1 How to build a Zynthian (Prototype-3)

Manual is currently in development! (20150406)

This is the manual how I build my Zynthian. It works for me but I and noone else will and can guarantee that everything is working on your side. So be warned: You do everything on your own risk!!!

1.1 Prerequisites

Want to join the Zynthian community? No problem! Building your own Zynthian is not very difficult.

1.1.1 Required competences

For building the hardware you should have the following competences:

Soldering
Basic understanding of reading electronic circuit diagrams
Enjoyment of work with electronic hardware and parts

1.1.2 Tools

Screw drivers
Soldering iron
Tin-solder
Side cutter
Magnifiying glass

1.2 Hardware

1.2.1 Bill of Material

Here is a list of the hardware components you will need to build the Zynthian device. I also provided links to my suppliers and the prices I paid for the components in February 2016. I bought everything from Germany, so all descriptions are in German and prices are in EUR. If you live in another country maybe you'll get things even cheaper.

No	Shipper	Order no.	Description	Pieces	Price per piece [€]
1	http://www.reichelt.de	1N 4148	Planar Epitaxial Schaltdiode, DO35, 100V, 0,15A	1	0,04
2	http://www.reichelt.de	6N 138	OPTOKOPPLER	1	0,58
3	http://www.reichelt.de	RASPBERRY PI 2	Raspberry Pi 2, 4x 900 MHz, 1 GB RAM	1	37,50
4	http://www.reichelt.de	RPI HB DAC+ RCA	HiFiBerry DAC+ RCA, Raspberry Pi Shield	1	35,90
5	http://www.reichelt.de	1/4W 220	Kohleschichtwiderstand 1/4W, 5%, 220 Ohm	1	0,10
6	http://www.reichelt.de	1/4W 1,0K	Kohleschichtwiderstand 1/4W, 5%, 1,0 K-Ohm	1	0,10
7	http://www.reichelt.de	1/4W 10K	Kohleschichtwiderstand 1/4W, 5%, 10 K-Ohm	1	0,10
8	http://www.reichelt.de	MKS-02 100N	WIMA Folienkondensator, Rm 2,5mm 100nF	4	0,15
9	http://www.reichelt.de	GS 18P	IC-Sockel, 18-polig, superflach, gedreht, vergold.	1	0,32
10	http://www.reichelt.de	GS 8P	IC-Sockel, 8-polig, superflach, gedreht, vergold.	1	0,19
11	http://www.reichelt.de	SL 2X25G 2,54	2x25pol.-Stiftleiste, gerade, RM 2,54	1	0,24
12	http://www.reichelt.de	MAB 5S	DIN-Buchse, 5-polig	1	0,24
13 (OPTIONAL)	http://www.reichelt.de	NTA 176	6,3 Mono-Klinken-Bu. auf Cinch-St.	2	0,35
14	http://www.reichelt.de	NT MUSB 2 SW	Micro-USB Steckernetzteil, schwarz, 5 V, 2 A	1	8,40
15	http://www.segor.de	MCP23008-E/P	MCP23008 8 port I2C-GPIO extender	1	2,10
16	http://www.amazon.de	Adafruit PiTFT 2.8"	Adafruit PiTFT Touchscreen Display, 2,8 Zoll, für Raspberry Pi Computer	1	32,00
17	http://www.ebay.de	12mm Rotary Encoder Switch	Rotary Encoder with switch, 20 steps	4	0,60
18	http://www.ebay.de	Poti knob	Poti knob for Rotary encoder (Pos. 17)	4	1,50
19	http://blog.zynthian.org	Encoder PCB	PCB for encoders	2	10,00
20	http://blog.zynthian.org	2in1 PCB	PCB for MIDI and GPIO extension	1	10,00
21	http://blog.zynthian.org	Main Bus Ribbon Cable	Raspberry Main Bus Ribbon Cable	1	20,00
22	http://blog.zynthian.org	Mini-ribbon cable	Mini-ribbon cable (6 pin female connector to 6 female jumper connectors	3	3,00
23	http://www.saturn.de	SD card	Samsung 32GB SD card	1	14,00
24	-	Short connector cables	Connector cables pin-female/pin-female for MIDI and external GPIO connector from 2in1 board	4	??,??
25	-	Multi-pin connector	1x40pol.-Stiftleiste, gerade, RM 2,54	1	??,??

Notes:

Pos. 19-22 were ordered directly from Zynthian.
There is no case in this BoM - You have to build your own.
Total price was 200,27 € (plus shipping).

1.3 Implement and soldering of the PCBs

1.3.1 Step 1: 2in1 board

1.3.1.1 You need:

1 * 2in1 PCB (Pos. 20)
2 * 100nF capacitor (Pos. 8)
1 * multi-pin 2 pins wide (part of Pos. 24)
1 * multi-pin 6 pins wide (part of Pos. 24)
1 * multi-pin 8 pins wide (part of Pos. 24)
1 * resistor 10 kOhm (brown-black-orange-gold, Pos. 7)
1 * resistor 1 kOhm (brown-black-red-gold, Pos. 6)
1 * resistor 220 Ohm (red-red-black-gold, Pos. 5)
1 * diode 1N4148 (Pos. 1)
1 * IC socket 8 pins (Pos. 10)
1 * IC socket 18 pins (Pos. 9)
1 * IC 6N138 (Pos. 2)
1 * IC MCP23008 (Pos. 15)
2 * Connector cable pin-female/pin-female
1 * MIDI socket (DIN socket 5pins)
1 * 2in1 PCB (Pos. 20)

1.3.1.2 HowTo:

Start with assembling the diode onto the PCB. Be careful to do this the right way - the small black (or white) stripe on one side of the diode must fit the same side of the white stripe on the PCB!
After that solder the resistors.
Then assemble the IC sockets, but do not put the ICs inside. We will do this at the end of this task.
After that, solder the capacitors and the multi-pin-rows.
Now insert the ICs into the socket. Be careful to put them weith the notch on the IC towards the hole of the white rectangle showing on the PCB!

For the MIDI socket you have to cut of one side of the female/female pin-connector and solder it on the DIN-socket. Connect them to pin 5 (2nd from left) and pin 4 (2nd from right).

1.3.2 Step 2: Encoder boards

1.3.2.1 You need (for one Encoder PCB:

2 * Rotary Encoder with switch (Pos. 17)
2 * 100nF capacitor (Pos. 8)
1 * multi-pin 6 pins wide (part of Pos. 24)
1 * multi-pin 2 pins wide (part of Pos. 24)
1 * Encoder PCB (Pos. 19)

1.3.2.2 HowTo:

Notice! Due to the mounting of the encoders on a front panel, the 6-pin-row must be soldered from the bottom of the PCB (pin counting will be 1..6 from the lower side of the PCB!). The picture below shows the WRONG component side! (newer images will follow)
The order of the following steps is not important: Solder the capacitors, the 2-pin-rows and the Encoders on the board (on the upper side) - that's it.
You have to do this twice - you need two encoder boards.

1.3.3 Step 3: Pin row on the Hifiberry

1.3.3.1 You need:

1 * HiFiBerry DAC+ RCA, Raspberry Pi Shield (Pos. 4)
1 * 2x25pol.-Stiftleiste, gerade, RM 2,54 (Pos. 11)

1.3.3.2 HowTo:

For this part you should have some time. It will be very worse when damaging the Hifiberry!
First of all: cut the 2*25 pin-row to 2*20 pin (perhaps with a cutter).
Place the pin-row on the Hifiberry and start to solder on the back of the Hifiberry. I used to solder pins which are not next together to avoid hot spots. You also can pause some time for cooling down the area you soldered last.

1.3.4 Checking everything

Congratulations - half the way done!

Now you should check everything you soldered twice:

Is everything soldered right?
Are there small shortcuts from soldering iron? Fix them by removing!
Is the diode on the 2in1-PCB in the right direction
Are the ICs showing the right direction?
Are all pins of the ICs in their socket?

Hints:

Take magnifying glass and bright light for checking.

1.4 Connecting the cables

1.4.1 You need:

1 * Raspberry Pi 2 (Pos. 3)
1 * HiFiBerry DAC+ RCA (Pos. 4)
1 * Adafruit PiTFT Touchscreen Display, 2,8 Zoll (Pos. 16)
1 * Raspberry Main Bus Ribbon Cable (Pos. 21)
3 * Mini-ribbon cable (6 pin female connector to 6 female jumper connectors(Pos. 22)
2 * Connector cables pin-female/pin-female (Pos. 24)

1.4.2 Raspberry Pi and Hifiberry DAC+

Put the Hifiberry DAC+ onto the Raspberry Pi. With the Hifiberry there come 4 distance pieces and 4 screws (all plastic). Put them together as shown in the following picture.

1.4.3 TFT

Time for connecting thesuitable main-ribbon-cable with the (female) 40-pin-connector onto the Hifiberry. At the end of the cable is a (female) 26-pin-connector. This one must be connected onto the PiTFT. If you have a clone PiTFT which has no suitable port you have to solder one or use a gender changer. The original PiTFT has both versions of connector.

1.4.4 2in1

The 2in1-PCB must be connected using one of the mini-ribbon cables. The 6-pin connector must be located towards the PCB. Pin 1 is on the left bottom (component side up). On the other end of the cable are 1-pin female connectors. They must be connected onto the following pins on the (male) 40-pin-conenctor in the middle of the main-ribbon cable.

Wire no.	Function	GPIO no.	Pin on Raspi no.
1	Vdc 3.3V	3.3V	1
2	RxD	RxD	10
3	I2C SDA1	09	5
4	I2C SCL1	08	13
5	Vdc 5V	%v	2/4
6	GND	GND	6/9

400px

Next connect the DIN socket (MIDI) onto the 2in1-PCB. The connector on the PCB is the 2-pin one located on the upper right of the PCB.

Wire no.	Function	MIDI-IN pin no.
1	MIDI-IN-5	5 (MIDI connector: 2nd from left)
2	RxD	4 (MIDI connector: 2nd from right)

1.4.5 Controller

This is a little bit tricky. Depending on you setup it maybe useful to put the 6-pin-row on the back of the PCB. So you can front mount the encoders. I haven't done this: I used to bend the 6-pin-row by 90 degree. The original Zynthian does this not - so the counting is changed!

Looking on the top of the PCB with the 6-pin-row down:

Mounting the 6-pin-row on top of the PCB: Pin counting starts on the right of the row!
Mounting the 6-pin-row on the back of the PCB: Pin counting starts on the left of the row!

1.4.5.1 Controller 1

Wire no.	Function	GPIO no.	Pin on Raspi no.
1	Enc1-B	25	37
2	ENC1-A	27	36
3	Enc1-SW	23	33
4	Enc2-B	26	32
5	Enc2-A	21	29
6	GND	GND	30

Wire no.	Function	Pin on 2in1
1	GND	-
2	Enc2-SW	X07

1.4.5.2 Controller 2

Wire no.	Function	GPIO no.	Pin on Raspi no.
1	Enc1-B	04	16
2	ENC1-A	03	15
3	Enc1-SW	02	13
4	Enc2-B	00	11
5	Enc2-A	07	07
6	GND	GND	14

Wire no.	Function	Pin on 2in1
1	GND	-
2	Enc2-SW	X08