FALKEN said:
then is the question of where do you get the PCB's??
If you're using schematic capture software (eagle, orcad, or 20 other things), after you design the schematic, you can use the parts layout portion of the programs to draw the PCB, then "auto route" a board. You can take the output of this stage, and either send it to a place that makes PCB's. AP Circuits, EaglePCB, ExpressPCB are a few of about a zillion. Google for "printed circuit boards" without the quotes.
Here are some DIY links....
http://www.lvr.com/pcbs.htm
FALKEN said:
Can you get a per-chip PCB that just gives you the pinouts so you can do PTP wiring all-round?
Sure. Companies make little boards to solder DIPs, SIPs, TOC's, SMD and a variety of other chips with larger solder tabs around the perimeter of the boards. Another option (for DIPs anyway) is Radio Shack. They sell 1"x1" through 6"x8" through-hole copper clad circuit boards where each hole in the board has a copper pad under it, to solder the chips and other parts to, as well as wires. This is my preferred prototyping method. It's fast, it's soldered, no wirewrapping blah blah blah.
FALKEN said:
THEN is the question of the power supply?????????????????
My design, like most designs, will require a +/- 15V power supply. Not very difficult to make.
FALKEN said:
why do you always have to build your own?
Because wall warts absolutely suck. You can use two 15V wall warts and make a split power supply that way, however current will be limited and, well, they're wall warts.
You can buy commercially made power supplies for anything, you just have to research and hunt them down.
I have on my workbench a +/- split switching power supply that is very small, compact, and provides 8A for the +15V as well as the -15V. It's made by "Cosel", I think, and it's very small. But it's a switching power supply, switching in the 150Khz range... good enough for testing, not something I'd use in a completed design. For audio stuff, I prefer linear power supplies even though they are less efficient, just because I have a few working designs. As I finish sharing my console design on here (see link Ms. Hilarious was kind enough to give you) you'll see it.
FALKEN said:
I want it to accept balanced and unbalanced connections and I want it to produce an output that can interface with both balanced and unbalanced gear.
If you look at my line/tape input circuit (again, above link), you'll like that circuit quite a bit. It allows you to plug in balanced, or non-balanced no problem without attenuating the signal. Required a few extra parts but the end result is really useful.
A lot of the balanced designs out there really don't work well with non-balanced inputs - you lose some of the gain which of course, is an opportunity for more noise.
I was going to say "take a chill pill" and wait for me to get through the compressor, EQ and buss select modules of my design (on thread posted above) as the summing part would be after that... but I've been quite slow in keeping that thread going full speed.
The good news is I'm going to be posting the compressor and EQ modules in a few days... stripping out the digital control stuff was more difficult than I thought
In hindsight I should have started the thread off with "lets build a digitally controlled, analog mixer" rather than go through all this aggrevation. But oh well
