figure out how to upload the basic neotrellis sketch?

Also - you’ll want to do the board addresses like in the pictures on github. Then I can send you a pre-compiled hex to use if you’re having trouble with re-coding the addresses in Arduino

1 Like
#426

cool thanks man.

i think so, yeah. i will try in a second but it seems like i select the basic sketch, then once connected, i click “Upload” at the top of the Arduino screen, above the code

#427

you can just upload the sketch to the teensy Once without anything connected.

Then, just unplug/plug the teensy into USB to power it on to test each board

(assuming you’ve not already soldered the address jumpers) - i do that last after all the boards are tiled together

1 Like
#428

oh ok got it. i haven’t soldered anything yet. should i wait until i connect the boards to solder the address jumpers or do those first so i get them in the correct order?

#429

i’d suggest - tile the boards first. then do the address jumpers all at once as the last step so you can visually compare and make sure they match the picture I posted

1 Like
#430

got everything soldered together. flashed the multitrellis sketch to the teensy but it would only detect the teensy once i plugged the usb cable into the actual teensy usb port, not the micro usb. while still connected to the pc, i was able to get the first two boards to light up for about a second. after that, i figured maybe i just wasnt getting a great connection by holding the flexi pcb connectors to the board, so i soldered it on. flashed the grid (neotrellis monome) hex (again via the teensy port), and now i’m getting nothing. I’m not sure what I’m even supposed to be seeing or how to test it. I tried the Grid Test script, but its not even showing up in my “grid” Devices ports, so obviously no luck there. If i have it plugged into the pc, and i start pressing the point on the flexi pcb between the micro port and the connector pins, i get a tiny orange-ish light flashing 3-5 times quick on the teensy beside the button and then nothing. I dont know what that indicates or what exactly was triggering that.

so i don’t know what the next step is or what i did wrong. i was unable to get the basic sketches working but now that i think of it, that may have been because the micro port was possibly not working. I just didn’t realize it because i was using the arduino software instead of the little Teensy Programmer app, which tells you when it sent the sketch to the device and uses the physical teensy button to confirm.

I dont know if anyone has had these specific issues with the build, but since i had no idea what i was doing going into this, im sure im more lost than most people who have done it already

#431

Are you aware of anyone trying to print this yet? I just got a larger printer so I may try to run one this weekend.

#432

I have a larger printer as well and plan on printing one in a month or so once I build my boards. Look forward to seeing your results

#433

Well…

I’m going to print it myself, soon.

2 Likes
#434

I have a few test prints that are headed for the recycling bin. They are functional, but have some minor issues. If anyone wants them DM me to discuss the details:

15900926597663670529807830886866
159009265976636705298078308868663072×4096 2.86 MB

9 Likes
#436

I suspect that unless you specifically wanted a neotrellis (colours ???) rather than a monome grid, it would be almost the same price to get a monome grid - if someone was to charge for their time in 3d printing or ordering laser cut stuff and then assembling - the price is probably going to be a lot more than you would want to pay…
(mybe clarifying - I like diy because I like making my own stuff and I get a kick out of playing my own diyed things. If I just wanted a Grid, I would personally just buy the monome one - the neotrellis is a lot cheaper for me purely because when I build stuff, I count my time as free because it is leisure time…)

3 Likes
#437

I think this is heavily dependent upon how much someone charges for their labor, because parts cost is only ~$250, assuming a 3D-printed case. But you could definitely get close enough to B-stock Grid pricing to make that the better option…

#438

Agree completely. Mine was a lot cheaper than that though - parts were £140 (so ~$170) including printing a case. So if I factored in $0 for time and wear and tear on my 3d printer it would be very cheap :slight_smile: but when you factor in nurse maiding the printer, throwing away failed prints, assembly etc, it can be quite a few hours… it makes a genuine monome grid/b-stock grid/second hand etc look pretty good value…

1 Like
#439

Dang, that’s a good deal! NeoTrellis + button pads alone would be $140, from what I’ve seen…

#440

pcbs + buttons were slightly cheaper (but not by much). But, yes - all you need to do is add a teensy ??? $20 or so… and a bit of wire and solder… plus 3d print a case - I guess maybe $5, max $10 anyway, in filament… so $140 + $20 + $10 = $170 ! :slight_smile:

1 Like
#441

Well that was easier than expected. I am usually fine with the hardware, but getting firmwares compiled and flashed is my kryptonite. Successfully ran the test script on an 8x8 grid last night. So thanks for the easy to follow instructions and links to flashing the teensy. Hopefully the norns part is just as easy tonight.

I was only able to get 6 boards and 3 sets of buttons, essentially cleaning out all suppliers. So if anyone sees some poop up for sale, let me know. Mainly the boards, as amazon has some buttons at an absolutely terrible price, but I would do it if i had the boards.

Thanks!

1 Like
#442

Seems like a power problem, no? Reflowed all solder points and tried a couple different USB ports with the same result.

All buttons light up when individually pressed.

edit: seems liek this is most likely to powering thru the teensy. I’ll add the usb breakout and see if that helps

edit2:Figured I would attempt modifying the norns shield code to accommodate the grid.

First attempt I got:
[49/57] Compiling crone/src/Commands.cpp
g++: internal compiler error: Killed (program cc1plus)
Please submit a full bug report,
with preprocessed source if appropriate.
See <file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-6/README.Bugs> for instructions.
Waf: Leaving directory `/home/we/norns/build’
Build failed
-> task in ‘LIBLINK_C’ failed with exit status 4 (run with -v to display more information)

I assumed my norns timed out, as it took me so long to figure out. Went thru the steps again and got this:

[51/57] Compiling crone/src/MixerClient.cpp
virtual memory exhausted: Cannot allocate memory g++: internal compiler error: Killed (program cc1plus)
Please submit a full bug report, with preprocessed source if appropriate. See <file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-6/README.Bugs> for instructions. Waf: Leaving directory `/home/we/norns/build’
Build failed
-> task in ‘crone’ failed with exit status 1 (run with -v to display more information) -> task in ‘LIBLINK_C’ failed with exit status 4 (run with -v to display more information)

This bricked my norns shield, won’t power up. Tomorrow I’ll try reflashing the norns image to the sd card and go from there.

Any ideas or suggestions welcomed, as this is way above my head

#443

Yeah - that’s def the power brown-out situation in your video. Teensy USB can’t supply enough amps to light all the leds. The breakout should work around this.

For re-compiling norns on the shield, you may need to kill all the running stuff to avoid the memory error.

First you should stop all norns processes with the following.

sudo systemctl stop norns-jack.service
sudo systemctl stop norns-matron.service
sudo systemctl stop norns-crone.service

You may need to re-pull the norns source with submodules (if you didn’t already)

cd ~/norns
git pull
git submodule update --recursive --init

Then the kung-fu for replacing the device stuff (too lazy to go find it)

Then compile

./waf configure --enable-ableton-link
./waf