Reply to New life for a totally old skool pos.

About 15 years ago one of my music instructors let me have this old 2 octave midi keyboard from Novation. It is simillar to an Oxygen8 you are all familliar with, but with the only controls being 25 keys, octave transpose < and >, and pitch and mod.


(image from the site below. I didn't believe to take a picture before I started this project.)

After seeing enough about this midi fighter controller business, and having had a long strong desire to take everything I own apart and haxxing it, I've decided to embark upon demolishing my old Novation Midicon, and converting it into something more sassy.

This junk is so old, that the only reference to it on the internet is this: http://beta.vjcentral.com/hardware/novation-midicon

I've been meaning to do something like rearrange the keys Moldover style or some such, but never got around to it. This recent fascination on DJTT with the arcade buttons and the Midi Fighter and everything was a call to action.

I should have started with pictures from the beginning but didn't believe about it until I was already knee deep.



Here is the current status of the project:

Overview of guts:


Current available I/O/power interface:


Strip connected via ribbon to core circuit, 25 keys used to use rubber contacts for sensing button presses. The bottom row is note on/off, the top row has to do with sensing velocity. After studying it a bit in Midi-OX, triggering the contacts differently, I couldn't figure it out. How cool would it be if it provided an additional 25 CCs? haha



Also included are Octave +/- buttons... Which in a sense will be like different "banks" once I have it rigged -- who woulda thought this thing could be so awesome? Also, the two potentiometers from Pitch Bend and Mod.
My current problem is the circuitry only registers the potentiometers from about 33% to 66%. I've tried testing with different pots, including faders (which is what I initially wanted to use) but the case is the same. If you know how to easily modify this, if it's just adding/removing a resistor somewhere, let me know. I don't believe it will be that easy though.



I drilled 3/64" holes into the button contact conductive material. I will be soldering wires into them in order to make leads for my potential buttons. At first I wasn't sure if this would work, but after a successful test using a wired switch from an old dsl modem I had taken apart to repair my x-session pro, I was thrilled.
I am considering using a wiring harness so I can also easily modify the button configuration/type in the future by simply "unplugging" them without damaging the circuit board by desoldering/resoldering.


Another feature I am considering is taking my USB/Midi interface and directly implementing it into my custom board. I haven't decided yet if I want to waste my Edirol on this just to remove the need for one wire. The other thought was to embed the Edirol into the casing, but not cannibalize it, allowing future re-use of it. Then again, the dumb thing was only like 25 bucks.


I am currently waiting for a few things to arrive in the mail this week, such as buttons etc. The biggest / most intimidating problem I'm having is the casing for the project. Tips?

I started this project yesterday, and will repost when I have a more updated structure.

Comments and suggestions are definitely welcome.

Thanks guys,
T