MB-6582 – DIY C64 based Midi synth

posted May 23rd 2007 11:08pm by Will O'Brien
filed under: misc hacks

MB-6582 by [wilba]
It’s been a while since we’ve seen one of these. [vscd] sent in the flikr stream showing off the gorgeous MB-6582, built by [wilba]. It’s a diy midi synth that’s based on the midibox platform. It uses … synth chips to do the dirty work, and some PICs, a little CMOS hardware and a C64 PSU. He even anticipated some future versions of the midibox project to complete the design. This is one of the nicest DIY builds I’ve seen in a while – just beautiful work. Check out the build notes on the wiki page.

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Comments [10]

Reader Comments

Very cool, and clean. I recognize the case as the same one used for the x0xb0x http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/, but I like this style better.

I’d totally buy a kit for this if he were to offer one…

Posted at 11:54 pm on May 23rd, 2007 by Tom

Very nice! I think this is a great example of synths getting cheaper and cheaper to build oneself, and not costing an arm and a leg .. hope this has an impact elsewhere in the synth world!

Posted at 12:42 am on May 24th, 2007 by Jay Vaughan

Damn! That is some fine handywork. I would love to know how it sounds…

Posted at 3:50 am on May 24th, 2007 by Rogier

Parts of the midbox platform are available as kits. for instance, the core module, the digitial input module, the digital out module, the analog input module, and the sid boards are all available as kits. You design and build your own face. Using multiple sid chips, the midibox sid has sounds that you cant find on any other sid based synth.

Posted at 7:31 am on May 24th, 2007 by MRE

I love the elegance of the case/front arrangement!

Posted at 8:10 am on May 24th, 2007 by Pedro

Thanks for the compliments! It is an honour to find my little box appear on Hack a Day!

Unfortunately, I cannot turn this into a kit, but I will be making the PCBs (and front panel design) available for sale to MIDIbox enthusiasts who can build it themselves. If you’re interested, join the MIDIbox community and follow this thread:

http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9238

Posted at 8:41 am on May 24th, 2007 by Wilba

Where do you get the “infamous Waldorf knob” ? Google just is NOT helping me on this one…

Posted at 9:19 am on May 24th, 2007 by akmixdown

(hacking with the stars)

That is so well executed and clean that we could all get a tan by basking in it’s glowy radiance.

TEN!!

Posted at 9:51 am on May 24th, 2007 by strider_mt2k

Awesome project – really pushes the envelope of DIY.

* 4 Stereo SID modules (8x SID chips)

Wow. Now I know that the SID isn’t exactly an endagered species, but you can’t just run down to radio shack to pick these up. How did he manage to find eight of them ? Anyone have any tips on how to recover chips like this?

Posted at 10:21 am on May 24th, 2007 by pragma

There’s no point posting questions here, if you want answers, head over to the MIDIbox forum, read what I’ve written or post your own questions.

http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9175
http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9238

Posted at 11:19 am on May 24th, 2007 by Wilba