After finishing my Ambika and now working on a control software for mac, I just realized that I am not able to reach some of the modulation sources using potentiometer P2 or encoder (E). The last mod source I can reach is =256, but the manual states, that there are some more (=128, =64, =32, =16, =8, =4). There are some presets in the library that can set those missing values, so they are actually there.

Is it possible, that this is caused by my soldering skills? Any idea where to look, and for what?

Any hints really appreciated.

Hi all,

I’m currently hacking the Ambika firmware to provide a way to dump patch values from the Ambika to my BCR2000 (I assumed that it’s not possible as of today (?))

I have 6 templates (or ‘preset’) on the BCR, each corresponding to an Ambika part (I assigned a midi channel for each part on the Ambika).
The idea is to have the BCR updated when switching presets on the BCR (could be useful also after loading a patch on the Ambika).

This can be done using a so called ‘LEARN output’ message from the BCR, that sends a sysex (that Behringer calls a ‘Data Request’). I took a free message number (0x16) as the ‘Data request’ command, and wrote a handler in the Ambika firmware. When receiving the Data Request (with the part number as a parameter), the Ambika sends a bunch of CCs on the corresponding midi channel:

case 0x16: {
   const Parameter& parameter = parameter_manager.parameter(59);
   uint8_t midi_channel = parameter_manager.GetValue(parameter, location.part, 0);
   if (midi_channel)
      --midi_channel; //?                                                                                                                                    

   for (uint8_t index=0; index<kNumParameters; ++index) {
      const Parameter& parameter = parameter_manager.parameter(index);
      if(parameter.level==PARAMETER_LEVEL_PATCH || parameter.level==PARAMETER_LEVEL_PART) {
         uint8_t value = parameter_manager.GetValue(parameter, location.part, 0);
         if ( (parameter.midi_cc < 1) || (parameter.midi_cc > 120)) continue;
         midi_dispatcher.Send3(0xb0 | midi_channel, parameter.midi_cc, value & 0x7f);
         midi_dispatcher.Flush();
      }
   }
}

And… it’ working! Well at least for many parameters except parameters that have the same ID but necessitate a stride to get the actual value (e.g., enveloppes). I cannot figure out how striding works. What I want to do is to get the midi_cc corresponding to parameters that necessitates striding.

Any tips?

I hope that all of this makes sense…

Cheers,

Stéphane

PS: I do not know how to format the code in this message, any pointer on a doc on how to do this? ok, I’ve found the sticky message in the forum about formatting

Hi there,

I finally found some time to finish 4 4P voicecards to put in my ambika rack. (Very bad) picture attached.
When tuning their VCF i realized that 1 of the 4 cards have a self oscillation frequency which is about half of the others.
It can be tuned though but sounds darker when i use the 4 cards in a same part.

I started checking R12 to R21 as they seem to be part of the self oscilation frequency formula. But they look OK.
Any idea what to check ?
Thanks,

Xavier

Hi! After a few months of idle time, the voice card #2 in my six-voice Ambika does not out out sound anymore. I tried both the main out and the individual voice output, no help. The led lights all right and everything seems fine otherwise.

I have not built Ambika myself, I have built Shruthi and XT, so I have some experience on soldering and measuring, but I would really appreciate if you could advise me where to start from with this process. So, any good idea where to start checking?

Hello there,

so im am done with almost the full stack of le grande mutabel instruments, having a blast musically.
But now its about time to discover some polysynth stuff with some voicecards and the ambika.

I got a couple of controller ambika boards already up and working fine with their respective Atmel644 chipsets burned as far as i see a correct program version via AtmelStudio.
There i simply flashes and erased first time with the control, second step, I flashed the bootloader without erasing the flash, I figured that could work, I dont know if it actually did, but the programm is still running and i see stuff on the display so I assume i got a bootloader now, although i dont really know yet why i need it anyway.

Now i wanted to start flashing me some voiceboard in the same style, I do use the anushri just for the socket and ISP and voltage, since the voiceboards dont have an easy access to 9V supply.
I can easily flash the voicecard.hex , then the bootloader.hex, then fuses and lock or whatever pleases me first,
BUT the eeprom.hex AtmelStudio bothers to put that into the eeprom of the Atmel328? I got no clue why.
In the file list at least it says it supports hex files, but obviously it doesnt do with your ambika eeprom.hex file.

Question is, can I use the voicecards without the eeprom golden….hex or is it needed for some reason I cannot quite yet grasp?

Thanks a lot, already for reading and helping out.
seb

PS: I checked, AtmelStudio only supports Intel hex files, I know there are some different hex conversiona out there, so my suggestion is the ambika voicecard eeprom.hex file is in a different hex fiel format.
I now try finding me an converter tool, maybe there is maybe there isnt, we will see, or I go the hard way and try to once again get my avr dude and make file to work.

#Update1: I found a tool calles hex2bin a small cprogram working in the dos shell in windows, simply converts the intel hex into a bin , and i already wrote that to the eeprom via atmelStudio, all seemed to work, what i do of course not know, if the voicecard now does what it is supposed to do, I cannot see if the bin file actually is what the hex files intend to be, can somebody help a little bit here.
thanks

:-)

Hi Folks,
For my Tubika build I’d like an opaque case so I need to mod the current case file to put LED and display holes etc. If the PDF of the mobo on the DITY resources page accurate for this? Or would I be better off exporting from the eagle file?

http://mutable-instruments.net/static/pcb/ambika_mobo_top.pdf

Hi All

This is my first post here,

I need some help or advice, one voicecard on my ambika stopped working
i bought the ambika second hand and did not build it myself.
its voicecard 4, a 4P MI voice.
It stopped working one day, i noticed it when i was playing that some notes where missing.
so i opened up ambika and took a look, the LEDs on the 4, voicecard where not lighting
up like the other ones, all 5 other voices are working flawless.

does anybody have a idea where i have to look for the failure and if it is likely
that it is fixable? i dont have a lot of experience with electronics but i can solder
fine parts, just without the knowledge :-)

any help would be highly appreciated.

thanx

Hi all,

I’ve built Ambika with 6 SMR-4 voicecards. Motherboard and all 6 voicecards works fine when connected to power source and midi keyboard. All 6 orange leds are lid and green leds are flashing when receiving notes. But when i connect master out or any individual out to my mixer or headphones Ambika is no longer receiving any midi signals. This is same if no voicecards are present. Everything else works as expected.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks!

I messed up my Ambika (Tubika) MOBO by initially putting the LCD on the bottom of the PCB instead of on top.
I ruined the LCD removing it.

The Ambika works beautifully, and while I waited for the replacement lcd I named it Blindika and followed the manual and enjoyed playing it without a screen.

I ordered a 3.3v 40x2 lcd from BuyDisplay and then realized that I needed a 5v so I contacted them and explained.

1) They were merciful and told me to keep the 3.3v when it arrived, but they would send a 5v out to me asap.

2) I got another message from them advising me on how to convert the 3.3v lcd to a 5v

Seemed simple:
a) remove R11 completely
b) replace R12-R13 with a 51R SMD resistor
I was excited to try this, as I seem to get a thrill from working with SMD components, so I did it and it went very well.

Naturally I couldn’t resist trying it out on the Ambika. So I replaced the header (on the top this time) with three jumpers made from wrap wire to make sure that the solder sucker messed up pads were connected nicely to the pins, and put it in place.

At first it seemed like success. All systems go.

After 10-15 minutes the LCD kind of freaks out, and then becomes a single flashing cursor.
a) Quickly reboot, and it’s the same.
b) Power off for 10-15 minutes and it seems fine for 10-15 minutes (repeat)

So what’s wrong, and where shall I look to fix this?
1) Do I surrender, and remove the LCD (again) and add the 5v LCD and hope to the stars I don’t ruin the Mother Board in new and exciting ways?

2) Is this possibly a pre lcd resistor issue? Right now there is a 47R resistor in place.
Could this freakout be from too much voltage? Not enough voltage?
Wouldn’t be too tough to remove the 47R and replace it with a 100R or a jumper…

3) Is it possible that something deeper is wrong?
For example, perhaps my jumpers aren’t so great and could be shorting?
Doesn’t seem like starting up perfectly and crapping out at a regular interval (10-15 minutes) is a short. That seems more like a power issue to me (but at this point, really, what the heck do I know?)

Has anyone else had a problem like this?
I’ve done due diligence and searched for this, and read so much about the hassle of removing the lcd, ohm’s law for calculating the resistance for different lcd’s, and what a drag it is that some creep bought up all the remaining optrex 40x2 black background displays and wants $120 for them on aliexpress… but I haven’t seen anyone bungle their Ambika quite like this.

If you were here, where would you go?

Hi, I’m about to finish my Ambika, and I’m considering building a midi controller to put it together with the synth in a nice case. So far, I’ve been thinking about these:

http://www.doepfer.de/pdf/USB64_manual.pdf
http://lividinstruments.com/hardware_builder.php#brain
http://store.highlyliquid.com/collections/midi-controllers/products/midi-cpu

Any experiences with these boards?
The highly liquid one is nice, but it can only work with 14 pots, so I think I would need 3 or 4 of them. The problem with the other ones is that it seems the livid one can only send cc messages from 1 to 63. The Doepfer, on the other hand, lets you select between 1-63 messages or 64-127, but not at the same time [there’s a jumper on the board to select one or the other option]. I think I prefer the Livid or Doepfer boards [it would be enough with just one board, not 3 or 4]. So I’m not sure [it’s my first time with diy midi controllers] if I could use these with the Ambika, since you need to send cc’s parameters in the whole range [osc settings are 14 to 21, for example, but filter settings are 71, 74, etc.]

Or maybe it is possible to [easily] change the midi implementation and leave all cc’s in the 0-63 range. Would that be possible for somebody who knows nothing about programming?

I’m a little lost with this midi stuff, so I prefer the easiest solution, but I really don’t know which way to go. Any ideas?

I can’t figure this one out.

No SD cards will work with my Ambika. I’ve tried 3 brands and a real Sandisk.
Presets all come up (empty) and it won’t load a firmware update.

HOWEVER: It will load the firmware when I use the emergency boot mode! (holding down S8 to load from SD card)

So what’s the difference between the emergency SD card boot and normal SD card access? I’ve tried a different CD4050 but no luck.

Any ideas?

best,

-dk

Hi – I am trying to reinstall the firmware on 3 of my Ambika SMR4+ cards after the data lights went out (it was all working fine until I put it in a case, oddly)...

But – my AVR ISP MkII won’t do it. In Atmel Studio 7 I can see the target voltages but get an error when trying to read device ID (Or do anything else):

“Failed to enter programming mode. ispEnterProgMode: Error status received: Got 0x0, expected 0x00 (Command has failed to execute on the tool” etc.

Same error on all three lower cards (one of which has working firmware and data light). All jumpered to B. Both green lights on programmer. Programmer works fine on the mobo ISP pins and the 644P – I can read fuses, etc. on that so it doesn’t feel like a problem with the programmer.

Can anyone help?

Thanks, Simon

Hi all. I recently received a Noritake VFD from 6581punk (thanks again, btw!), and as it was intended for another synth, the 2x8 connector is on the wrong side. As I’m installing this in the metal case, I thought it would be a good idea to test having the screen on top of the motherboard. The screen fits snug, right up against the faceplate, and it looks like there will be a little bit of pressure on the screen when the case is fully assembled. Will this cause issues? Is it possible to mount the screen to the motherboard underside and solder to the board using the short pins of the 2x8 connector? I’d really like to avoid desoldering, but I’m ready to accept some sort of compromise.

Thanks for your help!

I’m looking to start building an Ambika in the near future and I’m currently running into difficulty finding a suitable PSU.
There are already a good handful of threads out there with suitable suggestions but I’m finding that the recommended units are either discontinued or simply not suitable for use in the UK.

Based on the general requirements (9V AC, >600mA) I’ve been able to find the following units.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/plug-in-power-supply/7300183/
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/plug-in-power-supply/4006507/
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/desktop-power-supply/8808379/

I’d like some advice on whether I’m barking up the right tree with these options and whether or not one would be more suitable than the others.
It may be worth mentioning that I’m looking at running 6x Polivoks filter cards.

Hey guys. I’ve read in an old thread that some of you would be interested in Ambika Polivoks voicecards. Is it still a thing?
I’ve recetnly built myself an Ambika and I thought that building an Ambika voicecard based on the Polivoks design would be quite easy.
So I threw together a quick schematic and would like to know if someone would be even interested in a project like this before I’ll throw any money at it (ordering parts and pcbs) because I had bad experience with my Midibox Swinsid project.

https://soundcloud.com/arrghbyte/ambika-polivoks-voicecard – here is the demo.

prices:

pcb 25 eur
atmega328p 5 eur

+ 6 eur shipping

Here is the link to all of the resources – http://github.com/kiwanowski/ambika-polivoks

I don’t plan to sell assembled units or full kits but I might consider it if there would be enough interest