Megadrum 56i single board setup issues

[dmitri]

Shorts, breaks on copper traces, bad soldering, bad cabling, wrong/damaged parts. It can be almost anything.

[GarryDuncan]

If i run it without pic can I just ignore it or does it need to be removed?

Just ignore it.

Any other ideas why it doesn't seem to be getting anything from my Midi USB cable, or don't I need this either, should it run with just the USB cable connected to the board

You need the Midi usb cable to send and receive midi data. The usb cable is providing power, so you'll need that plugged in too.

My PC does not seem to be recognising it though?

Recognising what? The midi-usb cable or the MD->PC usb cable? As stated, unless the pic has the firmware the PC will not recognise it. If your PC does not detect the midi-usb cable then that is probably the cause of your problems and is likely an issue with the cable itself or with drivers on your PC. Does the midi-usb cable have a led light that lights up when midi notes are sent? Most do, so if it blinks when you hit pads, the problem is probably in the PC, and if not, you'll need to check for faults on the board because your MD might not be sending any midi notes.

Hi ignotus,

thanks for getting an answer to me. I get nothing on LEDs on my Midi cable, so that makes it sound like an issue with my board. Back to checking everything through and seeing if there are any faults I guess. Any suggestions where there might be something, or is it a case of could be anywhere?

hello friend were you able to find the exact reason behind the issue? I am facing similar problem so please help me with some solution

[Chunky Kev]

No luck so far. Just checked all my soldering and found 1 dry joint so fixed that but still the same issues. Going to have to see if I have any faulty parts. I cant see any bad copper traces so it is the only thing left I can think it might be.

dmitri, do you have any way of testing circuits to find problems, I am running out of things I can do?

[dmitri]

dmitri, do you have any way of testing circuits to find problems, I am running out of things I can do?

If I ever have a problem, I look for the cause with a multimeter.

[Chunky Kev]

If I ever have a problem, I look for the cause with a multimeter.

Hi Dmitri, I am not sure I have enough knowledge of how the full board works to test this effectively. Can you give me more info on what to look for where.

[dmitri]

A multimeter is only good to test for shorts, breaks, resistance and voltages. You have the schematic and the pcb layout and all you have to do is carefully check that everything is connected where it should and there are no shorts where there should be connections. The hardest thing will be if you have loose solderings/connections anywhere which intermittently cause connections to make or break or high resistance.

[Chunky Kev]

Thanks for info. I went over the whole board with a continuity tester and checked everything was connected as it should be and apart from 1 solder joint everything seemed OK, so I am a loss what else to do. If I sent you my board could you test it for me? What would you charge?

[dmitri]

Sorry, but I'll not be able to help. Too many variables/unknowns - PCB quality, parts values/quality, soldering quality and etc. With so many variables it will be easier for me to build another board. You can do the same.

[Chunky Kev]

Are you able to make just the board for me to then add my components to. That way I can count out my board not being correct? How much would you charge?

[dmitri]

Sorry, I cannot do it. You'd better find someone local with better electronics/soldering skills.