209 Reply by NeX

(48 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

by the way i would like to point out that burning a hole with your soldering iron is not a good move, you will make some horible fumes, remember the gameboys are made in the 80s before health and safety was "the new thing" and so they give off some pretty toxic fumes.

also you will ruin your soldering iron. the iron is made of a copper tip that is coated to protect the copper, if you damage that outer layer you will find the copper inside starts to fall apart.

how i make holes is:

start with a dremal-like rotary tool, they are very cheap and easy to come by and have loads of useful attachements like sanding shapes and cutters, they are great for cutting straight lines as well as holes and the sanders are good for just removing that last bit of plastic at the bottom of something. they are well worth it so it is worth spending a bit of money, i have had cheap ones before and one actually melted itself in half!

once you have got the hole where you want it, make the hole larger by a slightly larger drill bit in either a hand powered drill or battery drill. keep stepping up the drill bits to the size you want. this will help to keep the hole neat, and stop the plastic from cracking etc.

then you can use a round sander from your rotary tool, or a counter sink bit for your drill, to indent the hole to make it look a bit neater.

i used exactly this same routine to cut some extra button holes in my SP, see pic:

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

210 Reply by NeX

(106 replies, posted in Trading Post)

i would be happy to make arduinoboys when scienceguy stops

Go to forum: Trading Post

211 Reply by NeX

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

bleo wrote:

Rad mod. I fixed the topic title cuz this isn't a sale thread.

awesome thanks for that!

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

212 Reply by NeX

(106 replies, posted in Trading Post)

nitro2k01 wrote:

MIDI was designed for multi-channel communication. As you may or may not know, there are 16 MIDI channels you can use, that can be transmitted over a shared line. The mGB mode in Arduinoboy just translates MIDI data into the serial port format the Gameboy is using. It doesn't alter the data. (Well ok, it does do some editing, like erasing some duplicate messages, but that's not relevant here.) It does forward data for all channels. So in theory it's possible to just connect several Gameboys to a single Arduinoboy output with eg a spliced cable. I also modded mGB so it could receive MIDI on other channels, 1-5, 6-10, or 11-15. That worked relatively ok, but as it turns out, mGB doesn't handle data sent on other channels than its own channel. So if you send data on channel 2, when mGB is receiving on 6-10, it might freak out and crash. If someone (me?) can fix that bug, this method will work.

i suppose if the bug cant be fixed with MGB, it could possibly be done at the arduino side? either an arduinomega with multiple serial ports sending different channels down different gameboy cables (maybe you don't even need the extra serial ports) or multiple arduinos sharing the same midi input?

Go to forum: Trading Post

213 Reply by NeX

(106 replies, posted in Trading Post)

Rei Yano wrote:

what about two Mgbs? smile I already figure this is not possible.

hmmm it might be possible. not with just a standard midi gameboy and link cable, but it depends if the arduino just sends note data to the gameboy or if it expects something back from the gameboy.

if it just sends data you could again link as many gameboys as you want to MGB and play two different tones with the gameboys together, maybe cords


unless you are talking about pocket gameboys. if you mean you want to sync two pocket gameboys to midi with one arduinoboy, that would also be possible except the pockets don't seem to have enough power to drive the arduino so you would need an external power supply i think.

but as for doing things like having multiple midi thru sockets on an arduinoboy, and multiple link cables on an arduinoboy i have actually already made these for people and they seem to work so far, apart from multiple link cables need to have a master and slave link cables.

one other thing that might be possible, by editing the arduino code a little bit, you could have different channels going to different gameboys allowing maybe for cords using 3 gameboys? or maybe seperating the note data, i needs more investigation.

Go to forum: Trading Post

214 Reply by NeX

(106 replies, posted in Trading Post)

Rei Yano wrote:
NeX wrote:

you would need something to sit between the arduinoboy and the DMG just to grab the clock and ground signal, then you could sync as many gameboys as you want from one arduinoboy.

and this really isn't ment to be a shameless plug or thread hijack, but because my midi gameboys have the arduinoboy wired inside, they leave the link port free to link with other gameboys, including with a DMG 07


WOAH. so I could link two gameboys together to sync as well as allow them to sync with ableton via midi??????

yep, basically LSDJ keeps sync based on just the pulses on the clock line of the link port, which is why you can add loads of gameboys because they are not actually talking to each other they are just detecting the pulse of the clock line. the arduinoboy takes a midi tempo signal and generates a clock siginal in the same way a gameboy would, so it pretends to be a gameboy. all gameboys connected to that clock signal will be sync'd

obviously there are a couple of other things, all linked gameboys must be running the same program (LSDJ) which is set to slave sync and is in waiting mode, and the gameboys need their data lines grounded i believe as well as a ground signal from the other gameboys and arduino. but again that could be done with a midi gameboy and a standard link cable, or some kind of link socket splitter thing.

but it would work with any gameboy you could have a midi DMG powering the arduinoboy, and then have it linked to a gameboy pocket, or SP

Go to forum: Trading Post

215 Reply by NeX

(106 replies, posted in Trading Post)

undergroundclouds wrote:

Just got one and I'm really happy with it. Haven't tested the nanoloop functions because I don't have nanoloop.

Question, though - is it possible to use one of these w/ Low-Gain's DMG-07 Gameboy Sync Box mod? http://www.flickr.com/photos/lameboymus … 419956111/  I tried to use it with a GBA SP and a DMG and the lights wouldn't come on. Not a big deal if it doesn't work (w/ LSDJ as slave I can use both off of one of your Arduinoboys w/ no extra cables!), but if there's a workaround I'd appreciate if you could point me toward it.

you would need something to sit between the arduinoboy and the DMG just to grab the clock and ground signal, then you could sync as many gameboys as you want from one arduinoboy.

and this really isn't ment to be a shameless plug or thread hijack, but because my midi gameboys have the arduinoboy wired inside, they leave the link port free to link with other gameboys, including with a DMG 07

Go to forum: Trading Post

216 Reply by NeX

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

BRKCOREKID wrote:

Dang? Who bought it!? Or are you not allowed to tell wink lol

well i think its best not to say who bought it, but it will be in the post to them tomorrow,

BUT if you would like a normal midi gameboy let me know smile i have a few more gameboys that need modding

Go to forum: Trading Post

217 Reply by NeX

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

gameboy is now sold!!!!!!

Go to forum: Trading Post

218 Reply by NeX

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

godinpants wrote:

Does this have the original link port? or is that taken up by the ps2 connection?

If the port itself is still there, would it be possible to to wire the output of the arduino in parallel to the link port(assuming you've disconnected the port from the pcb) so you could use the one midi connection to sync two gameboys to the one clock source?

this doesnt sound that clear. and im not sure how to make it clearer.


the original link port is there as stock, i remember trying it once with some of my other gameboys to link games like tetris and that worked fine,

it would link with other gameboys running LSDJ and effectively make that gameboy midi enabled too, as far as sync is conserned

this gameboy is special because it has a micro switch on the side where the arduino can be disconnected from the link port so the port can be used as normal

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

219 Reply by NeX

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

BRKCOREKID wrote:

Man, whats a price for that? Do I need to go in PM?

best to take it to PM or drop me a mail smile i prefer to do transactions off forum

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

220 Reply by NeX

(8 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

BRKCOREKID wrote:

It's a dream come true.

almost, you have to buy it and then all your dreams come true lol

Go to forum: Nintendo Handhelds

221 Reply by NeX

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

e.s.c. wrote:
NeX wrote:

well it was built purely for sale so i suppose that cant be helped.

the problem i have had before is when i have put a build blog up of something i am selling it gets moved to the for sale section. anything in the forsale section gets lost and people don't read it.

i wanted this project to inspire people (which is has on some other sites) but also i want it to sell because i need the money.

and actually the blog thread was up first, and i only post a build blog thread after i finish a project.

that wouldn't really be a blog thread so much then, as a thread about completed projects which you intend to sell...if in the past theyve been moved here by other staff members, that should have indicated to you that this is the proper place for those threads

does that mean that if something is for sale you can't post a completed project post in another part of the forum?

its just that even tho i intend to sell this, i still put a lot of work in it that i would like to post for other people even if they don't intend to buy it and like i said before trade threads die off, it would be no good people commenting on a trade thread about the project because comments on a trade thread should just be just about buying it.

i am not sure how else to go about posting it?

Go to forum: Trading Post

222 Reply by NeX

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

e.s.c. wrote:

(shrug) just thought i should point that out as a staff member
id agree with you IF the other thread had been in existence before this one, and upon completion of the unit you chose to sell it, but this just feels like two threads to get extra views and sell it faster

well it was built purely for sale so i suppose that cant be helped.

the problem i have had before is when i have put a build blog up of something i am selling it gets moved to the for sale section. anything in the forsale section gets lost and people don't read it.

i wanted this project to inspire people (which is has on some other sites) but also i want it to sell because i need the money.

and actually the blog thread was up first, and i only post a build blog thread after i finish a project.

Go to forum: Trading Post

223 Reply by NeX

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

e.s.c. wrote:

this really shouldnt be two threads. the for/sale trade one is where you should have all the info

the other post is a build blog which will be archived permenently in the gameboy section, the forsale threads die out so just the fact that it is for sale is listed here because it won't be for sale for ever.

Go to forum: Trading Post

224 Topic by NeX

(11 replies, posted in Trading Post)

this is my ultimate midi DMG for sale,

i will be listing this on ebay tomorrow evening but if anyone wants to make me an offer before i put it up you can contact me Ralph (dot) nex (at) gmail (dot) com

if someone had asked me to build this i would have turned them down because of the work, the only reason i am selling this is because i am going on holiday in 2 weeks and i need the money badly. so i will be selling this for less than i normally would.

i will not be making a gameboy like this for sale again, so this is a one off special edition!

if it doesn't sell in two weeks i will probably be keeping it for myself, i just need the money really badly right now.

this gameboy as everything,

biverted backlight
full midi support
pitch bent
duel prosound 3.5mm and 1/4"
and more!

for details and build pics see here:

http://chipmusic.org/forums/post/28320/#p28320

Go to forum: Trading Post