Enclosure for the x0xb0x and x0xi0

[maxtim]

115V direct input mod installed:




Toroid:




115V filter and fuse:




*Bling* the x0x#111








Surgery completed

[Altitude]

Wow, didnt realize how small that hammond box is..

[maxtim]

Yah, it has a nice low profile and the perfect slope to the face & lots of room for mod controls on the face of it.

The direct 115VAC input mod is excellent, with no 60 Hz hummmm at all, even in the distortion whose controls are beside the power input.
That toroid was perfect! Thanks Altitude !
x0xb0x x0xi0 tr-x0x x0x111 on the stand, setup in the studio, plugged in (115VAC) & tuned with a frequency counter (to xxx.xxx)


Playing with Midi (slave) to my Yamaha Motif7 Drums and playing with the groove of ENV2 and a little toying with the sequencer
(which reminds me: Thank you sokkan )
Recorded direct, 2 trak-stereo (mono x0x), no processing:
http://soundcloud.com/redridingwolf/x0xb0x-drums-1
http://soundcloud.com/redridingwolf/x0xb0x-drums-2

[decoder23]

rly nice, great work! looks awsome and sounds great! congrats to this unique x0x

[isak]

Finally some killer tunes from your kick ass beauty machine.
just love the looks and really love the sound!!!

Tim, you did an amazing work, specially with the wiring, a real PRO man!
it was one of my favorite post ever in our x0x community.
keep it rocking and pumping my fried.

cheers,
Isak E.

[maxtim]

Thanks guys.
I have been haveing a great time with the x0x now that it is all cased up and begging to be played.
I did some testing with the Motif, to find how the x0x can sit down in the track a little further.
No processing, straight out to 2-track
http://soundcloud.com/redridingwolf/motif-mix-1

OT: I found the Roger Linn and Dave Smith "Tempest" , Me Want!

[decoder23]

the tempest will be a killer drum machine for sure, but the price too

[maxtim]

Yah..... *sigh*, the price............way out of reach


Maybe it will be sold in kit-form too...... at a much reduced cost

Well.... I have been getting some good analog drum sounds out of my x0xi0 anyway.

[skip]

Wow. Your enclosure looks absolutely amazing.

I'm going to build myself an x0xb0x at some point when I have enough money to buy the parts and I was thinking of doing something similar to your case. I won't have any extra stuff on my x0xb0x (at first anyway), so I don't think the case you used would really work for me. I'd also like to keep it as compact as possible.

I've been looking at the 1456KH3WHBU, 1456KH3BKBU and 1456KH3WHCWW cases from Hammond. They're 254mm wide so width shouldn't be a problem for the front panel. But the "depth" of the case's angled part is only 160.25mm and according to some .fpd file of the x0xb0x front panel its depth is 163.27 mm. So there is a bit over 3mm too little there. I guess i could cut a bit of the non-angled part, but I'm not really sure how that would end up looking. A few mm isn't much, but I'm still doubtful.

I'd also like to make the front panel ox the x0xb0x flush with the case. Any idea if the x0xb0x frontpanel is the same thickness as that case? The cases I'm looking for have a 15° angle compared to the 10° angle your case has. What do you think, would this be a problem? I wonder what the original x0xb0x case angle is, but from the looks I'd say it's more than 10°, so I don't think a 15° angle would be a problem. As I don't have an x0xb0x yet, I've got no idea if the PCBs would fit inside the case I'm planning, but it looks spacious enough to me.

Here's a link to the case drawings: http://www.hammondmfg.com/pdf/1456KH3.pdf

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as I really don't like how the normal x0xb0x case looks and with the "same trouble" of building the x0xb0x I could make a custom case for it and use your fancy case as an inspiration.

[maxtim]

Thanks skip

I took a look at the .pdf of the Hammond case you are looking to use.
I remember looking at that case myself when I was planning for this build. I determined that the stock x0xb0x would be a tight fit and the x0xi0 would not fit at all.
So if you are looking to put an x0xb0x without the x0xi0 expansion, then it will fit.
The 3mm case depth difference is negated by the fact that your faceplate and board stack will sit more than 3mm further out the face, because of the difference in the mounting of the faceplate. You will have to shave down the standoffs to dictate the faceplate to PCA stack standoff height.

If I were planning a stock x0xb0x, I would still use the larger case though (If the cost difference is similar, sans the wood side panels) because then there would be so much wonderful space to work in some mods in the future or do a wild paint-job on. The bigger case is still fairly compact and portable (mine now weighs 8lbs with all the extra guts).
To work with the Hammond case, you will need the appropriate tools, punch, drill and metal cutter (I used a Dremil tool with cut-off wheels), a steady hand and good planning & measuring skills.

Good luck with your dream. Enjoy the build, put lots of thought into it, plan it out, do test fits at every stage and take your time. I am no expert metalworker, but I muddled though it and learned as I went. In the end you have something unique that you have created yourself. That is what I think makes a open-source kit like this so special and fun. You end up owning a musical instrument that has been build by your hands alone.............then plug it in and you have a whole new creative playground to work with

[skip]

Thanks for your reply and comments. I'm really unsure what to do about the case thing. Maybe I'll build the x0xb0x first with the normal kit and see what I'm going to do about the case afterwards.

And about modding the x0xb0x, I wouldn't know (yet) how the mods would benefit me as I'm not very knowledgeable about music or music gear in general. Pretty much all I know is that I'd press buttons and twist knobs on the b0x to make cool sounds. So I think modding will have to wait until I at least know the limitations of the gear and how the mods could enable me to overcome them and achieve something I can't achieve on the stock b0x. But I do think modding just about anything in general is a great idea, so who knows what'll happen in the end.

[maxtim]

How exciting, building your first musical instrument to use as your first synthesizer, a real journey into the unknown.
Fantastic! Hats-off to ya.
You could not choose a better synth IMHO.
I agree that it would be best to get the complete kit and build that first with the stock enclosure.
Then look into building a custom case after.
Good luck.

[skip]

Thanks. I'm feeling really excited about it. Giddy like a little girl on xmas!

It will have to wait for at least a few months though, as I won't get enough money before that at least. But I've started asking around from people I know if anyone has access to an oscilloscope and also planning about getting a new soldering iron as the one I have is not very good. Can't wait to get started with it. Building something that I actually find really interesting. Makes the soldering process much much more interesting too. At school when I was a kid we only soldered something boring like a doorbell playing für Elise, which had like 3 components total. If only they'd build stuff like this at school and then use them on the music lessons instead of some boring flutes!

[maxtim]

I sure know that feeling of excitement and anticipation.
This project, for me, has gained and lost momentum more than twice and each time I geared back up to continue, I was giddy too.
I find that sometimes the preparation and journey is every bit as rewarding as the destination itself.
You may have to wait, but that will give you time to dream-up the possibilities and prepare for the journey. Enjoy
When I was waiting for my kit I remember spending time reading the build manual thoroughly to get familiar with the project, browsing the forum, oogling other peoples completed x0xb0xen and listening to x0xb0x tracks on the net.

I’m imagining with you; the x0xb0x being the electronics project in hi-school. That would have been wild!
Then music lessons while programming the sequencer.
And for the final, the entire class plays-out their masterpiece one by one live.
Live acid at the prom

[skip]

Haha. You seem to know exactly how I feel.

Too bad I'll very likely have to wait till fall or even winter before I have enough money. Oh well, waiting for something has never done any harm for my enthusiasm, so if I have to wait, then wait I shall.