Practical Usage

Category: Arduino

  • PU-2: A batch of Beta

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    rt
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    I’m getting comfortable making the PCBs for the PU-2. This is what a batch of 5 boards looks like, fresh out of the etching tank. I still have to drill the 800-plus holes and solder everything… patience… This is what 10 Arduino Mega boards look like: The main components for the Beta. I now use…

  • PU-2: Meet Beta!

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    rt
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    The PU-2 made it to Beta. As you can see in the picture above, the PU-2 is an external module, linked to a connecting board inside the Behringer FCB1010 with a flat cable. The reason for the external module  is that I wanted Beta testers to feel totally safe about their FCB1010. Since the current…

  • Making my own PCB: An exercise in frustration

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    rt
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    I decided a few weeks ago that I would make my own circuit boards (PCB) for a while. At least for the first Beta. I succeeded, but the time and money invested make it a very “not profitable” adventure. I had to deal with nasty chemicals, capricious sensitized copper coated boards, unfriendly software and a…

  • PU-2: Additional functions

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    I’m getting a lot of feedback from musicians who follow the development of the PU-2 pedal board. A lot has to do with demands for more details on existing functions, but some people ask for functions that the PU-2 doesn’t offer… yet! So far, two new functions have been prompted by public demand. The first…

  • PU-2: Version 0.093 – ALPHA is ready

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    rt
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    Phew! The hardware is now ready to be converted for Beta. This means that Beta testers will have a unit within a week or two. The hard part was the programming. I had to freeze the specifications and develop Alpha code. Here are the specs for Alpha: Hardware Based on standard Behringer FCB1010 pedal board…

  • Side Project: Data Stucture – Application

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    If you were patient enough and read through the two previous posts on this subject, you might be wondering how this applies to the PU-2 pedal board in practice. Even if you were not patient enough, here’s how the data structure will be used: The data structure was developed to provide a very simple programming…

  • Side project: Data Stucture – continued

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    rt
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    In a previous post, I defined a simple date structure to help in the transfer of the commands sent to/from a pedal board. In this post, I will complete the definition of the data structure and define the physical layer supporting the structure. Understanding MIDI “What MIDI Is (from midi.org) MIDI, which stands for “Musical…

  • Side Project: Defining a Data Structure

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    This is a very long, wordy post. It is that way because it starts with a wordy description of terms. But the goal of the post is to present a simple data structure to define timing, effects and switches that can be used by musicians and equipment to program command streams to send to equipment.…

  • EM-1: The microcontroller/programming part

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    rt
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    This is the actual electronics for this project: Here’s the theory. The idea is  that you first need a reference voltage to compare your sensor readings to. The voltage at the street varies a bit, and the voltage inside a building varies a bit more, depending on demand and other factors. In our case, the…

  • EM-1: New project – Energy Monitor

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    rt
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    While prototyping the PU-2 and testing a lot of new components to reduce cost and increase performance, I decided to allocate some surplus equipment to a new project: the Energy Monitor. Basically, the project uses an Arduino (of course) linked to sensors placed in the main breaker box in the basement at the office. The…