Thomas Henry's SN76477 Super Controller Module

fonik · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 4:07 am Post subject:

just want to let you know: i am still working on it. progress is much slower than i thought...

below a preview:
[EDIT: new picture uploaded in later post]

Dan Lavin · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 5:04 am Post subject:

Fonik:

Looks good! Don't worry about the time, I'm sure all of us have plenty of projects. It's better to do it right than fast! Everytime I've designed a pcb, I gain respect for those that do it for a living.

Can you advise the board size? I'm hoping it's under 85mm wide so I can fit it flat behind a 2u rack panel. If not, I can always mount it perpendicular to the panel.

fonik · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 5:13 am Post subject:

the boards size is about 122mm x 84mm (4.8in x 3.3in).

i'd liked to have it shorter than that (about 100mm) but i did not achieved it yet. it's compact anyway but maybe i could do a little more...

i think it's small enough for even euroracks.

bambam · Joined: Feb 20, 2007 Posts: 60 Location: australia

I could definitely be up for 1 or 2 of these Wink

will you message when they are ready?

cheers
Brett

philpeery · Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 137 Location: new jersey, usa

This looks GREAT! I want 3 now instead of 2!!! Just thinking ahead for a small modular I am going to build for my nephew....

Can't WAIT!!!

bubblechamber · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject:

Looks great, thanks for all the hard work.

mark_olson · Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 177 Location: Lawrence, Kansas

I would take one of these too.

Mark

fonik · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 12:59 pm Post subject:

State Machine · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject:

Thomas Henry · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject:

Thomas Henry · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject:

Scott Stites · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:43 pm Post subject:

Hey, I resemble that remark! Very Happy

fonik · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 2:19 am Post subject:

i am not a native speaker, so could you PLEASE be so kind to explain to a german sausage from the old europe how you know from a single line that one could possibly be from kansas? does god equal good in kansas only? sorry, i am totaly lost...

sneakthief · Joined: Jul 24, 2006 Posts: 569 Location: Berlin

Mr. Henry - donuts & pcb's? Were you making a Moog Torus clone? Laughing

Fonik - the Kansas board of education has at various times insisted that creationism be taught as equally as evolutionary theory Rolling Eyes

So basically it's a joke from an innocent misspelling, unlike my horrible joke above.

In this case, the joke is that it's like being able to instantly recognize a Bavarian if they greet you by saying "Grüß Gott" heheh

State Machine · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:30 am Post subject:

Thomas wrote:

State Machine · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:32 am Post subject:

Scott Stites · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:55 am Post subject:

They had a presidential debate here recently - one of the questions asked was "Do you believe in evolution?" The implication, at least in Kansas, is that the theory of evolution is somehow more discredited by certain religious beliefs than other sciences that also suggest things such as the earth being more than six thousand years old.

It's kind of like asking "Do you believe in geology?" or "Do you believe in astronomy?". Thomas mentioned something about reading somewhere that many of the candidate's answer simply proved Darwin right...

In my high school biology class, 45 minutes out of the entire two semesters were devoted to evolution. That 45 minutes was spent discrediting evolution and techniques used to reinforce the theory, such as carbon dating. This was back in 1977-78. The superintendent of my high school was later a member of the board that enacted the creationist approach to "education" (this has since been repealed, but probably only for as long as it takes to vote the current board out - it constantly goes back and forth). Fortunately, my father was also a biology teacher who understood and believed in the principles of science. I had many heretical books to read at home. And I did.

Back to your regularly scheduled SuperController (Looking very good Fonik!!! I wanna put mine in with my SN-Voice, too).

Cheers,
Scott

v-un-v · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 11:00 am Post subject:

Dan Lavin · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 11:40 am Post subject:

Scott:

I do technical support for our company and Kansas was my territory for a number of years. When my fellow support guys or friends made fun of the fact I had to cover Kansas, I used to say, " Kansas can't be so bad. Superman came from Kansas." And they would say." Yeah, I guess you're right.........Hey! Wait a minute!!" ..when they realized Superman is fiction!!

bambam · Joined: Feb 20, 2007 Posts: 60 Location: australia

heya fonik

looks like i'll be sending you more cash! put me down for two and let me know when you have a final price etc.

woohoo now i know why i stocked up on a few sn76477's Wink

bubblechamber · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:31 am Post subject:

I've started looking around for some sn76477 chips and I was wondering if there is any interest in some sort of group buy? I've sent some requests off to parts clearing houses and I've had good luck with them in the past finding long extinct items.
I'll probably have a to order at least 25 chips, and hopefully they'll be cheaper then the $40 on Ebay right now.
I'll post prices and quantities available when I hear back on my requests.

David

sneakthief · Joined: Jul 24, 2006 Posts: 569 Location: Berlin

bubblechamber · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:17 pm Post subject:

is there a price break if we buy a lot?

Dan Lavin · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject:

Fonik:

I had a little spare time and started comparing your pcb layout to Tom's schematic in the book. It's a little difficult as your resistor and cap numbering is different, but I think I found a problem. Please examine Q7. It appears that the SN's noise output is routed into the drain of Q7 instead of the gate. I believe your layout for Q7 is 180 degrees out of alignment. If you rotate your MPF102 180 degrees, it should work with your pcb. I also checked Q6, and that one is fine. I'll continue to check when I get moments to do so and advise good, bad or otherwise as I go. Hopefully, that will get your prototype running.

Dan Lavin · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:51 pm Post subject:

Fonik:

couple more things to check out:

1. Pin 19 of the SN/U1 should be tied to +5V, but it appears to be n/c

2. check Q1. If it is pin compatible with the 2N3904 specified by Tom, it is also rotated 180 degrees from where it should be. The trace from pin 21 of the SN is attached to the collector instead of the emitter. Then again if you used a different transistor, it may have a different pinout.

3. If Q1 is indeed 180 degrees out of rotation and Q7 is also, you may want to scrutinize all your transistors (except Q6 which is fine). I've been known to make this mistake, but I'll never admit it to my co-workers!