x0xb0x SS#01:Sequencer Part 3

The LEDs.

If there's any advice I could give to anyone out there who's about to embark on this step it is the following:

- Install your standoffs, washers, etc., first.
- Set up and just drop in your LEDs onto the board. Do not solder them in yet.
- Set up your top panel so that the height has been correctly set.
- Place easy to remove tape on top of the overlay panel LED holes.
- Set up each LED into their respective holes. Lightly stick them to the tape.
- Solder away!
- Remove the tape.

I suppose if you have the kit's LEDs or your own rounded LEDs this step may be relatively easy. Using flat LEDs is a whole other matter though. It just takes some patience and in my case, a few mistakes to get this right.

Regarding the standoffs:
It seems obvious now but no one wrote it down before so I'll do it now. The two standoff heights you're likely buying are 10mm and 15mm. The 10mm standoffs are used on the four outer corners. The 15mm standoffs are used in the center holes of the board. This prevents the pcb from bowing and keeps the height consistent! Obvious, I know!

Once I had the LEDs locked in I fired it up and .... NOTHING.

x0xb0x SS#01:Sequencer Part 2

I finally got my hands on the missing 16 pin DIP sockets and wrapped up everything in the x0x except the LEDs. Tack on another $3.45 in parts (6 x $0.50 plus Tax) which is not the end of the world but is thievery compared to the $0.07 / unit price from Futurlec. Lesson learned!

The manual isn't kidding about this being a long process and things getting tight in spots. I would have preferred to do all the resistors first (like they always say!), then caps, then dips and switches. It would have made life much easier. In any case the job got finished. Now the only task left is getting the LEDs set up and building the jump wires before we get to start closing this thing up!

As mentioned in my previous post, I opted for these nice flat LEDs I picked up. I diffused a set of them with a dremel for comparison but I'm finding that the clear glass look with really high resistor values is creating a very slick, low blinkyness factor that I rather like. I may regret it because if it doesn't really work visually, I'll be ripping out and replacing 40 resistors. I really hope I don't have to do that. The x0x's LED size is quite large, 5mm, but with this set up the LEDs appear recessed and about 2-3mm in size. It's rather unique looking. We'll see how it goes. The resistors are in so it's too late right now!

These are really high MCD valued LEDs so the resistor values I found that worked for this set up were as follows:

Purple UV - 2000 mcd: 10K
Blue - 5000 mcd: 47K
White - 8000 mcd: 68K

Blue is being used for Tempo and the tools on the left and right side of the panel. White is being used for all the notes and Sequencer steps: 1, 5, 9, and 12. Purple UV is being used for the remaining sequencer steps.

These are pretty high values but it looks elegant. I *think* it'll work. Next up: jump wires and then those LEDs!

x0xb0x SS#01:Sequencer Part 1

Ah, the sequencer. This is where things start to get more creative (in some respects) as opposed to functional. Aside from going through a soldering frenzy - heaps of parts, all pretty much the same - this is the stage where we get to introduce blinky lights. I haven't decided on a final configuration, but I have three flat LEDs on hand: blue, purple UV, and white. I'm considering a combination of all three but it hinges on the enclosure style I implement. In any case, this first phase is simply to get the stock parts out of the way. That means soldering sockets for all the ICs, diodes, caps, and a good handful of resistors.

> Note: I discovered that I didn't order a full set of 16 pin dip sockets. I'm missing six. That's a pain. They were a bargain at $0.07 a pop from Futurlec. Now I have to pick them up locally at probably around $0.25 plus my time and fuel, an inconvenience more than anything. Ebay's certainly an option but with a lengthy delivery time. Either way this is a minor, albeit annoying, setback. It would be nice to see all the ICs in place.

A working x0x is on the horizon! Fingers crossed that the sequencer works! I would love to hear some real sound come out of this.