Circuitbenders Forum
Circuitbenders Forum => Drum machines => Circuitbending discussion => Roland & Boss => Topic started by: DenDer on November 27, 2008, 08:01:19 AM
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So it's time to present my next project, namely modifying and midifying my Boss Dr55. It isn't quite finished yet but i really want to show it ;) As you can see in the pics i managed to get 10 pots :o on this little drum machine. Which include new modifications that i haven't seen yet on the net.
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/DR55MODIFIED2008_1124011.jpg)
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/DR55MODIFIED2008_1124002.jpg)
From left to right:
-Full Accent
-BassDrum Decay
-BassDrum Pitch (new)
-Noise Level
-Rimshot Pitch (new)
-Rimshot Resonance (new)
-SnareDrum Pitch (new)
-HiHat Pitch (new)
-HiHat Level (new)
-HiHat Decay (new)
So that is total control over all the sounds... 8)
On the back side you will find midi in and out and a switch for the direction of the midi (which is still a hole as you can see).....the normal CSQ, footswitch, three trigger inputs for BD, SD and RS and audio out offcourse. I'm also going to make an adaptor connection for it which is quite easy to do....the midi kit is already soldered just needs to be placed in but that ain't the biggest hustle..i'm also going to make individual outs on my Black Beauty :)
On this site http://www.synthforum.nl/forums/showthread.php?t=104131 you can find two pieces of audio with a total length of 15 minutes...in the second part i'm putting the DR55 through a modified Boss SD-1 with Monte Allums GT-1 mods for that killer 808 bass sound.....
If you want your DR55 modified like mine just PM me or mail me at dender at acidcult dot nl
Time for some more pictures.....
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/DR55MODIFIED2008_1124004.jpg)
Sitting nicely on top of my JX3P showing the back side....
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/DR55MODIFIED2008_1124008.jpg)
Great pic of the knobs with Sylvester in da background.
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/DR55MODIFIED2008_1124009.jpg)
Cats don't care about drummachines...
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/DR55MODIFIED2008_1124010.jpg)
Damn straight if you ask me.....
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I'm actually pretty proud of this one.. ;D
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Looks good. Haven't listened yet because I've got my mixer and speakers unplugged, but I will do later ;-)
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hmmm, i modded one of these a while back and at the time i remember thinking that most of the possible mods couldn't be made to tweak the parameters widely enough and didn't really make enough difference to be worth the effort of installing them, at least the guy i was modding it for didnt think so and to be honest i'm inclined to agree. :-\
I think in the end i only added a couple of bass drum mods and some fill generator buttons and left it at that.
I'm liking the recasing and overall look of your machine though :)
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looks and sounds impressive.
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hmmm, i modded one of these a while back and at the time i remember thinking that most of the possible mods couldn't be made to tweak the parameters widely enough and didn't really make enough difference to be worth the effort of installing them, at least the guy i was modding it for didnt think so and to be honest i'm inclined to agree. :-\
I think in the end i only added a couple of bass drum mods and some fill generator buttons and left it at that.
I'm liking the recasing and overall look of your machine though :)
Are you regretting it now? This little machine has some tricks up its sleeve.....I think it has become a killer drum machine now....i think the BD of the modded DR sounds better than a modded 606 BD....i'm repairing a modded 606 as we speak so i have some reverence.....especially when the DR goes through a modded DS-1.......unk unk unk
When i started reconstructing it i didn't want to demolish the original case. So what i did was just saw out 2 lines where the DR case snugged in. Then i dropped the pcb a couple of millimeters with some washers so now the write button is almost equally high as the surface which is nice.....i still have to finish the bottom though. Got another battery holder where the baterries are two inline so you can change the batteries from the outside. When that is done i'll post some pics of that to. But thanks again for the compliment ;)
@ sensor thanks man!!!
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..i think the BD of the modded DR sounds better than a modded 606 BD....i'm repairing a modded 606 as we speak so i have some reverence....
hey, thats what i was thinking ! i have here the (unmodded) 606 from a friend, but in my taste the dr55 sounds better...
of course it is much less sophisticated, can't program the hats etc, but somehow it's got more "groove" or something
sometimes i regret that i got rid of it... exchanged it for a emu procussion... and then exchanged that for an R8 with 2 cards
hmm not to bad deal anyway, since i only payed 15 guilders for the dr55 :)
but anyway, i think we can state savely that you have now the most wicked dr55 on the planet ;)
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Awww, cute cat.
..oh, and nice machine as well :)
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can't program the hats etc
This isn't a problem, though, once you've got it midi'd - you just sequence everything externally.
The kick sounds just like my highly modded TR33 kick, which i did the same mods to. Can you adjust the decay on your sounds so much that they feedback? They do on the TR33 hehe!!
Cheers, Graham
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Well Graham that ain't quite true....it's only midi synced but that's more then enough for me since i won't be using the hats a lot since i also own a 606 and a Dr110 which have really nice hats....and for the acidtechno that i make i don't care about the hats of the Dr55.
But...but.maybe it's possible to swap the datalines of the rimshot with the hats.....maybe some one else can shine his light on this.....
And i saw your thread about the the TR33 i'm looking for one to now....really nice work you did on that one ;)
@Kick my cat is already spoken for by his cute girlie cat Miep so you better watch out she is the jealous kind ;D
but thnx dude!
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Why can't you program the hihats? Just trigger them like the others. IIRC in the DR55 they're triggered by the output of a divider from the tempo clock so you get a steady "tick tick tick tick" on quavers.
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Why can't you program the hihats? Just trigger them like the others. IIRC in the DR55 they're triggered by the output of a divider from the tempo clock so you get a steady "tick tick tick tick" on quavers.
Hi Gordon,
What we mean is you can't program the hats in the Dr55 sequencer as a stand alone machine. They are fixed hihats.
Strangly enough it is possible in the SoundMaster SR88 which i also have but is dead at the moment. I blew out a diode somewhere. I modded that one about 2 years ago but didn't have the experience that i have now. ;) I'll revive it some day if i can find the time. Been so busy with DIY synths and compressors and i also have to make music with these machines so the priority isn't that high. But where do you suggest to trigger the hats?
btw there is some new audio on the link in my first message. The Dr goes through a Boss DS-1 Keeley ASE and Ultra Mod. Man this is really the poor mans 909. ;D
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I'm really starting to like this forum ;D
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But where do you suggest to trigger the hats?
Have a look at the circuit diagram available on the 'net - at the bottom left you can see the hihat "16/8/off" switch. In the diagram a line has been drawn in showing a connection between RS and HH "off" so that when it's set to off it is actually triggered by the rimshot pulses ;-)
basically you'd add the trigger pulses in there, or add another diode and capacitor to the trigger circuit in the bottom right.
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I have the circuits......couldn't have modified the Dr without them. ;D
In the diagram a line has been drawn in showing a connection between RS and HH "off" so that when it's set to off it is actually triggered by the rimshot pulses
I can't see what you mean...in the schems that i have there is no line coming from or going to the "off" point of S4.
There are lines coming from pin 10 & 11 of IC2 (counter) to S4, 16 / 8 but nothing to "off"...
Damn i was looking at the schems not the diagram...stupid. There is indeed a line there but where in the schems can i find that?
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btw, in my dr55 mod, it is at least possible to vary the hihats in a fixed way,
i even found a "crash", only with some shortcuts.
but i didn't dig to deep, as there wasn't enough space anyway (i wanted to keep all mods in the original box)
but who knows what's possible if you invest that area..
http://www.esnips.com/doc/ef5c3d3a-1689-40d2-903f-cabd99760101/dr-55-fills--breaks-control
hey, but it will rock sweet along with the jx3p i guess.. nice basic acid combination :)
sometimes i miss my jx3p to :'(
;D
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http://fa.utfs.org/diy/boss_dr55/dr55_schematic.jpg
The line is drawn in pencil. On the web page this comes from it says that it was a mod that the author had made.
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Thanks for the link Gordon. Although i don't quite understand how to connect it. The hot tab (tip) goes to the off point and the ring to ground or what?
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For an external trigger? Yes, that sounds about right. It looks like it wants a positive-going edge to trigger the hihats.
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Yeah should be something like 5V.....the other triggers react on my 606 triggers so that could be right.
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Okay guys i'm busy putting in the external triggers for the sounds.....one question though....
The triggers come from pins 12, 14, 16 for RS, SD and BD. But if i hook this up to a jack connection should it be a switching jack?
And for individual outs i checked the schematic........is BD after C26 and SD after C18 and RS after C25???
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You could use a jack with a break contact, or you could duplicate the trigger circuitry for that particular voice. For instance, for the snare drum you could add an extra 470K resistor joined to the junction of R30 and R28, and an extra diode joined to the junction of D3 and R32.
Separate outs may be tricky - you might have noticed that there are two "busses" that form the output, one passing through the accent circuit and one passing directly to the volume control. The BD output is easy - take another capacitor off the collector of Q1, and perhaps build a little buffer circuit for the socket. The RS output would come off the collector of Q6 and would be best with some sort of buffer too. Neither of these will have the accent applied to them - they'll be full volume all the time.
The snare and hihat outputs present a problem, because they feed an output through the accent bit and straight to the volume control, and in the case of the snare you've got both the "skin" oscillator and the noise burst. You'd need to work out the right proportions to mix them in, with a bit of experimentation.
I think I'll get some veroboard and start building a DR55 clone ;-)
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Okee will try the switching jack variant ;) i will add a diode though...
But if and only if you decide to build a Dr55 clone maybe its a good idea to make an accent part per voice ....do you think this is possible? Then you would have individual outs with accent and maybe with a volume control per voice. That would really be cool although i don't know if Q3 = 2SK30A (y) is easy to find for that matter.......
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Not many of the parts are critical ;-) I reckon you could use just about any small-signal n-channel FET in there. I'd probably use a 2N3819 which is actually an RF part, because I've got loads of them.
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But Gordon are you serious about building a Dr55 clone? If yes let's do it together.....i'm making a BOM list as we speak only have to identify some of the Q's....but this ain't aproblem. I'm getting a Dr55 this afternoon that i'm going to modify for a guy so i won't have to open mine again. ;)
And are you a good pcb designer? Maybe we can make a batch or so.
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Okay a terrible thing just happened...no more sound out of the Dr55. I tried to put in the midi kit and after soldering it kept on firing the first step. I took the whole kit out and the clock is working fine but no sounds whatsoever..
HELP!!!!!
I think it killed I killed the memory chip. When i put it in write mode i can hear voices being fired but nothing is memorized. Damn i'm pretty down now. Does anyone have such a chip?
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Well it's possible the memory chip is borked.
Things to check:
The address lines are "counting up" with the clock running
CE2 is pulsing
RD/-WR is high, pulsing low when recording a step
the DI and DO lines are connected together, as per the circuit diagram.
If not, it's possible you can find an equivalent memory chip. You could bodge just about anything CMOS in there, as long as you've got the physical space to do so.
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I just ordered one from Vintage Planet. They got them on stock. Will report again when the chip arrives and put in.
The strange thing is when i programm like the accent and play it back i only get noise for that pattern.
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For instance: i program a BD. When I push start i can hear the BD but nothing in playback. Also the hats aren't working no more so its got to be the 5501.
The adress lines are not counting.
CE2 is not pulsing.
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Hrm, shouldn't the hats tick all the time that the clock is running? Unless there's something drastically wrong with the memory chip, it won't stop the counters counting.
It wouldn't hurt to have a spare memory chip, but I don't think that's the problem.
Measure pin 9 of IC and check that it toggles when you press start and stop.
Check for pulses at pin 11 when the pattern is started - in PLAY this is sent to the hihat "16" setting.
If you're not getting that, the oscillator isn't running for some reason.
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I had the same problem with a DR55 i got hold of a while back, but it worked fine if i inserted a jack into the footswitch socket and held down the play button. :-\
If i recall correctly i just replaced IC3 which appears to be a CD4011 according to that schematic.
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yeah, i think what Crusty Paul says.. maybe check the foot socced, clean it etc
good luck Dender.. very bad news :'(
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good luck Dender.. very bad news Cry
Nah, not really. If it's totally borked, he can rip out the memory chip and wire some sort of microcontroller in to replace it. A wee bit of clever firmware, and you've got a MIDIed-up DR55 with some clever tricks up its sleeve (like programmable hihats)...
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First of all there is nothing wrong with the footswitch. Haven't got any problems with it. I think it is what Gordon says.....CE2 is not pulsing so the memory chip isn't firing. It's strange though that the led is running
Hrm, shouldn't the hats tick all the time that the clock is running? Unless there's something drastically wrong with the memory chip, it won't stop the counters counting.
It wouldn't hurt to have a spare memory chip, but I don't think that's the problem.
Measure pin 9 of IC and check that it toggles when you press start and stop.
Check for pulses at pin 11 when the pattern is started - in PLAY this is sent to the hihat "16" setting.
If you're not getting that, the oscillator isn't running for some reason.
So you think it's maybe the 4011UB, Gordon? Yesterday i got the replacemnt memory chip from Vintage Planet which i just picked up at his home (really friendly guy Senso )
He didn't got the 4011UB otherwise i would have picked that one up at the same time.
It's early in the morning over here so first my coffee and then i will measure the pins you suggested.
Ps which IC do you mean in the quote? the 4011 right?
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Yes, on the 4011.
Hang on, the LED pulses? What, normally, at the start of every bar, so it's pulsing all the time you've got the drum machine running and stops when you hit stop?
I'm not sure how that would happen. The LED is driven by Q13 and Q14. Now R96 pulls up the base of Q13, turning the LED on all the time. When Q14 has its base turned on, it clamps Q13's base to ground turning the LED off.
So how do we get it to flash at the start of every bar? Pin 10 of the 4011 goes low during a "step". This feeds through R73 and R74 to the base of Q14. The outputs of the address counter are also fed there through R69-R72. So, if any of those inputs is high, Q14 is turned on and turns off the LED. Only when the clock is low during a "step" and we're at the first step are all the inputs off. It's a crude 4-input NOR gate ;-)
If the LED flashes normally - one little blink at the start of every bar, the counter *must* be running. The thing is, CE2 is wired to the same clock output that clocks the counter and drives the hihat 16ths - follow the trace around from the REC/PLAY switch. If the clock is working, it's in play mode and the hihats are set to 16ths, you should hear that even if the memory and counter are hosed. As a quick check, you could tack a wire from pin 11 of the 4011 to the wiper of the hihat switch and leave it switched OFF, just to discount dodgy switch contacts.
HTH,
Gordon
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Mayor cool update ITS WORKING AGAIN.
I've been a big big big big big ssssss........i'm almost ashamed to tell what it was...........so i won't....or maybe if you persist i will tell.......all sounds are back..........
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btw thanks to you all for thinking with me especially you Gordon.........big round of applausse from my side.
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Go on, what was it then? Stray solder splat? Sticky switch? Sheer stupidity?
Do tell...
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Okee but please don't shoot me...i feel dumb as it is. ::)
Anyways to install the midi sync you have to remove the jumper between the start and stop button. So i did...but i soldered one wire to one of the holes and the other to cap thats above it......so when the kit didn't work i took it out but resoldered the jumper at the same place. So the clock wasn't connected anymore to the voice side.....
SO SHEER STUPIDITY ON MY BEHALVE.
This morning i got up and checked everything 20 times till i came to that conclusion.
I'm just glad it's working again so now i'll give it another go with the midi sync......
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Ho ho ho. I've *never* done anything like that... ;-)
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I don't know did you?????? ;D
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</sarcasm>
(offtopic rambling tale warning)
Just a couple of days ago, changing the fan belts in my car - put the big belt on (the one that drives the water pump and alternator), tightened it up, lovely, no squeaking. Took the small belt off (drives the hydraulic pump). Rain came on, put the tools away and shut the bonnet, went inside.
Fell asleep.
Woke up had dinner, met some friends in town (took the train), came back, bed.
Got up, bit late, OH NOES meeting people in town in half an hour!
Jumped in the car, started up, "Hmm nice and quiet since I did those belts... <waits>Odd, the hydraulic light's usually out by now <revs it up> Really is nice and quiet, isn't it? Wonder why the light's still on? <spots the new belt sitting on the passenger seat>Oh cock."
Run for the train, again...
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Why is my karma gone.........made 1 little mistake........and fixed it.........never mind anyways.
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here you have a new karma ;)
hee but congratulations you found the problem !
btw; NEVER put recharchable batteries in your dr55
mine nearly died from that..but the reason i don't know
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Hmm, normal rechargeables are only 1.2V, perhaps it had too low a supply voltage and didn't run properly?
What was the actual problem you had?
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here you have a new karma ;)
hee but congratulations you found the problem !
btw; NEVER put recharchable batteries in your dr55
mine nearly died from that..but the reason i don't know
Thnx David ;D
But why is that with rechargeable batteries? BTW i only use normal penlites in my Dr55.
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cannot tell you... i tried it once with regular nicad penlites, it worked fine for 20 minutes, then it started to distord
and stopped. i feld it got very warm, checked the batterys, and saw that the whole batterycompartiment melted
away, also the nicads half melted... later, with a new compartment and alkaline penlites it worked again.. pfew!
maybe someone else knows the reason for this ? better not try it ;D
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Bizarre. Possibly one of the nicads was faulty or incorrectly fitted, but I can't see any other reason why it would do that. You didn't have a power supply connected at the same time, did you?
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yeah bizarre, no adapter connected, and the polarity was good, it worked for 20 minutes.
i tought first, 4 nicads can only deliver 4.8 volts instead of 6, but on the other hand, old alkalines don't
deliver 6 v either... i guess i will never know what happened
but sometimes small machines have an explicit warning not to use them with rechargable batteries,
maybe thats what happens then
anyway, the dr55 uses extremely little power( as long as you take out the jack when not in use)
so it run long long time on 4 penlites
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That's strange if i put in 4 alkaline batteries i get somewhere between 6V and 6.14V.......
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that's normal voltage for 4 fresh penlites
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Maybe that was the problem with the rechargeable ones. That the mA was to high so the Dr55 couldn't get rid of it and burned your battery holder.....just a thought........
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mja.. who knows. but it was a scary moment, alone with the dr in the dark :o
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So i made a little schem of the midi sync on vero board.
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/MidiSyncDr55onveroboard.jpg)
Actually IC 2 can move one hole to the right to give room for the resistor thats in the STOP line to the DR55 but keep in mind that everything on the right of IC 2 has to move one hole to the right to.
In the normal schematics, from Ben Riggs, he uses an onboard DPDT switch but i substituted it with an out board DPST switch for easy switching of the midi direction (send or receive).
At the moment i'm modifying another DR55 for a client so i'll post some pics of how i made the case and some pics of the midi sync board.
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I discovered a strange mistake in the PCB foil prints of the DR55. I wanted to apply the HH mod, so connecting the RS triggerline to the "off" point of the HH switch. As you can see in the picture, which i cut out of the PCB foil schem, there are 3 points on this switch. Namely "off", 1/8, 1/16. The most right points are for the 1/16 and the two solderpoints of the switch are connected underneath the switch. The same counts for the 1/8 solder points. But strangly enough for the "off" solder points they are not connected on the PCB foil schem but they are on the real PCB.
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It's probably just a slightly different version of the PCB. The switch is double-pole, so in this case it doesn't really matter if the pins are wired in pairs because we're only using one pole.
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That was what i was thinking to but i thought i'll shared it anyways just to avoid some confusion for others. I've got my own Dr55 which is the same as the one i'm modding for someone. Another difference between the two Dr's that i have here is that mine has solid green caps and the other has slightly transparent ones......
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As promised a pic of the midi sync on veroboard and a pic of the case in progress....
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/GSSL2008_1220002.jpg)
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/GSSL2008_1220003.jpg)
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/GSSL2008_1220006.jpg)
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z35/denderdj/GSSL2008_1220007.jpg)
btw people keep on contacting me about the schems...please go to my webpage for further info.
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So a little update on the midi kit struggle that i'm having.....when i installed the kit the midi part wouldn't work....i've mailed my sss of with Ben Riggs and he helped me in every way that he could but my kit kept on firing the 1st step......that was no good....
So i contacted the guy who burned my pics again and he build the kit on some breadboard and hung a scope on it. But the pic wasn't transferring midi to pulses so something was wrong with the pic. That was for me a great relieve since i had gone over my vero a million times but i couldn't find a mistake. I even asked someone else to check my work and he couldn't find a mistake either. Comparing my vero with the schems.
So what's the problem. Pic 12F629 and 12F675 have an internal clock. And if you burn the pics, the burner erases the pics first, before he burned the hex into them. But with this erasing the internal clock is also erased, therefor he couldn't make anything out of the midi commando's he was receiving. So all the pics now need some new callibration.....
I'm just very happy that we found the problem.
So if you're going to burn the hex into the pic just don't erase it first, that will keep on the callibration of the clock inside the pic......on this site there is some more info on this subject.
http://picprojects.org.uk/projects/recal/index.htm