hercules mk2 mod it or throw it on junk?
hercules mk2 mod it or throw it on junk? Posted on: 14.03.2012 by Virgie Hillhouse i bought a new midi controler herculers rmx.its a decent for the work i need but i have a hercules mk2 now sitting.so i thought if it is possible to make a new body for mk2 to rearange the button and knobs as i want it to use it as a simple midi control(traktor or ableton etc) so i use as main controler rmx and extra mk2.is this possible?will it work?has anyone done it?or should i take a hummer and smash it because if i try to sell it i ll get 30 bucks.any advice will do. | |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 28.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by gpapdj
quite funny really that any homebrew/gamepad based controller, and the mk2 ofc, can get twice the resolution out of the pots if mapping to pitch bend messages. since i'm sure *most* hardware samples to 256 and not 128 i wonder why most don't offer the *possibilty* at least to send out pitch bend messages (or other high res messages) |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 15.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by ToOntown
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| Virgie Hillhouse 14.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by deevey
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| Virgie Hillhouse 14.03.2012 | i bought a new midi controler herculers rmx.its a decent for the work i need but i have a hercules mk2 now sitting.so i thought if it is possible to make a new body for mk2 to rearange the button and knobs as i want it to use it as a simple midi control(traktor or ableton etc) so i use as main controler rmx and extra mk2.is this possible?will it work?has anyone done it?or should i take a hummer and smash it because if i try to sell it i ll get 30 bucks.any advice will do. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 28.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by gpapdj
quite funny really that any homebrew/gamepad based controller, and the mk2 ofc, can get twice the resolution out of the pots if mapping to pitch bend messages. since i'm sure *most* hardware samples to 256 and not 128 i wonder why most don't offer the *possibilty* at least to send out pitch bend messages (or other high res messages) |
| Virgie Hillhouse 28.03.2012 | well im glad i open you thoughts with this.if anyone mode it i would like to see it. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 18.03.2012 | who'd have thought that a lowly old herc mk2 could get higher res pitch faders i suspect most hardware will report values from 0 to 255 and we only get 0-127 due to constraints of a normal midi messages. i don't believe the extra res on the other pots makes much of a diff but could well do for pitch faders... the buttons are all handled by bytes 1 to 4 of the hid status so i'm 99% sure that i'll be able to send those same 4 bytes back to light up the button led's. i wanted to add pitch bend message stuff to midimasher anyway and now i have these pitch faders that i can use to test with traktor, so i have no excuse now (apart from time ofc) i really was hoping to be able to get something extra out of the jogs in hid mode but i guess not... this kind of trick should i presume work for any controller that *isnt* midi class compliant and so needs an extra driver to translate to midi. midimasher is just replacing the work of that driver really... almost make me want to pick up a novation nocturn now to play with in hid mode - as that doesn't even *have* a midi driver, it relies on automap, but there's too much other good stuff being released soon to save up for |
| Shonda Soulier 18.03.2012 | that's really interesting about the pitch faders. nice to see you running with this. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 18.03.2012 | i have my mk2 running via midimasher with a hid config file now and works quite well. with twice the resolution for the pitch faders (and all the other pots and cross fader) that's the same as the custom vci100 firmware isn't it? still some lag on the jogs, no improvement there i don't believe, but seems more down to the lack of resolution they have. they only seem to send out around 46 ticks per revolution which isn't too much. in hid mode they send out absolute messages that goes from 0 to 255 and jumps back down to 0 after about 5.5 revolutions. i've added midimasher code to translate those to normal relative midi messages. no 'out's yet to light up the buttons, but now i have a controller i can debug with i'll be adding that capability to midimasher. only had a cheapo gamepad to test it's hid functionality before. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 16.03.2012 | in hid mode u can actually get twice the resolution out of all the faders and pots - not bad - if they all get sent to traktor as pitch bend messages. the resolution of the jogs seems the same tho. suddenly makes it a more appealing controller to mod |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 16.03.2012 | this thread made me believe about my mk2 again so i just plugged it into my linux laptop without any herc drivers installed... pretty cool as it can just be read as a HID device and the jogs don't seem to be laggy any more... off to create a midimasher hid mode devices file for it and give it a go in HID mode... i presume it can be used in HID mode on windows so long as the hercules drivers aren't installed... odd tho as i thought only the mk1 *needed* a driver to show up as midi. Code:
$ ./hiddump 1: Hercules DJ Console Mk2 2: Hercules DJ Console Mk2 choose a device: 1 opening device... 01 80 00 00 00 00 7c 98 72 96 6f 86 00 00 43 00 00 d7 ff 80 80 01 00 00 00 00 00 7c 98 72 96 6f 86 00 00 43 00 00 d7 ff 80 80 01 00 01 00 00 00 7c 98 72 96 6f 86 00 00 43 00 00 d7 ff 80 80 01 00 00 00 00 00 7c 98 72 96 6f 86 00 00 43 00 00 d7 ff 80 80 01 00 00 00 00 00 7c 98 72 96 6f 86 00 00 43 00 00 d6 ff 80 80 |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 15.03.2012 | if you are feeling gutsy I suggest getting a used efx1000, and replacing the insides with the herc, so you have a midi efx1000... I have a 1000 that has been sitting dormant since i went midi, it is such a great interface for an effect controller, it's a real shame it isn't midi capable... |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 15.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by ToOntown
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| Shonda Soulier 15.03.2012 | Seems that somebody has already busted it open - http://community
.djranking
s.com/showthread.php?t=17487 zestoi - this guy? |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 15.03.2012 | i still use mine as a soundcard and even if/when i get something else (like a K2) i'll still probably keep it. certainly too good to just trash... i remember seeing some video on youtube ages ago of something who did a major mod using a mk2. |
| Shonda Soulier 14.03.2012 | It's probable that you can mod that puppy. If you're considering throwing it away might as well open her up and show us her insides! By my count you can get 28 digital outputs (buttons), 14 analog (knobs/faders - this includes the knobs on the front and the joystick), 4 encoders (2 jogs, and I'm assuming those pitch knobs are endless as well). Plus a bunch of LED outs and a built-in soundcard... Somebody may want to confirm who owns one??? So take off all the caps and remove the screws, get it down to the circuit board, take some good quality pics, and take advantage of this community . I'm sure people will give you input on designs and such--me included! |
| Virgie Hillhouse 14.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by deevey
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| Rolanda Clodfelder 14.03.2012 | Assumming you mean DJ controller Mk2 and not the "Mp3" mk2 You could Throw the guts inside a broken cheap mixer body e.g. Behringer VMX200 (should be lots of them ) The Mk2 was actually pretty "ok" apart from only USB1 .. I sold mine to a guy who wanted it as a 5.1 sound card, the phono preamp inputs are a nice addition they can be used for timecode with Mixxx, Mixvibes, Torq or VDJ. |
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