Casio DG-10 modified into a DG-20

So if you were a rich kid in the 80's you might have had a DG-10 or DG-20 a digital guitar made by Casio.  ($350 for the DG-10...I am guessing the DG-20 was $50 to $100 more)

I was not a rich kid in the 80's and I hadn't even heard of this until I saw one on the remake of the Take On Me video by Weezer.

So I did so looking around, figured out what the device was, then tried to by one.

I lucked out and picked up a DG-10 (like in the video)  that needed a bit of work but operated just fine...for dirt cheap...

So I got it running and played with it a bit, as I dug through the documents available I learned that I had the stripped down version, but there was also a DG-20 that had line out and MIDI out. (as well as some other sound and manual percussion switches).

Well I was jealous of the MIDI output...so I popped mine open to see how hard it would be to modify mine to add MIDI support.

I noticed that in the Service manual that the main parts seemed to be identical and even the circuits were almost identical except for some minor differences and some passive components.

I took pictures of the circuit boards top and bottom and happened to find a few pictures of a DG-20's guts.

I realized that those geniuses at Casio had built both keyboards with the same chips and almost identical circuit boards except for about 3 modified traces...depending on which version you got, some traces were whole and some were cut.

The circuit boards even had the drill holes...the only thing missing was labeling and some of the pads were coated and had to be cleaned.

So based on the schematic (they did not have board photos unlike most electronics service manuals) I basically reverse engineered the circuit boards and figured out where to add passives and jumpers, and where to remove them to convert the DG-10 into the DG-20.

(luckily mine is a DG-10 so no worries)

I can say that it was actually an easy mod...time consuming for the planning and reverse engineering, but the actual mod went pretty quickly with no problems, except for missing a jumper, and 4 passives for the line out circuit.

So the total number of parts required for the mod were:

1 slide switch
1 midi port
1  1/4" mono port
8 momentary pushbutton switches 
4 ferrite bead filters
9 diodes
3 ceramic capacitors
3 electrolytic capacitors
6 resistors

So depending on what you have on hand...$10 to $20 worth of parts...you know the Casio factory got them at bulk...so I am guessing the DG-20 cost at most $5 to $10 more to build...total cost. (some more rubber switches, two more circuit boards, and a completely different sound selector in the actual DG-10)

The result is other than how the switches and outputs look, my DG-10 is a DG-20.

I am sure nobody else is dumb enough to do this mod, but I include the photos I used and modified to show the original circuit and components and the ones requited to modify the DG-10.

I will say you don't really need the line out, but I thought bypassing the amp circuits might sound better?

Anywho the following are my modifications to the board photos I did.

 Lineout mod to schematics (not complete...just showing what I missed...

In all cases the pink (salmon?) colored lines are what needs to be added or modified, the red is the existing circuit topside components (to help me trace the circuits)

Amp circuit mods to get line out

Tone control and rhythm select panel...needed to be modified to add 4 tone switches.

If someone really gets a desire to do this mod, drop me a line and I will send all my photos and documents...

Collidoscope...A Granular Audio Synth

I was watching random videos and stumbled on this one by Dr Mix.  (this is their prototype, not my version)

So I thought it had a great look and interface, but couldn't imagine how expensive it was.

...it isn't...

This was a project by two people (I assume students at the time) at The Queen Mary University of London.

It operates of a Raspberry Pi, two USB/MIDI keyboards, 4 slider potentiometers, a Focusrite USB soundcard, an arduion Teensy, two microphones and a monitor. 

To make it pretty you build a box.

Their project site has full documentation on the wiring, software, and even hardware.

there are a couple of howevers.

-First, the software was last updated in 2016.   They have a compiled app at the project page that works just fine, but if you want to make any changes...well lets just say I have been neck deep in software for the last few days.
-Second, most of the pictures and explanations show the original version, the plans demonstrate the later version...can cause confusion.


So a big part of their project was the Collaborative concept of separate keyboards, microphones, and sample manipulation.

For now I am simply building a single person version...so I only have to source half the hardware from ebay...
...but I had to modify the software...

If you notice in the video,  you see two wave forms...but they are both on a single monitor.   I wanted to make a single user version and only show one waveform on the whole screen.

If I had done this back in 2016 it would have been a simple text edit and recompile.   However, the compiling code changed quite a bit from then and it was far from a simple text edit.

Yaesu 857D, SignaLink, Panadapter, Fldigi, SDRuno, WSJT-X etc...(update at end)

You can see by the title there is a bunch crammed together...

So the dilemma now for those who don't yet have the coin to get something nice like the ICOM IC-7300,  is how to get those advantages with the equipment we already own.

Bit of background...most radios out there have some kind of serial computer interface (CAT for Yaesu) connection and maybe some kind of data interface (for a TNC terminal node controller).

The 857D is in that category, a CAT connection to interface with tuner and computer, and a data connection to access TNC in/out a PTT and squelch status.

Wiring in my setup...

-a CAT cable from 857 to tuner (LDG YT-100) and a CAT cable from tuner to serial/usb adapter to computer.

-a data cable from 857 to SignaLink USB (handles TNC chores) and a usb cable from SignaLink to computer.

-a usb cable from SDRPlay RSP2Pro to computer.

---also a usb hub to have more slots for my laptop.

Hardware Settings...

-usb from CAT adapter creates a COM port...and depending on which slot it is in in the laptop or hub, it will have a different COM port...so I put it in the same slot and labeled that slot, so it will always show up as COM3
---(how do I know? all versions of windows has a 'Device Manager' in win 10, it is hidden, but you can search for it, it is still there.   Under Ports (COM & LPT) you will see your serial port adapter.)

-SDRPlay (RSP2) - my Panadapter -had an entry in Device Manager labeled "SDRPlay (RSP2) under 'Sound,video and game controllers'...if it isn't there...it won't work with your software
---(Occasionally it disappeared, so I had to unplug it...wait a minute, and plug it back in...then check Device Manager to make sure it was there.)

-SignaLink USB also has an entry in 'Sound, video and game controllers' but is called "USB Audio CODEC"   The SignaLink has a physical connection to the PTT, so every bit of software using the SignaLink should have External or VOX for the PTT...and radio should NOT be VOX.

---(the name is important...it will be used many times later)

 

Software Settings...

Now the fun begins...the easy path is for all the software to live in harmony, see what is going on on the radio, listen to the SDR or SignaLink (as appropriate) and send and receive data almost automatically.

To get there wasn't as hard as I originally thought.

Two key bits of software... VSPE (Virtual Serial Ports Emulator) and Omnirig.

Omnirig is a fantastic and free radio interface for most radios...it is almost a standard, so much radio software out there will utilize Omnirig rather than direct radio connection...this is important because through Omnirig they can 'share' control of the radio...but only one device can have direct connection to the radio COM port.

...unfortunately not all software uses Omnirig...

VSPE is a cheat to get around software that won't talk to Omnirig due to some kind of philosophy (apparently...)

VSPE is a very powerful serial port manipulator...it can to many tasks other than the one I will be using.


So here is the setup part...

In my case the radio is on COM3.

I set up VSPE to 'Split' COM3 to COM10 ... now many programs can connect to COM10 as if it was the radio itself.

I set up Omnirig to 'see' the 857 at COM10 at Rig1.  (4800baud-matches my radio settings, bits 8, parity none, Stop bits 2)

I run SDRuno, there are two locations to set and view the radio settings (radio is now on and connected)...first in the 'RX Control' display under settings, ORIG (stands for Omnirig) I set Rig1. 

in the 'Main' display under settings, ORIG, I should see that RIG1 Type is FT-857, RIG1 Status is On-Line.

WriteLog (logging software my club uses for Field Day),

 Setup-Ports...
 ... RIG #1, Rig Type "Afreet Omnirig"

Winlink Express, after opening 'Winmor Winlink' session, .
-- Settings- WINMOR TNC Setup,  

 -- Settings-WINMOR TNC Setup,

 

WINMORE Capture and Playback Device are both '(USB Audio CODEC)'   --note: I renamed both of those to 'SignaLink'...yours may show Microphone and Speaker...but the USB Audio CODEC is the key)

  

 in the Winmor window - Settings- Radio Setup, Yaesu FT-857, USB, COM10, 4800, External Serial port for PTT

WSJT-X (currently v2.1.0-rc5) File-Settings

 Radio tab, "Omnirig Rig 1", PTT VOX, Mode None, Split None

 Audio tab, Input and Output, (USB Audio CODEC)

Fldigi (currently v4.1.03) Configure-Rig Control (or Rig tab if you already have the config open),

 Rig Tab - So far I have been successful using their FLrig,'Enable flrig xcvr control with fldigi as client'.

Audio Tab -  Again sound input/output is (USB Audio CODEC)

--FLrig, Config- Setup-Transceiver, Rig FT-857D, Ser Port COM10, Baud 4800, 2 stopbits, nothing selected in the PTT RTS section.

-DigiPan...pretty basic..just set PTT to External.

The Panadapter part is the SDRPlay RSP2Pro.   This is automatically discovered by the SDRuno software.

What the whole deal gets you is...

-within the SDRuno software you can change bands, modes, freq, by either mouse clicking or spinning the mouse wheel...and in some cases you can change the frequency range shown by dragging the mouse (if you are zoomed in).

-but also, within the FLdigi or Winlink software you can control the radio freq and mode within that software.

-meanwhile the logging software is recording contacts (depending on other software, WSJT-X automatically logs contacts) but as a minimum the logging software knows the band mode and freq already.

Without this setup, you could still do digital modes, but everything would require multiple steps.

...BTW if I had a more modern radio like the IC-7300, a lot of the settings wouldn't be needed, but a virtual port still might be used with certain software.

-----
Update:   First, I will throw out there that these programs don't play well together...ie winlink, WSJT-X, FlDigi...so just run the one you are using for the mode you want.

Second...for contest purposes,  my club uses WriteLog...other than that I don't use it...so for contest purposes (i.e. Field Day) I am using it.

...I talk enough HF at work, so I play in the digital modes...we will be using the FT-8 during field day for contact purposes...but through WSJT-X there is no easy logging method.

...I recently (last week) learned that the WriteLog folks have a FT-8 software that does the contacts AND the logs through WriteLog... they call it...wait for it... DigiRite.   So for contest purposes I use it in place of  WSJT-X.

...ok some more Writelog settings were required to use the Digilog...I had to go to Start>Writelog> Sound board mixer control   and define the inputs (signalink, signalink, mic,speaker)