#231

aaaand, thanks to @bpcmusic, we now have i2c working :slight_smile:

28 Likes
#232

I want to like this five more times, watch the video on continuous loop, say thanks over and again to all those working on the Faderbank…and I’ve not even gotten to connect my ER-301 to my Teletype and Telex’s over i2c yet. These developments are beautiful!

5 Likes
#233

interested if built
Very cool!

#234

Howdy, I am very interested in an assembled Faderbank. Is there an ETA or price details worked out yet?

Cheers

2 Likes
#235

There is no ETA on availability or price yet, @sisyphus69 . We are a little way off that as I’m about to detail!

1 Like
#236

IMG_5479 2
IMG_5479 2.jpg3264×2448 1.86 MB

This is 16n, version 1.2.

Things that are working:

  • USB MIDI out
  • TRS MIDI out
  • CV out

Things that are going to be tested by @bpcmusic when he’s got his board and built it:

  • I2C out

I am pretty pleased that it worked at first build-up, not least because of the cost of prototyping this thing.

Great, so how much and when do I get mine, it looks finished!

Hold on.

Here’s what’s happening next:

  • I’m getting prototype boards to @shellfritsch and @bpcmusic, who live about 4000 miles away
  • They are going to build these and test they work too.
  • @bpcmusic is going to test I2C and, worst-case scenario, do some more firmware coding.
  • We’re going to test them more proactively - use them a bit, soak-test them spitting out 16x5V for a bit

If all is go then, what we have is a working prototype. What’s next:

  • Enclosure (ie: top/bottom panel) design. Sounds simple, but there are some variables that might mean the PCB needs to be tweaked.
  • Costing a production BOM. That includes the panel, which we don’t know the precise size of, let alone the cost of, yet.
  • Finding a manufacture partner for the made boards: finding somebody, checking we don’t need to alter board design… and discovering what this costs.

And then we’ve got to source parts and build them. (I’ll tell you now: getting the faders for a production run will take about 3 months, because of the volume we need).

This is why I don’t normally talk about work in progress: look at the number of variables left! But because there’s no Kickstarter, no backers, no promises, we can be more transparent and say: this is what development looks like. That thing where it looks like it’s finished? Yeah, we’ve got a way to go. And most critically: we have no idea what this will cost yet, really. We have some idea of bounds (thanks to material costs) but we can only start finding out when the board is locked.

Fun fact: the board is already at 1.21 (fixing a silking error, swapping four diodes for two double-diodes). I’m hoping there won’t be too many more revs.

It’s going well, though. This is the point where I begin to hand over more jobs to @shellfritsch, too.

Update over!

55 Likes
#237

Sounds and looks great! Thanks for the engagement and putting the work into this! :heart_eyes:

Will it still be an open source project or so that someone who just needs a PCB can purchase one when it’s ready. Maybe even from somewhere in europe? That would be very awesome.

#238

It will definitely be open-source: PCB schematic+layout files, firmware, panel designs.

Everything todo with retail is “TBD”; whilst people have mentioned interest in here, we’ve not formally gathered numbers or locations yet, and that might feed into where things are available from.

But once the files are released there’s nothing to stop you fabbing your own boards for instance.

6 Likes
#239

Cool! I am looking forward to build one and then fade some things…:slightly_smiling_face:

#240

video fading woop woop

this two joysticks and the meng qi voltage memory will be my video control surface!

2 Likes
#241

Very excited about what you chaps are cooking up here. Seeing the inside of the build process is illuminating.

#242

Wonderful job ! This little box is going to be so useful !

1 Like
#243

Sounds great it will ne really usefull with teletype + er301 :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#244

mega props to @infovore for nailing it on the first proto!!!

also - lovely detailed update. that’s pretty much the plan :slight_smile:

as soon as i get mine built i’ll be getting to work on the enclosure.

6 Likes
#245

Swell!

Any possibility of the CV outputs being able to do 10v ???

#246

sorry, no. the cv outputs are powered via the teensy 5V out. there might be some way to add that functionality in, but we are trying to keep the circuit and part count as simple as possible.

2 Likes
#247

ahhh gotcha.

Well, I’m wondering if the Faderbank’s MIDI out into an FH-1 may enable the faders to spit out 10v

#248

Presumably you might be able to build a simple 2x gain DC amp which could scale up the 0-5V output to 0-10V? I guess it would need 16 channels, though…

#249

The Levit8 would give you 8 2x gains in a 10HP $179 package

#250

It would probably work entirely fine with a MIDI Host like the FH1 - it’s just spitting continuous controllers out, and you can modify which CCs in software. I’m afraid I don’t know how the FH-1 itself works in detail to say more.

I would note that if you want to build something to roughly double the output of 16 jack sockets (rather than very precisely double it like a precision adder), you’re looking at about $2 of op-amps (four chips), a few bucks of passive components, and then bazillions of jacks and a board.

The reason we stick to 0-5V is because we’re using USB for our power, and the point of the CV outs is not ‘the best CV outs ever’; it is just simple and better than nothing, as previously mentioned.

3 Likes