Bryan's Caruso Massimo Build

[EpicenterBryan]

It's time to share details about the mystery USB touch screens for my Caruso Massimo Build!
These mystery devices are not just USB touch screen displays as I have lead you to believe. These are tailored for audio use and have many audio related functions built in, right from the start!

Before you look at the photos, let me say these displays look awesome. My cell phone camera does not do them justice.

Each display has 2 sets of inputs. Each set has L and R - for a total of 4 audio channels per display. The display can act on one (mono), 2 channels (stereo) and either set of stereo inputs, or the display can also act on the difference (differential mode) between 2 channels.

The displays are pre-loaded with a ton of screen examples so you can use them right out of the box. All the presets can be customized, order changed, loaded, deleted and so on with software and the USB interface, but there is a menu structure where you can get to most of what you need without the USB interface at all, including changing input gain, selecting channels and such. But those parameters can be set up in advance and downloaded to the presets as well.

This display can operate in many modes:
In this first shot you see two version of a spectrum analyzer, dual channels on one display, single channel on the other. The low and high frequencies can be specified, so if you want to easily switch ranges to zoom in on mid range as an example, you can have a separate screen for that without needing to go through the menu to change things. In this picture are some other modes like an oscope. It seams to sync on channel 1, and has no displayed time base so it's not really useful. There are other similar modes, some look like strip chart recorders, and some others that are obviously just for looks.

LCD display 1.jpg

The next shot shows some VU meter modes. Notice these can have different looks including background images or colors. Everything can be changed including range, font colors and such.

LCD display 2.jpg

Here are some additional meter styles that were just added in V1.1 firmware. A few things to note. Mine shipped with V1.0 so the analog VU functionality, and also the power measurement functions were not installed. When I tried to update the firmware, the updater caused a C runtime error so I E-mailed the company about it (and a few other things). Today they replied, fixed the updater and are looking into the other little issues. That's some great response time! Also notice they added frequency counters!

Now, the analog VU's are really a background image that the needle is put on top, so by changing the background image you can also change the look.

LCD display 4.jpg

As I mentioned, there is a menu structure. The touch screen has several active zones. Touching on the right side switches to the next program. Touching in the center brings up the first menu. Touching the top brings up a mini menu and info on the active display. Here is a shot of a few deeper menus where you can change the channel, gain and such.

LCD display 5.jpg

Continued in next post:

[EpicenterBryan]

Continued from previous post:

There is also an XY plot function!

LCD display 3.jpg

So the big question is where did I get these and how much do they cost?

http://sch-remote.com/Color-LCD-touchscreen-VU-meter---Oscilloscope---Real-time-analyzer---Envelope---Goniometer-PID-EVOR04.php

I actually bought mine from them on E-bay.
The company is located in Burgaria, so shipping to the west coast took about 6 weeks. The cost was $84.50 each including shipping!

The data sheet is here:
http://sch-remote.com/doc/EVOR04%20Datasheet.pdf
And an interesting application note on using this for power measurement is here:
http://sch-remote.com/doc/EVOR04%20Measure%20power.pdf

Enjoy!!!

Bryan

[Soulbear]

Hey Bryan,
I've been toying with the the idea of using these gizmo's for a day or two, being a bit of an antique and somewhat of a technophobe I'd more or less decided against them, and was gonna bite the bullet and raid the piggy bank for a brace of the great looking Coleman MBP2 VU meters. Now reading your glowing appraisal and evaluation of these gizmo's I'm back to being totally undecided!!!! INDEED!!!

[Sillitoe]

Thanks for sharing Bryan, they look great. I might use them too.

[EpicenterBryan]

Some good progress today.

Wow, that was a lot of holes. Here is a shot before final cleanup and paint.

IMG_3428.JPG

Inside front panel. Let the wiring begin.

IMG_3432.JPG

No, it's not wired up yet, but here is what it will look like with fresh front panel paint!
Man, do I need to add a VU illumination dimmer for my LED upgrade. Looked great on the bench but way too bright. Three warm white LED's per VU.

I'm thinking about blacking out the stainless screws for the touch panels, since the drill bit wandered and it would be less noticeable if the screws were black. Too much black?

IMG_3431.JPG

And I totally dig those KnobPots!

IMG_3433.JPG

Now back to the weekend project - wiring the beast.

Bryan

[EpicenterBryan]

Caruso Massimo is beginning to look more and more like this. Perhaps all the knobs are not need after all.

Man_Woman.jpg

[ROLANDJAYS]

Wow that looks pretty bad Ass . How much would this go for if for sale?,

[Bahndahn]

Awesome work Bryan! You have inspired me to make a little control panel for my build

Wow that looks pretty bad Ass . How much would this go for if for sale?,

Those Bourns Knobpots are $50+ a piece, 8 of them.. Touch panels, VU's, Carusos, VU drivers, IO connectivity, multi-position switches, custom case, power supply, etc. + all the top quality handy work. The math could be done yet the one-of-a-kind nature makes this priceless!

Beauty.

[dimi751]

Hi Bryan

Nice job ! I love the tidy metal work
You did on the front facia wow !

Can I please ask what tool you used to make The rectangular hole for the vu meter ? It look perfecto job

Dimi

[EpicenterBryan]

Can I please ask what tool you used to make The rectangular hole for the vu meter ? It look perfecto job

Hi dimi,
thanks for the nice comment. I used my Enco mill with a 1/8" end mill. The corners I squared up with a file since the the corners had a radius. I clamped a piece of plywood on the mill and screwed the panel down to it after making sure it was on straight. Until now have really only used the mill like a big drill press. Great tool but a big learning curve. I broke several end mills in the process. Perhaps it was the hi quality of the Chinese bits I bought, perhaps it was my lack of experience (more likely).

Bryan

[dimi751]

Hi Bryan

Thanks for your help here appreciate it.

Dimi

[EpicenterBryan]

I ran out of crimp pins for the DuPont connectors Sunday but made some progress anyway, and more tonight.

Here is an in-progress shot of the front panel. Lots of shields to connect (black wires) and still need to wire the VU's, LCD panels, VU level controls and such.

IMG_3435.JPG

I made a few decisions that further define things. First, I added a connection on the Caruso boards for the Main ModOut signal. There is still a connection for Feedback Mon Level but it is not connected. So the VU meter 5 position switches now operate like this:

1.) Line In
2). Output (ModOut)
3). Feedback level
4). Drive Level
5). RESERVED

Also note there is an extra unused wafer on both switches that has 2 circuits, each with 5 positions that can be used later.

I also decided that since I plan to use the LCD displays mainly in Spectrum mode, I am reserving Line input 2 (L and R) for future use (like measuring power at the head). The LCD now mirrors the VU source selected by the 5 position switch. VU by the mechanical meters below, and the spectrum for the same pair above on LCD (normally).

I discovered that although I thought I had the ideal spacers to mount the touchscreens, I needed to add washers to increase the distance between the display and the front panel. On power up, one display thought I was touching it which caused it to go into a mode waiting for a firmware update.

I also wanted to note that last week the company that makes these responded to another issue I raised related to XP drivers. Within a day, they sent me updated drivers. Impressive customer service.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a shot of some of the Caruso and VU driver wiring.
The Caruso boards can come in and out, but only by removing the top one and rotating it back toward you (as in this photo). in that position the bottom connections can be removed. Then the bottom board can be removed. It's a pain, but an OK tradeoff for access.

The VU driver board "airspace" is starting to get crowded. There are 8 more cables to build, route and connect. I wouldn't do it this way next time but it will work.

IMG_3436.JPG

Bryan

[EpicenterBryan]

More wiring progress on the front panel.
What's left is the VU illumination power, Front panel on-off AC, and the Caruso RIAA on/off. YAY!
I'm skipping the LED peak indicators for now...

Oh, and testing... let's not forget that.

IMG_3442.JPG

Bryan

[EpicenterBryan]

Wow that looks pretty bad Ass . How much would this go for if for sale?,

Wow, I'm flattered you would be interested. I could only estimate the part costs at this point - I stopped counting hours long ago. In fact, I haven't even spent the time to do a full schematic for this... built by hand with some notes, and schematics for key things like the Caruso boards - the Opamp boards (with my mods for VU), what color wire connects to what, and so on. Obviously if I ever plan to make more than one of anything I spend that time up front on the documentation. In this case, I don't plan to make another one so I just build and document what I think I might need to remember in the future as I go. At this point in my life I don't always need a schematic to figure out what is going on as long as it organized / wired in a logical fashion.

I'm sure you operate the same way. You know your mechanical craft and your machines. I bet you tweak your prototypes on the fly as you build them, and adjust your CNC files and drawings when you are ready (or need to ) make many identical units and use measurements from your prototype. Am I right?

That does bring up an interesting topic.

What do you guys really need / want in a box that you can't get from making your own with stock Caruso boards?

The Caruso boards are great. They have the RIAA pre curve built in, and the ability to strip it...The mixer is built in as well. Since I'm a visual guy, I wanted to add VU's. Although I realize that when everything is set once with the adjusters on the Caruso boards it's a done deal... I wanted them brought to the front just because I could. But I also wanted the whole thing to look cool... And since I needed to calibrate the VU sources and I already had those super cool looking KnobPots, I decided to put those up front for those functions. Those could be simple trimmers on the driver board for the VU's.

Comments?

[opcode66]

-Phono pickups with the same switchable riaa as the feedback

-VU's

-Peak Merers

-Ability to switch the monitor source

-Output jacks going to power amp, inputs from power amp, loop through ammeters and fuses (better yet electrical circuit breakers), output jacks to cutterhead

-Two ac bridge networks for determining the drive coil temperatures. Meters to display temps.

-Attenuated sine wave generator, switchable between 1k and 5k with dedicated output jack. Useful for calibration.

-A non-feedback model useful for metering, head protection, pre amp and riaa.

Some of this is in your build. Some is not. None is on the caruso boards alone (with the exception of the riaa mentioned above).

[opcode66]

Forgot one.... If we are shooting for the moon here, may as well add a heating wire power supply with potentiometer and ammeter.

[Bahndahn]

Forgot one.... If we are shooting for the moon here, may as well add a heating wire power supply with potentiometer and ammeter.

A-hah! +1 on the heating wire power and control.

May as well have those little fuse container things that allow for fuse changing.

[Bahndahn]

Oh breakers/fuses, already mentioned. Breakers are a nice idea.

[EpicenterBryan]

Thanks for all the inputs guys... I'm starting a list based on everyone's inputs... Will go over stuff in a future post.

Tonight, a quick update.
A few failures and fixes to share...

First off, somehow I got my CW and CCW terminals mixed up on my super cool KnobPots. So increasing them reduced gain for the VU drive. Dumb. Easy fix but I would suggest not shrinking the tubing until you check yourself. Make the mistake once, and you duplicate the mistake.

IMG_3446.JPG

Next up, test your Chinese switchs before spending the time soldering everything. I found the switch for the right meter source had a bad pole on the upper wafer (only after soldering everything). There is a lower spare wafer I could move all the connections to (and I may still do that), but I repaired the switch by using a curved dental pick to pull the contact up near the solder point, while pushing down the wafer contact with a screw driver. Now the pole makes good contact. China - my bad.

IMG_3445.JPG

Next up, and most annoying - I had run out of my favorite Dupont pins, and my local electronics store was closed on Sunday. Monday, some I had ordered a few weeks before arrived, so I started using them. But I also bought some more locally early in the week so I wouldn't run out.

IMG_3449.JPG

Some where in there, I discovered the ones I used on Monday were causing problems... And it turned out they are not the same pins and although they fit the connector body and can be crimped with the same tool, they do not fit in the same position in the connector and do not mate correctly if the header pins are short - would work if the header pins were longer...

In this shot you can see the difference.

IMG_3450.JPG

So I have to go over the cables and pins on all the cables I made and installed this week to make sure the correct pin was crimped on the cables. I hate re-doing stuff...
CONTINUED ON NEXT POST:

[EpicenterBryan]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST:

And to add insult to injury, my super cool SwitchCraft old school switches I have been saving for decades, turned out to have enough mechanical issues I decided to ditch them for normal looking On/Off units that fit the same holes I already drilled.

IMG_3451.JPG

Although I may still look for cooler looking On/Off nomenclature plates, I may also go with some military looking "flip up to destroy the wold" type switch guards if they still work in the space where I have already drilled holes.

Comments?