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Circuitbenders Forum => Drum machines => Circuitbending discussion => Alesis => Topic started by: heat00hunter on October 26, 2009, 01:56:40 PM

Title: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on October 26, 2009, 01:56:40 PM
Hi every body, i'm new on this forum.
My english is so bad, dont juge this please.

I have a question about the Ltc 1799.
I have a Alesis hr-16  and i want to know if it possible to put it on this for change the pitch??

Thanks to help me

Harold
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on October 27, 2009, 01:45:08 PM
No idea?? :-\
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on October 27, 2009, 02:49:50 PM
Yes it is possible, do a search for 'alesis hr16 pitch' on google and a few videos come up with LTC1799 pitch controls. I assume its just a meatter of replacing the timing crystal, if the alesis uses one.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on October 28, 2009, 10:58:23 AM
Yes i know it's possible. I had see this vidéo and i ask to spunkytoofers for this tip. But he say this answer  is on the alesis hr-16 service manuel. I don't know where to search. I have just see on this "the clock" on the P.11 pin 37 of the DM3AG's IC. You can download it here: http://www.broke-toy.com/HR16_HR16B_D1_D2.pdf (http://www.broke-toy.com/HR16_HR16B_D1_D2.pdf)
Thanks to help me! ;)
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on October 28, 2009, 01:11:32 PM
I'm not really sure what you are asking here.

Theres instructions on fitting an LTC1799 on Get LoFi here http://www.getlofi.com/?page_id=1446 (http://www.getlofi.com/?page_id=1446)

Without a schematic or an HR16 to look at i have no idea where you would find the timing crystal if there is one. I haven't done this before but it looks like you could always just cut the trace going to pin 37 of the DM3AG and wire the LTC1799 onto that pin.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on October 28, 2009, 01:58:54 PM
I built a lot of Ltc1799 i know how it work.
But for the alesis hr i dont know how to search on the pcb  :-[ .
And if you don't have one, you can't help me...
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: electoyd on October 30, 2009, 06:52:28 PM
Hiya
there is a blue crystal on the board, it is like a blue blob with two metal legs, i think its right next to the biggest chip in there.  It kinda stands out when you look for it.  You have to remove this and take the signal lead of the oscillator and attach to the circuit board where the side of the crystal that was controlling the clock signal was (easy to find out remove a leg at a time of the crystal and if it doesnt work there is your signal)  The machine only needs a signal from one leg to work.  I hope this makes sense, i've made it so i can flip back and forward between the oscillator and crystal.  So i get normal or variable pitch.  To be honest i always leave it on normal pitch when switching on or off, because these oscillators play about with actual speed the cpu and stuff work at as well.  You cant use this pitch mod with midi.  Any questions i'll try and answer them.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on October 31, 2009, 09:55:26 AM
That would control the clock speed of the whole machine.  Slowing it down would slow the rhythm down, too.  Have a look for the clock pin on the ASIC, but be careful - the chip is very fragile.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: electoyd on October 31, 2009, 03:27:02 PM
Gordon-i stand corrected but also thanks!  the way mentioned by myself does indeed work also but as you say it does slow the whole machine workings down and i never switch the machine on when the osc is the clock and its mostly effective but does have quirks.  But you have me interested, i've noticed the big asic chip.  Would you need to bend up the clock input pin and then connect your osc output to that?  thanks-ian
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on November 12, 2009, 10:51:06 AM
I want to say thanks you, i will try it and post the picture. ;)
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on November 12, 2009, 03:45:36 PM
Well, it would be hard to bend the pin up because of the package design, but you may be able to cut the appropriate track.  I must admit I haven't really looked into it yet.

Doesn't the pitch slider in the tuning menu give you enough range? ;-)
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on November 22, 2009, 07:25:11 PM
hi i'm come back, because i dont found this bleu blob,  :(
Somebody can help me to found this on the pcb please...
My english is so bad and i see a lot of bleu blob.

(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w279/heat00hunter/DSC03868-1.jpg)

Thanks you
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on November 22, 2009, 10:03:05 PM
The blue components are capacitors, usually for decoupling the supply rails.  Other than that I'm not sure what you're asking...
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on November 22, 2009, 10:34:03 PM
electoyd say: "there is a blue crystal on the board, it is like a blue blob with two metal legs, i think its right next to the biggest chip in there"
I want just  know exactly where it is??   
For add the Lct1799 on this blue crystal !!! :P
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on November 22, 2009, 11:36:15 PM
Ceramic resonator, down beside the 80C32 CPU with two wee brown disc ceramic caps flanking it.  Can't miss it.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on January 03, 2010, 09:45:35 PM
Hi
I sell one of my Alesis Hr-16:

LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on January 04, 2010, 03:23:37 AM
Links to ebay auctions or places where you are selling circuitbent machines are not allowed, sorry.

In the forum rules it says:

* Links to ebay auctions, ebay shops or other places where you have circuitbent machines for sale are not allowed and will be removed. Links to unbent machines people might be interested in buying are fine.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: heat00hunter on January 04, 2010, 12:11:07 PM
Ok sorry guys.
Just unbent are authorize.  ;)
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on December 29, 2010, 08:44:24 PM
 I thought i'd give this a go so i just installed an LTC1799 on one of my HR16's for the first time by cutting the clock connection going to pin 37 of the ASIC and replacing it with the LTC clock. Annoyingly it won't actually pitch very low before a high frequency whine starts creeping in that changes pitch as i pitch the LTC down.

Does this always happen on HR16's or have i done this wrong somehow?
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on December 30, 2010, 12:57:51 AM
How low do you get before it starts getting in?  Is it possibly the sample clock breaking through at audio frequencies?
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on December 31, 2010, 05:06:55 AM
if i'm reading my scope correctly the whine starts when the LTC1799 is running at about 2.5mhz and gets louder and pitches down as i slow down the LTC clock.

Might the whine be happening all the time but either my speakers can't reproduce it when the LTC is running faster than 2.5mhz, or my ears just can't hear that high?
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Z3R0 on December 31, 2010, 08:23:19 AM
Happens with just about all digital drum machines i'm afraid. Keyboards too. The lower you go the worse it gets until you can't really hear the sounds anymore. One of the few i've pitched is one of the newer dd's. I can't remember which model. They have glowing rings around the drum pads. DD30 maybe.... Anyway, they don't seem to suffer from it. The samples are probably a much higher resolution or maybe the clock runs much faster than in older machines. I can't remember which of the three speed configs i had the ltc set to in the newer machine.

The tr505 does it too.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on December 31, 2010, 01:12:02 PM
hmmm, i've pitched a TR505 with an LTC before and didn't have any whine issues, but maybe i just didn't take it low enough. I've certainly never experienced noise as bad as on this Alesis.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Z3R0 on December 31, 2010, 06:21:05 PM
It's possible. I think i had the ltc set to its lowest range when i did the 505. You could pitch the drums a bit higher and way lower.. I think.....

Since i tend to lean towards trying to make anything i mod as violently noisy as possible that probably is the case.

I think on all the DD vids i've done there's a lot of it. It was initially tempting to trim the pot but then i thought why bother. It's kind of defeating the object of it all. Why prevent it making a noise that it couldn't make in the first place...

Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Circuitbenders on December 31, 2010, 07:17:18 PM
If you want to avoid the whine on a HR16 i'd recommend using a 22k Linear pot and a 4k7 resistor as a limiter . This gives you the maximum range up and down without it cracking up at the top or starting to whine at the bottom.

Having said that, i found that the whine is completely masked by playing any kind of top end stuff like the hats and it is useful to be able to pitch that low as it sounds brutally nasty.
 I think what i'll do is have two pots. The 22k for the normal 'safe' range and another 22k in series that will let me take it lower if i want but will otherwise act as a kind of limiter.
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Z3R0 on January 01, 2011, 03:01:45 AM
yeah. If i remember right i had two pots on the tr505's i did. A 100k for coarse tuning and a 10k for a signifigant sweep within whatever range it was set at.

I've got a couple more of them and a couple of 626's but have left them alone. When i do another one i want to be able to rom swap it. Which i think i could do now with the info out there but have yet to try.

Glad i bagged them when i did. Someone on ebay seems to be buying them all and putting them back up at £99.99 :/
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on January 01, 2011, 12:00:06 PM
Somewhere I've got the info on how the ROM is encoded - the address lines are scrambled up, which makes it easier to route the board but harder to brew custom ROMs ;-)
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Gordonjcp on January 01, 2011, 12:43:15 PM
100 quid for a 626?  All the more reason to crack on with an alternative then!  I'm surprised at the lack of enthusiasm here for the AVR-based sample playback stuff I've been posting about ;-)
Title: Re: LTC1799 on Alesis Hr-16
Post by: Z3R0 on January 01, 2011, 10:51:53 PM
Somewhere I've got the info on how the ROM is encoded - the address lines are scrambled up, which makes it easier to route the board but harder to brew custom ROMs ;-)

I recently stumbled upon some good 505 Rom burning info. Making a loom to do it. I think the guy doing it couldn't get two of the samples to work though. He might have got around that by now.

As for the 626 for £100... It's actually the stash of £505's that are going for that. I've no idea what they're kicking the 626 out for and don't particularly care ;)