Sod’s Law!
Something fun arrived and I can’t see my workbench for other unrelated projects and mid-propper-organizational-Shmutter
I’ve had exactly the same packaging for an SD card
Ok, I just blew my build not buy rule. In a big way.
I am ashamed.
Phew! Feels good to admit publicly.
A shriven heart now makes the mods I have planned sound less distructive.
Enjoy!
Sam @lookmumnocomputer , any advice on hanging an SX1000 safely on a wall?
I use Cat.5e cable as balanced audio and midi from my older gear. I just spent a whopping £9 on my patch panel’s new external I/O.
Once in place I’ll have 32 lines and 4 separate midi groups. Plus ethernet access to my Pi and other kit going into the new guitar rig.
Not exciting but I was just stunned this piece was so cheap and useful
Enjoy!
Can you explain a bit more what this panel is for and how you use the CAT 5e cabling?
Sure. Instead of running multiple stereo cables and midi cables to a sometime used piece of kit I use cat5e cable. Each cable has 4 twisted pairs of wire and usually I put 3 balanced female ends and a 5 pin din connector at each end to to link my studio to the synth. As I’m neither on stage or jumping about the cat5e has almost no crosstalk
By using these ethernet style ports I can patch in older equipment by simply connecting the synths audio and midi to the plugs on one end, and behind the panel I only need jacks for kit in the rack. If it’s my kit I might just add a molex connector.
A number of my projects use raspberry Pi and one section of this new panel will be Ethernet connected to my studio’s dedicated gig switch.
For me it’s just a simple way to patch and reduce cabling. I’m also going to be setting up some fx loops in the rack and some send returns on some of the sockets so I have the option to decide say, piano plugged into socket A goes through a reverb and an upright bass plugged into socket B goes through a compressor etc.
I moved last year, I’m just about to start cabling up my gear in the new space and saw an opportunity to add some more features to my set up.
Pictures in about a month.
Edit: forgot to mention that another use for this cable arrangement means I can make up a single cat5e cable to record a vocal microphone, provide individually adjustable track and monitor tracks to the singer and still have a spare pair to add a midi controller for transport controls and time code.
I love the Barton stuff.
Wow! It’s huge. Now I’m jealous.
If you haven’t a lid or a dust cover get a box and make one. Dust etc can turn the plate into a mix of hot spots and is a nightmare to clean once the dirt is baked on.
Thanks for the tip. Just recently got one too… Wouldnt have crossed my mind.
I use brake cleaner to degrease and clean the hotplate and a final wipe down with alcohol (hot degreaser smells fowl).
I also wipe both sides of the board before I populate, brake cleaner deals with flux deposits.
A clean PCB makes positioning components much easier.
Good tip!
I got me a similar device last month. Because of prior experience with electrical devices in metal cases I checked whether all metal parts (top and bottom plates and all accessible metal screws! ) were connected to earth, and most were not !
This is a safety issue, so I added wires to remedy that.
And I would encourage everyone who has a device like this to check it by measuring for continuity (do not trust on your eyes alone) between any of the metal surfaces and the earth pin of the mains connector.
My elderly but super useful hotplate is a brilliant lab tool including a mag stirrer and temp probes. I lay a milled circle of cleaned steel on top for some smd but I’m a fan of hot air now.
The actual unit is almost as old as me and has just thrown a relay so here it is in pieces for me to fix while a spark pal gives the rest of this gem a service.
It’s on my must do pile.
Two treats in the post today and I’m not sure which to be more excited about; my new oscilloscope or what I get to build with the 30 little squeaks!!!*
Have a great weekend all, I have a shelf on my bench to clear.
Enjoy!
(*technical term for the blob in a dog’s chew toy)
thats funny I have a collection of " squeaks " that I grabbed before the dogs chewed them to bits . " played " them into a mic connected to the modular it is fun .
Not quite mail, because I bought it at an @AcidSolderClub meeting…
A very useful USBPowerThingy by Timo Rozendal (timorozendal.com) that can run of any 5v USB power source, including powerbanks. Although inconveniently it uses a big USB-B connector. I did manage to find the last USB-B cable in the house so no worries. Made a tiny mod to include power leds for the + and -12v rails.
This will live on my desk to test newly soldered modules.
