a few cool things

For my fellow Toorcampers, here are the badge soldering instructions in case you lost or never got them:

1. Solder 10pf capacitor (the one with the pink line) into the holes labeled 1.
2. Solder the 22nf capacitor into the holes labeled 2.
3. Solder the LEDs into the holes labeled 3.
4. Solder the jumper into the holes labeled 4.

Notes: When the jumper is to the left, the left LED will light up when 13.56mHz is detected. When the jumper is to the right, the right LED will light up when 125kHz is detected.

Check out Mike Ossmann’s excellent hack for the badge, turning it into an RFID decoder using a standard sound card and analysis software.

A friend of mine recently gave me his malfunctioning Samsung SyncMaster 204B monitor. He reported problems with display flicker and intermittent failure of the backlight. Suspecting a bad inverter, I plugged it in on my workbench only to be greeted by a blinking power light. Thanks to some Google searches and a hint from this page about the slightly different 204T model, I started to suspect bad capacitors.

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Despite the cost, the quality is definitely lacking! I will be recycling the actual cable (which is not bad at all, but not worth the price by any stretch of the imagination) by using better connectors.

Don’t buy into Monster Cable’s hype, kids!
I suggest purchasing good quality cable from Blue Jeans Cable, Monoprice, etc.

(sorry for the artsy photo, i couldn’t resist)

This is a PDF of the TB-303 service manual, on A3 size paper like the TR-606 and TR-808 manuals posted earlier.

TB-303 Service Notes (2.5MB – zipped PDF)

This is a PDF of the  TR-808 service manual, which appears to also be on A3 size paper like the TR-606 manual posted earlier.

TR-808 Service Notes (4.8MB – zipped PDF)

I’m famous, yay!

If you want one of these or some other custom synth project, please email Shagghie or myself (pavel at kirkovsky dot com).

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This is a high-resolution scan of the original Roland TR-606 service manual. Originally these were printed on A3 size paper, so they are quite detailed.

TR-606 Service Notes (8.2MB – zipped PDF)

It’s all done! I also added Colin Fraser’s MIDI kit and shaved down the LEDs I replaced so they are flush with the faceplate…

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Started work on shagghie’s 303

Plans:

• Clean board and battery leak residue
• Replace switches
• Replace boring red LEDs with snazzy blue & white

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x0xb0x #725 is finished! Neither Fry’s nor Radioshack had those 0.033µF capacitors I needed, so I stole some from x0xb0x #727

The fruits of my labor:

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