Building The Appendage. Share your Experiences

[thebot]

Does anyone have an fpd file for a MOTM style panel for this they could share?

Cheers!

[wmonk]

No FPD file, but you could use my design. All MOTM spacing on this one, except that I moved the switches and the ribbon socket in line with the knobs.

Click for bigger picture.
It's not totally finished, need the switches.

Cheers,
Woody

[Satindas]

I'm at the calibration stage and it looks like I've got problems. Current mode adjustment and pressure comparator adjustment went fine; Gate led lights and goes out as it should but I've hit a wall with the Voltage mode range adjustment.... VR2 adjusts R117 to -4.75V no prob, VR3 adjusts R28 to 0.6V no prob.. TP1 however reads nothing where ever I press on the ribbon. I've tested the ribbon and it seems to be fine. Something ain't right and I'd appreciate any help. Cheers

[unterbit]

Lets drop a few more incense to burner for care our honorable seigniors,overland and overseas!!!

[Satindas]

[marvkaye]

I just about finished populating my board yesterday, what a project!!! Consumed most of the day. I'm missing one trimmer and one diode to get the PCB part completed. Can't wait to move on to the next phase. Cool stuff....

<marv>

[Satindas]

First off.. a huge thanks to Bill and Scott for an awesome piece of kit ! This thing rocks and as my final DIY project for the foreseeable future it really is the icing on the cake and everything seems to be good except for two (hopefully) minor problems. No,1, the slide voltage is not holding ie. with only the slide amount turned up, when I release pressure after a slide the voltage drops to 0V. I was suspicious the fault may be one of the LF398s but after swapping the relevant ones out the fault persists. Secondly, and this one shouldn't be too difficult to trace; the Course Offset pot currently has no effect.

I'm gonna crack on and get the course offset sussed if I can but any ideas about the Slide not holding would be most appreciated cos I honestly don't know where to look for faults

Cheers

[Satindas]

Ok so here's the "finished" article.
I got the course offset sorted no problem but I'm having trouble trcing the fault with the slide voltage not holding; again, any help or advice on this would be deserving of a pint or two of your favourite ale ! Many thanks would also be offered


Cheers

[Benjamin AM]

Hey I finally got around to building this thing. What an amazing controller! Great design and wonderful documentation. I've only been playing with it for a few days and am completely in love with the performance. It's a perfect tool someone who is looking for linear control, or at least it is for me. I want to thank Scott and Bill for making this thing come to life and making it so damn easy to construct.
There's this interview with Bob Moog(soon before he died) somewhere on the net in which he was asked what recent technological achievements with musical instruments interested him. He responded that he enjoyed some of the new and innovative controllers that were being created. Although I cannot speak for the man(the legend), I would say that the Appendage lives up to this level. Albeit an old idea ,the ribbon controller has been recreated. The Appendage offers complete flexibility, expression, and ease of use. I have been wanting controller like this for years, thank you.

[emdot_ambient]

[wmonk]

Can I replace the 1N457 with another diode?
I've a hard time finding this diode, unless I buy at Mouser or Farnell, but I'm not near ordering a huge pile of components.

[Uncle Krunkus]

[The Peasant]

I am currently building a large synthesizer controller system which will include an appendage module. There will be a number of features integrated into the appendage design, such as a quantizer and several CV processing systems. Details can be found here:

http://www.electronicpeasant.com/projects/synthbend/synthbend.html

Take care,
Doug

[The Peasant]

So what has everybody been doing with their softpots as far as protection goes? Are you using them bare with no covering at all? Or are you using some sort of plastic sheeting or other protective layer over top? Maybe something like the plastic protectors used on touch displays like on phones and computer tablets?

I'm wondering if I should bother with this or not.

Take care,
Doug

[KnobHell]

Has any one used the kurzweil ribon with the appendage?

[tojpeters]

I saw special tape in the Mc Master-Carr catalog for this purpose. I copied this from the catalog. "Super Wear-Resistant Slippery Tape
Often referred to as Rulon or bearing tape, this self-lubricating PTFE tape brings you more abrasion and wear resistance than regular PTFE tape. Use on bearing liners, chutes, and guide rails, and for applications requiring high temperatures and chemical resistance.

Tape is 0.010" thick (0.008" film with 0.002" silicone adhesive). Temperature range is -100° to 500° F. Color is red.
5-yd. Rolls
18-yd. Rolls
Wd. Roll Roll
1/2" 7800A11 $22.20 7800A21 $58.43
1" 7800A12 44.41 7800A22 116.86
2" 7800A14 88.84 7800A24 233.78
Ultra Wear-Resistant Slippery Tape
When you need excellent wear and friction properties, plus insulation and good chemical resistance, this PEEK-backed tape does the job. Use it for sliding bearing surfaces, abrasion-resistant wire wraps, and high-heat applications, as well as on hard surfaces such as steel, ceramic, and glass. Comes with a liner. Color is tan.

General purpose tape resists high humidity and chemicals. It has 0.002" thick acrylic adhesive and a temperature range of -40° to 300° F.

Clean release tape leaves behind less adhesive residue than General-Purpose tape. It has 0.002" thick silicone adhesive and a temperature range of -40° to 400° F.
General
Purpose
Clean Release

Wd. Lg.,
ft. Thick. Roll Roll
1" 9 0.004" 7263A21 $15.02 7263A81 $16.04
Catalog Page|Bookmark
Ultra Wear-Resistant Slippery Tape General Purpose, .004" Thk, 1" W X 9' Length
1 roll was added to your order 02/23/13.
Rolls
In stock
1" 9 0.007" 7263A22 25.03 7263A82 26.74
1" 9 0.012" 7263A23 38.80 7263A83 41.45
2" 1 0.004" 7263A61 4.49 7263A91 4.72
2" 1 0.007" 7263A62 7.49 7263A92 7.86
2"

[rumblin_cynth_rampo]

Has anyone got a subsitute for the 2nf +Polyprop caps C50-C52. Digikey has them marked as obsolete no longer available. Mouser, RS, and Farnells dont have a direct equivelent. The nearest I have found are either 1.8nf or 2.2nf 200v or above.

Anyone got a suggestion for a suitable alternative? Or would using one of the caps I have found be OK to use?

[wmonk]

[rumblin_cynth_rampo]

[sixbyseven]

[tillibilli]

Hey everybody,

First i'd like to say thanks a lot for this really cool project!
I just finished the appendage to use it as a controller for my eurorack and was trying to calibrate it, but ran into some problems while doing so.
I'm having troubles with point 3 in the calibration manual.
Everything works fine til step 3. 7., I get the -4.5 to -5V and also the +0.55 to 0.65 Volts.
But on TP1 I get really low values which aren't near right. When pressing the lowest point of the ribbon i get something like 0.009V and when pressing the highest point something like 0.014V.
I've already triplechecked my soldering, orientation of Diodes and IC's and everything and can't find anything wrong. Can anybody point me in the right direction as for where I should check for faults?

Oh, and I substituted the TS556 on U6 with this and a an Adapter: https://www.digikey.ch/product-detail/de/stmicroelectronics/TS556IDTTR/497-16000-1-ND/5452409
Is that alright?

I would be really thankful for some help as I already spent quite a lot of time for this and am so much looking forward to finishing it,

Till

[elmegil]

So....

I went to order a softpot a few weeks back with some other stuff, but they didn't have the 500mm that I wanted. So without really giving it much thought, I ordered the 750mm

My main question is, am I going to need to tweak the components associated with JMP1 further?

Just getting started with the build proper, have had a bunch of other projects ahead of it in the queue (mostly for other people).


Edit: looked at the data sheet, yes, 750mm has 20K resistance like the 500, and as I read some of the other threads that sounds like the answer. Should be fine....

[elmegil]

BTW what's the expected current draw on the supplies?

I have a convenient little PCB for using a meanwell NSD10-12D12 to provide bipolar 12V from a DC source (usually also 12V); it has a max of 420mA per rail. I don't think this seems like the kind of project that would need more than that, but I'd kinda like to know before I wire everything up.

[tillibilli]

Alright got the calibration sorted, switch soldered in the wrong way around ....
Here's my finished eurorack controller skiff version of it.
Also put in one long fsr under the softpot, two small fsr's and an IR sensor.
And two arduonos that read them and convert it to analog voltages.
Hope this sorts my controller needs out for quite some time.

Thanks again to the creators, it feels like an amazing instrument with so many capabilities!

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[elmegil]

So while I'm on a roll of asking questions that nobody is answering


I don't have a TS556.... I do have several NE556 chips.

Any hard reason the TS is required?