external patchbay

[Rinko]

hey!

i'm new to the forum so i'd just like to introduce myself and ask a cheeky question or two as well.

i'm from sheffield, make my own music and started bending last week - got some nice pitch bends out of an 'old mcdonald' piano book but then i fried it, no luck at all with a fun n learn phonics bus (it promised a lot but didn't want to bend at all plus it was in poor nick and the layout wasn't conducive to adding switches etc.) so now i've got a phone type toy and a kids drum machine to attack over the bank holiday...

basically i want to get some practice in before attacking some more expensive hardware i.e. 505's, 626's, hr-16's and other drum machines.

as 505's and 626's seem to have so many options to bend i thought the best thing to do was to hook them up using an external patchbay. however i have no experience of doing this and would welcome any tips. i was gonna use a 25 pin cable (even though i've read on here that they're hard to wire up). would this be suitable:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97739&criteria=25%20pin&doy=27m5

also would this type of thing be suitable for housing the patch bay?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1676&C=Maplin&U=SearchTop&T=BOX&doy=27m5

they have metal ones as well but i wasn't sure if people used this type of thing or just made their own boxes from scratch. also...if this box would be suitable, how do people recommend cutting the slot for the 25 pin socket?

cheers! i'll let you know how i get on...

[nochtanseenspecht]

Hello, fresh bender
nice idea, and smart to make a patch box ! i recomment a plastic box for easy drilling and no unwanted
shortcircuit...and why not an extra 15 pin connector, so you can have joystick control ! btw, an old
modembox could be nice for you, there 's already the 25 pin connector...just throw out the rest.

here's what i made :
http://www.esnips.com/web/universalcircuitbendstation
and i am stil gratefull to myself that i did it....a bit of work, but life became so easy since...
the next one gonna have 2 25pin connectors (= double happiness)

[Circuitbenders]

If you're using a patchbay on any of those drum machines and you don't mind drilling holes in itl then you might as well just mount the patchbay of the front panel. Its a whole lot easier that wiring up D-connectors.

Otherwise i'd definately go for a plastic external case so you don't end up with any odd shorts through the case itself.

If you don't happen to have a D connector hole punch handy, rapid electronics do an unbelivably handy tool called a nibbler which lets you cut away small chunks of panel even through sheet steel
http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo.aspx?kw=nibbler&tier1=Tools%2c+Fasteners+%26+Production+Equipment&tier2=Mechanical+Tools&tier3=Cutters+%26+Snips&tier4=Nibbler&moduleno=36734
Other than than that its time to get out the drill and files i think.

[AttDestroyers]

Most Definetly go with the plastic case. I just did a breakout box a week ago with a metal top and it was a nightmare trying to get rid of the shorts.

[Rinko]

magic!

cheers for the help guys. i think i'll pass on adding the extra 15 pin socket for the moment cos i'd just like to get my skills up and i think it might be a bit much for me at the mo - i'd be dead interested to see exactly how you get the joystick to control the bends though! summat i'll look at in future...

i'm not particularly against drilling the 505 (which i picked up today incidentally - dead good) but the external patchbay just seemed like a neat solution and i thought if i built one then i could use it on various bits of equipment - it'd be an investment, saving time in the long run. i'm planning on using in the studio rather than live so shouldn't be a flexibility problem. is this how most people go about things or is it counterproductive to have a general patchbay to deal with several customized instruments (killing the individuality/creativity)?

are the 25pin connectors only fiddly cos they're small?

that tool looks handy either way though!

thanks again.

p.s. when people are figuring out bends how do you make sure none of them counteract each other or cause lock ups? do you solder your 1st or favourite connection and then solder each one as you find them, avoiding the dodgy ones? on my first crack i just figured out 4 bends on this toy, they all worked separately so i soldered em all in with switches at the same time and after that only 1 of the bends  would work. 2 did nothing and the other one just locked everything up. is there a recommended method? ta!!!

[aarc]

I'm starting to price out an external patch bay for an SK-5 I'm working on and its looking quite expensive. Is there any major difference in using banana plugs over anything else ?

buying each banana socket separately is adding up quite a bit and I could get one of these phono bays for about the price of 3 sockets and the cables would be just about the same price.

I did notice that you can get banana plugs and sockets dirt cheap on www.jprelec.co.uk but they wont accept an order under £30 which kinda defeats the point of ordering from them.

sorry for hi-jacking your thread here but I didn't think I needed to start a new one just to ask this

[Rinko]

no prob mate

would be interested to see an answer to your question myself.

[Circuitbenders]

Well, banana sockets do make for nice chunky professional feeling patchbays but why not use 3.5mm minijack sockets if you are building an external patchbay?

I'd definately suggest the 8 way phono blocks if you are doing an internal patchbay in the speaker cavity but theres not really any reason to use them if you don't have to.

Places like rapid electronics or CPC don't have minimum order values but they do have free shipping over £30 which makes it worthwhile to just buy a whole lot of parts at once. I can guarantee that if you make a list of everything you might possibly need to circuitbend stuff in the next few months (solder wick, solder, any tools you don't have yet etc etc) it'll come to more than £30