Correction: I'm *not* making TR-808 Voice Boards...

[jaidee]

Doug wrote:

P.S. Infindebula, I have placed the order for the production boards... [/quote]

Have the boards arrived yet???

[infindebula]

Yep ... it's been over a month since that announcement, and eight-oh-eight.com was last updated July 17. It's time for an update, Dougster. If you don't have boards yet, when do you expect them?

Thanks

[bubzy]

Patience is a virtue...

[krisp14u]

[infindebula]

The eight-oh-eight.org site was updated since my last post. In a nutshell: PCBs are expected "any day", and he will be away next week.

Thanks, Doug.

[rosch]

Doug,
since 1 or 2 people backed off the list, is there a chance to get on it still (or again?)

[Romplex]

Hi,im new to this forum, i was sent here by a friend who showed me the mb 808 and im interested in getting on the waiting list for 1.

Is there still some left over from the third batch? or are they all taken?

[HexInverter]

[infindebula]

Oops! In my last message I accidentally referred to the web site as a .com, when in fact it is http://eight-oh-eight.org.

BTW it's been a month since anybody has heard anything from Dougster, when he updated the site to say that PCBs are expected "any day".

In the absence of an update, I can only presume that now he's home from his recent business trip, with a cardboard box that still smells like China sitting on his kitchen table, full of big shiny boards. With a little luck, the only dilemma remaining in the project known as "MB-808 Batch 3" is whether he should spend this beautiful evening assembling kits, or drafting an email requesting the final $200 balance.

[Spotta]

My vote goes for assembling kits, then sending us our email
What say ye Doug?

[effegee]

[andrewF]

[Spotta]

Any news? Nearly 2 months since the last update on eight-oh-eight.org. I'm guessing the 'Shipping Guy' didn't live up to his name.

Getting my soldering iron warmed up, can't be too much longer can it, that's everything in now and Doug back from his latest trip a few days ago.....

[infindebula]

I'm trying HARD not to be that guy who gets all angry because it's been years, blah blah blah... then get my deposit refunded only to see kits start shipping a week later.

I could deal with delays for any reason at all. I would even sit back comfortably and wait if he posted "sorry guys I haven't actually done anything for the past two years because I've been distracted, but I'll get on it one of these days."

It was because of this very lack of communication that over two years ago I did a big parts order and bought all the ICs and passives I would need for this project, not realizing that he didn't even have a layout that was ready to go.

I used to talk to Doug rather frequently back when he was on the MIDIbox forum, and always believed he was a stand-up guy. But if I was out on a long business trip like this and returned, my very first priority would be to update the web page, even if just to say "sorry guys, I'll report back in a couple of days when I get over my jet lag" or whatever.

For that matter, Doug by his own accounts has been carrying around a (presumably) modern smartphone that really should give him internet access, to some extent, just about anywhere. I am curious where a person could go "on business" for 3 weeks without cellular coverage.

So I am really torn here. I am starting to suspect that there may be more to these delays than what Doug has told us, and I may never see this kit. I hate to hear myself say that because from what I know I really like Doug, but at least if the kit will never come I might be able to get my hundred bucks back now.

Nobody but Doug knows how many people bought into this. 25? 100? 200? 500? In any case multiply it by $100 to see that he's sitting on a lot of money that isn't his, and despite the delays, he is being absolutely disrespectful to a very patient group of builders that just wants to know what the hell is going on.

For that matter, if the PCB is such a problem, why not take a consensus from the group, who have been forced to wait for years in the face of woefully inadequate communication, to see who would like to simply get another run of the "batch 2" boards made? I know I would gladly accept batch 2 boards if it meant I could finally put this project to rest.

I have one more thing to say: I'm going to guess that since Doug took my money, updates have appeared on eight-oh-eight.org once every 6 weeks or so, on average. Maybe Doug doesn't realize that I have reloaded that page almost every day since I put in my money, believing I was going to see good news. The ratio of his effort to my disappointment is starting to wear on me.

Doug please respond. I want to believe.

[effegee]

[andrewF]

[Dougster]

Wowsers, didn't realize it had been so long since I posted here...

My priority has been to put updates on the web page, not to post to any particular forum, partly because I don't know where everybody hangs out, and partly because I'm trying to stay focused and keep it simple so that everybody has only one place to look. I know people hate me because I don't cruise all the forums, but sorry, I just don't have the time. (I'm posting here because I joined the E-M chat room and was reminded of this thread...)

Final deadline:
I'm committing to finishing up everything by the end of the year. That means that I am going to close the list for the last batch on December 31, 2012.

Current batch:
At the moment, I'm trying to catch up on emails, then I will double check all my parts to make sure I have everything (Note: I think I already have everything, but I want to make sure), and after that I'll start sending out messages to everybody on the order list to finalize details like shipping address and cost. I plan to be completely done with batch three before I start dealing with batch four.

Last batch. (Batch four.)
On January 1, 2013, I will send out an email to everybody on the waiting list for batch four, the last batch, then give everybody until January 14 to reply to me to confirm that they are still interested. I plan to only make enough circuit boards to cover everybody who is on the list by January 1 and who replies to me by January 14. On January 15, I will place the order for circuit boards. As soon as the boards arrive, I will send out invoices, and you'll have two weeks from that day to confirm and pay. After the two weeks, all outstanding invoices will be cancelled and any remaining boards will be available on a first-come-first-served basis. When they are gone, I plan to have a private ceremony at my house where I will delete all the Gerbers and Eagle files associated with this project.

Hopefully that means everything will be completely wrapped up and done by the end of February, 2013. Good luck to all of us.

Regards,
Doug

P.S. I don't remember what my last update was about the original topic of this thread, but at this point, I have cancelled all plans to make any 808 voice cards.

[effegee]

[Dougster]

[bubzy]

good for you doug!

3 cheers for freedom!

[infindebula]

Please Doug, even if something is missing, I would be perfectly willing to source it (or kludge it) myself. Maybe somebody would even run a bulk order just for that part.

[Dougster]

There are two obvious things that could be bulk orders, the LCD and the case. (Well, I suppose you could also do a bulk order for the Mouser parts list too if someone wanted to count that many parts...)

The LCD is more than $30 for one, but just a bit over fifteen bucks each in quantity of 20. However, the last I checked, there was a long lead time to get them, that's why I'm not including them in the kit. Once I get all the third batch kits out the door and get an idea of how many people really want kits in the fourth batch, I might be able to run a bulk order for the LCD. If I could get a total of 100 orders with both batches, the displays would be just over $12 each. I'm not possessive about this, if someone else has twelve hundred bucks lying about and they want to run a bulk order for these things, that's fine by me.

There are a couple possibilities for the case. The most common option up until now has been one of the Hammond cases, machined by Front Panel Express/Schaeffer and with a printed label. I haven't priced them recently myself, but I think the cases were about $40 and the machining was about $100. I don't know how much the labels were. Another good possibility would be to have Julian http://www.thebeast.co.uk/cnc/index.html over in the UK do the machining. I've already mentioned it to him and I think he is interested...

Regards,
Doug

[effegee]

Regarding the LCD, I read in the MIDIbox forum about someone using a different one (orange backlight) that he got from eBay for $6.99 USD:

http://midibox.org/forums/topic/15889-mb-808-first-test/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/16x2-LCD-Orange-Characters-Black-backlight-HD44780-New-/120748772099?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1d300b03

He did say, however:
"my lcd was a bit too large and I actually CUT THE MB-808 PCB for it to fit"

So it's certainly not for the faint of heart.

[Dougster]

On the revision one and two boards, there was no specific cutout for an LCD. There is an area on the right with optional mounting points for potentiometers for mods, and that is where we usually put the display.

On the newer boards I completely redid the layout and there is a rectangular cutout for the display along with four holes for mounting screws. Things are pretty tight, so there really isn't room to enlarge the cutout on the new boards. The way to use a larger display will be to mount the display on top of the board, not through it. It will stick up out of the case a bit further, but some people like that...

Regards,
Doug

EDIT: Here's a diagram to hopefully show what I'm talking about:

[djs]

Hi Doug- any luck getting the forum back online? I'm guessing not..

Also- did the pcbs arrive for batch 3? Given your comments above, I would assume so, but just checking. If so, did they build ok?

thanks for your work on this!