Assembly and troubleshooting - Mutable instruments' users community

Note sustains when using Ambika and MIDIpal

weNiverse — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:38:24 -0400

So if I have a pattern going in sequencer or I am using the drum app with ambika, I experience one of the voices just sustaining and persisting after I stop the pattern. I can note nuke of course but its a pain in the biscuits when I’m trying to jam. It works fine most of the time but sometimes when I’m changing midi channels or changing notes of the drum sounds it will happen. Do you think it’s just an overload of midi data?

Front button?

Pish — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:42:54 -0400

Just got my Midipal. Going to stick it in a standard plastic box. What is the button on the front? I cant see it on the boxed version nor in the the manual?
Cheers

MIDIpal freezing and encoder knob not opening Apps

synthMIDIguy — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:31:47 -0400

Hi, I’ve just got the MIDIpal far about 2 weeks and it was working great, but yesterday (and today) the encoder knob stopped opening apps. Turning the encoder to select each app works fine, but if I try to activate any one of them by pushing down for 1 second, nothing happens. Also, a few moments later, the MIDIpal “freezes” with the name of the last app selected. Turning the encoder knob does nothing. I’ve tried turning it off and back on, but get the same result. Reloading the firmware from my computer also doesn’t fix this.

Midipal not working any more

aBot — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:01:06 -0500

Our midipal (bought assembled last year) went offline last night. I was just switching apps when the display went totally blank but was still backlit. Turning on and off did not help, nothing on the display, the encoder has no effect. The only thing that apperas to work is switching to Firmware Update mode while switching on and holding the encoder. Had no Firmware ready, so could not try to try reloading the firmware.
Any other ideas or experiences?
Thank you
Arne

SMT challenge?

Denis — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 22:03:21 -0500

Hi all of you.
I know Midipal is already built now.
But if I want soon or later to take the risk and built it as a kit and experiment SMt soldering,
can MI accept to buy me one as a full kit?

Denis

Pictures of Cool MidiPals & Their Pals

Titus Raindrops — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:58:12 -0400

Bug With Ambika Noise Wavetable? [solved]

toneburst — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:42:48 -0500

There seems to be a bug on my Ambika related to the noise wavetable. Can anyone else reproduce this? Try saving a program or a multi containing a part with an oscillator playing the Noise wavetable. Power-cycle the Ambika, and reload the patch/multi. When I do that, the oscillator is silent. (I guess it’s set itself to ‘none’, but the display on the osc. page still says ‘nois’). If I reselect the noise wavetable, it works again, but if I turn the synth off, the setting will again be lost. Seems to happen to me every time.

Very frustrating, as I’m working on percussion sounds at the moment, and the noise wavetable is kinda handy for that.

I’m using the latest firmware, as far as I know.

a|x

Filter-resonance doesn't work

Hugo — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:15:21 -0500

Hello,
I have a problem with the filtersection on my Shruthi-1
perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems, that on my Shruthi-1 the resonance doesn’t work. I owned my Shruthi about 1 year but I ditn’t worked with him the last month. Last year, I remember, I often worked with the filterresonance, but now, no matter what I do, when I turn the resonance-knob, only the display changes (0-63) but the sound ditn’t. Cutoff, env and lvo are OK. Has anybody an idea, what is wrong with my Shruthi (or with me? :-))
Thanks Bernie

USB 'Class Compliant' Midi Host Implementation

fluxer — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:47:29 -0400

Hi,

I am looking into using MidiPal in conjunction with this device:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2011/07/15/kenton-intros-usb-to-midi-interface-eliminates-need-for-computer/

But this is proving to be not cost effective, and I feel that there must be a better way to accomplish this. Is there any way if implementing USB Host capabilities into a MidiPal?

Please excuse my ignorance on the matter!
— Julien

MS near DC Port

john — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 19:32:09 -0400

Hi there

Little Question, the MS is here for adding for example an Power ON/OFF Switch right?

Greetings John

MIDIPal Troubleshooting - No MIDI IN?

onewayness — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:01:10 -0400

Hi all.

Just completed assembly of my MIDIPal. It boots fine, MIDI OUT works fine (Sequencer, etc work successfully), but it’s not recognizing any MIDI IN for some reason. LED doesn’t blink, Monitor function shows nothing. Any thoughts or pointers would be appreciated…

Thanks,
Adam

Workaround for 2.4V zener on the yellow magic?

rosch — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:49:59 -0400

is there something i could put in place for the zeners on the yellow magic board? (just for today)
i couldn’t find them here locally so i’ll have to wait for Reichelt delivery. i have 2V1, 3V, 3V9, 4V7, 5V1, 6V2, basically all kinds of other diodes led schottky germanium lol but just not the 2.4V zeners.
is there something i can do to have some sounds tonight despite this embarassing lack of home stock parts?

Latest MIDIpal firmware builds?

wny — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 17:54:44 -0400

I looked and looked, and I remember finding the pre-built .syx files of the Midipal firmware by accident in the forum. But, now I cannot find them anywhere.

Where are they?

MIDIpal not working

davide37 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:34:20 -0400

I’ve just received a MIDIpal but there seems to be a problem with it. When it’s powered up (DC or battery), the display just shows a * on the left of the display. The small red and green LEDs above the display are flashing. Turning the encoder does nothing. If I click on the encoder it takes me to MIDI channel selection. Clicking on the encoder again takes me back to the *. MIDI in and out work, and the display shows what note is being played, but that’s all it’s doing!

Regards,
David

Midi Clk from ext device.

safetyboy — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:11:08 -0400

I have just built my MidiPal and all seems to work so far apart from if I connect an external midi (say TR-707) to the in and the out of MidiPal to my Juno it will not work, it works fine if I have the Juno out to the in of the MidiPal. Also in monitor mode it is picking up the midi from the 707 fine, has anyone experienced this? I am trying to use the arpeggio on the juno while clk from the TR-707.

Power supply for the MIDIpal

Radio Shaolin — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:23:29 -0400

Dear friends,
can you help me with DC adapter for MIDIpal?

What voltage, and how much mA it has to be?

Thanx

Midipal don't boot, firmware upload problem [solved]

Fikous — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 08:31:44 -0400

Hello guys, I’ve assembled Midipal and after switching it on I’ve got problem:

LCD Screen is on but showing nothing.

1) I’ve tried to change lcd brightness – it changes, but showing always nothing
2) I’ve checked all the short circuit connections around ATMega328p, everything is ok, except normal grounding short circuit between 3rd and 5th pin on the left.
3) I thought that i burned out the ATMega328p, so I went to buy another one and i bought also an AVR Programmer OLIMEX AVR ISP500 USB https://www.olimex.com/dev/avr-isp500.html
4) I got the new ATMega328p soldered, so I tried to upload firmware. I installed Atmel Studio and Winavr on mu PC, and just in case AVR Studio on my Mac.
5) Nothing got uploaded, because all of those programs cant establish connection to ATMega328p. It can see the 3.3 Volts on the ISP Pins on the board, but cant get device signature, device information fuses etc… (See the picture below).
6) I’ve tried Avrdude, same thing :(
7) After googling, I put my ISP Clock to the lowest value possible and tried to reconnect. It doesn’t change anything.

So guys, I really need your help…
1) Is that problem could come from other bad soldered components? Or overheated components?
2) Is that problem could come prom my ISP Programmer? Should I buy another one? Which one?
3) Please help me, I’ve already passed a lot of time to solve that problem, I hope that with your help we will finally get that Midipal work!

MIDIpal LCD was working but is now blank/blue after selecting ChordMem

zanrob — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 16:46:50 -0400

I have a factory built MIDIpal that I assembled the plexiglas case for. It has been working normally in Seq and Drums modes, but today I tried selecting Chord Mem for the first time and the display went blank (powered on and blue but no text) as soon as I clicked the menu button. I tried sending a chord via MIDI and pressing the knob-button again, but same issue. The LCD is powered on, but is all blue with no letters. I have adjusted the trim pot, but only see white squares when maxed, so backed off the contrast trim back to its factory position.
Any suggestions for a hard reset would be appreciated. I have disconnected the 9V battery for a couple of minutes, no luck. I tried powering on with the menu knob-button pressed in and sent it a syx file from the appspot programer page to see if that reset anything, LEDs blinked but LCD did not respond. I also tried holding in SW2 for 10-15 sec. Nothing.

Is there a hard reset option? It’s bricked at the moment.

Thanks

How to filter out "All notes off"

futureman — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 03:03:52 -0400

Hey all.
First time post here.

I built a MidiPal, and all went as planned.

My goal is to remove the stupid “All notes off” commands that my Roland D50 and MemoryMoog+ send when ever you release all keys. The problem is stuff like my MPC interprets these commands literally and stops all samples playing.

I made a custom sysex for a ‘User Prog’ using the ‘filter’ and basically filtered out everything except ‘note on & note off’

It seemed to work as it filtered out pitch bend info etc, but the dreaded ‘all notes off’ command is still getting through.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice for me on how to proceed?

Kind regards
Mike

Midipal Sequencer app. instead of "cc on" display shows "ch1 on"

ltm — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 14:31:43 -0400

= typo in source code? (function works)

Can't send firmware update to MidiPal using .syx file

Mr_Roboto — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 09:49:52 -0400

As I’m able to compile the firmware for the MidiPal I’m trying to update it using Elektrons C6.

The MidiPal I have is an already assembled device from the actual run.
I have a HEX file which i converted to a syx file by:

python tools\hex2sysex\hex2sysex.py build\midipal\midipal.hex —syx —device_id 3 —output_file build\MidiPal_FW_new.syx

So i already took into account the ID 3 for the MidiPal which is different than the one for the Shruthi-1. Anyway, I’m not able to convince the MidiPal to accept that file. I configured C6 in the way it has been described (250 ms delay), set the ports, loaded the file, switched on the MP with a pressed button, LEDs started blinking, red LED stayed on and then I transmitted the file in C6.
No blinking LED, file was transmitted but nothing happens on the MidiPal.
The first few bytes of every block in the .syx file look like:
F0 00 21 02 00 03 7E 00
For me that looks fine (even if I’m note sure if 7E is the correct command but I think so as it has been generated by the converter).

Is there anybody who already has updated one of the new, assembled units? Does anybody know what am I doing wrong here?

Solved: Can't compile MidiPal code (depends.mk files missing)

Mr_Roboto — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:15:44 -0400

While eagerly awaiting my new MidPal box i’m already trying to develop some new sequencing code. Therefore i first have to compile the AVR code.

So I cloned the midipal code to my local PC (running Win7 64bit) using git. I had to use the http protocol instead of git.
Afterwards i changed to the new midipal root directory and ran git submodule init git submodule update
With the latter one i received an “fatal: write error: Invalid argument” and
“Clone of ‘git://github.com/pichenettes/avril.git’ into submodule path ‘avrlib’ failed” error.
So I downloaded the avrlib and tool directories manual (pichenettes-avril-firmware_tools-5a24857.zip and pichenettes-avril-8bf4e30.zip) and extracted them to accoring directories. After re-running the update command i got a
“fatal: Needed a single revision
Unable to find current revision in submodule path ‘avrlib’ “ error.

As i’d already installed WinAVR i changed the two path entries in the midipal/makefile and ran make – midipal/makefile

Finally i received the following error:
avrlib/makefile.mk:165: build/midipal/depends.mk: No such file or directory
midipal/makefile:30: build/midipal/depends.mk: No such file or directory

I thought these dependencies file should have been created by the git submodule command. Unfortunately something went wrong.

Can anybody help me with this issue?

midipal is dead after assembling

vincent — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:54:12 -0400

Dear all,

just finished assembling the midipal.
Unfortunately it shows no signs of life. LEDs dead when connecting Midi In and Out, display also dead.
I have measured 3.3 volt at the points described in the assembling instructions but this is all I can do.
Is there a step by step trouble shooting way in order to check the parts and soldering points?
I believe my soldering skills are not that bad but I have no knowlede in microelectronics, so I do not know how to find the mistake in the built.
I would be grateful if somebody could help.

LED Blank after build [DERP]

jessem — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:55:55 -0400

Just finished building my midipal kit. It looks pretty good, no shorted pins or anything obvious.

I turn it on and the LCD turns on but doesn’t display anything.

Tried holding the encoder down, and the button down for a few seconds. Nothing.

Hitting the encoder and the button randomly a few times causes the LEDs to go off on occasion.

Not sure what to do? I bought my kit at the end of april so I’m assuming the chip is programmed.

LCD (deep) fried

alessio_it2809 — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:46:05 -0400

just few seconds after connecting the 9 dc power supply(usually used for my shruthi) I had the LCD smoking. I triple checked the components and I think they’re properly soldered. the only doubt is on the IC2 at this point…can a pin short cause this? I think the midipal is gone…:~~( Olivier you have a new midipal order to fullfil:~~)

From today, MIDIpal kits to ship with pre-programmed chips

pichenettes — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:19:49 -0400

Official blurb here

I changed my mind about getting people to learn two new things at once. Bad idea. Lesson 1: Solder SMT. Lesson 2: Bootstrap a chip. I hope this is not going to piss off some of you who had to struggle with programming their MIDIpal. If this helps you feel better: re-opening those bags of parts, taking the chips out, putting them on this fiddly flashing rig, testing, and repacking everything was not a pleasant experience.

USBASP chinese cheap avrprogrammer need make ISP cable HELP!!!!!

Sur — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:48:19 -0400

hi! i buy a chinese cheap programer USBASP to flash the midipal.
Olivier tells me that a guy who recommended him this
cheap chinese programmer still in this forum...olivier says: he has built the programming cable
and will be able to help you. I REALLY HOPE ;)
the problem is that this programmer have another acronyme...
my programmer says:
1-RST TO RST
2-3V3 TO VCC
3-5V
4-TXD TO MOSI??
5-RXD TO MISO??
6-GND TO GND

DTR
DSR
RTS
CTS
SPD
SPD/
RI
DCD

is that correct TXD is MOSI and rxd is MISO? or which???
also dont know is SPD and SPD/ are the CLOCK, two speeds of the CLOCK? if yes, which i need to use?

i´m really starting with these....

THANKS A LOT FOR THE HELP!!

Bypass

bleo — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:23:02 -0400

Found myself thinking it would be useful for some sort of bypass mode for the MIDIpal. Maybe holding the encoder down for 5 seconds? Thoughts?

Didn't take me long to screw up the MIDIpal build

piscione — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:04:39 -0400

Are the components in the packages grouped according to the BOM? I think I may have mixed up the 100 resistors and the 100n capacitors. There are some components that do not have any markings on them, at least not that I have noticed.

Randy

No LEDs / No Midi Out? [RESOLVED]

Titus Raindrops — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:41:55 -0400

Midipal is completed. The firmware seems to be intact. I can access the apps. Monitor shows incoming midi data, but I’m not getting the LEDs to light and I don’t think I’m sending any midi data out.

Thoughts?

I may have the LEDs in backwards (I couldn’t see the green dots) but maybe it’s something more serious since I may have a problem with output.

How should I methodically begin to test this? Reverse an LED first?