Preview of our homebrewed controllers

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Preview of our homebrewed controllers
Posted on: 06.08.2012 by Santiago Brasier
After a few weeks of work we are now almost finished with our first controller builds.

They are based on the Teensy++2.0
Built together with johansked here on the community .

One is Midifighterish and one is a two channel mixer with some buttons for basic stuff. Mappings are not done yet. But there will be multiple layers in firmware so squeezing in loads of stuff should be doable.

Hope you like it!

//Joel

_DSC3903-2.jpg
_DSC3906-2.jpg
kollage.jpg
Mirta Heidenrich
14.08.2012
Originally Posted by zestoi
not sure about where to get other types of buttons that are good from, never really looked i guess. personally i wouldn't buy a "mixer style" controller that didn't have faders. i know some people like rotary mixers, but then u need some really nice big fat pots; most people would prefer faders tho i suspect.

a scratch dj mixer is a whole different kettle of fish ofc - you'd then need loads more space around the crossfader and really nice smooth/loose xfader and upfaders.

faders may take up quite a bit of room but most people would probably go for those over pots...

ah - if u just mean pots instead of faders for that midi fighter style one - then that's probably a good plan... don't really need faders on that one imho.
A scratch dj mixer / controller - thats what I am looking for. And I cant find anything I like (I dont need jogwheels, I need space around the faders, cuebuttons, some effect knobs and a short way to my turntables).
I like the idea of that mixer style controller on the picture. Maybe a shift button in the middle can bring more functions to the system

I am looking for buttons too. Arcade buttons are much too big. I thought of taking these tactile buttons with LEDs (white/red/blue/orange/green): https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10442
But they are a litte expensive (I can get them in Germany for 2€/piece) - does anyone know somebelieve similar?
I like the buttons because they are small and with colored LED.

I ordered a A&H XONE22 crossfader. http://www.thomann.de/de/allenheath_...er_xone_22.htm
45mm, A&H quality (not as good as a proXfade - but for 22€ its a very good thing).

Any other ideas?
Iraida Woike
13.08.2012
Originally Posted by zestoi
true i guess - tho it wouldn't hurt for a few more controllers to have the option of arcade buttons. i love the arcade buttons on my midifighter *but* they're too big really to replace all buttons on a controller - and you really don't need arcade buttons everywhere. i'd rather have multi coloured led feedback on a bunch of more rubbery buttons than arcade buttons everywhere tbh.
I find it hard to find good buttons that are not arcades. Maybe I have to read out the internet like my friend Joel. Do you have any tips?

Yea different layers are good. Like for this midi fighter clone the two blue buttons are hardware modifiers that depends on eachother. But I tend to not like working with layers when I dj. To much to get confused about. But if you want it compact then that is the way to go I guess.
Chasidy Heckenbach
13.08.2012
Originally Posted by ToOntown
I believe you're onto something cool, but just once I would love it if a prototype looked nothing like a midi-fighter.

Just my two cents.
true i guess - tho it wouldn't hurt for a few more controllers to have the option of arcade buttons. i love the arcade buttons on my midifighter *but* they're too big really to replace all buttons on a controller - and you really don't need arcade buttons everywhere. i'd rather have multi coloured led feedback on a bunch of more rubbery buttons than arcade buttons everywhere tbh.
Kenya Bridgers
14.08.2012		What about touch snesitive buttons anyone have any ideas on that? I'm posting in a youtube video toevening so i can tell people my idea i was going to go with arcade buttons but i tihnk id rather have something different that others don't haver on there's.
Mirta Heidenrich
14.08.2012
Originally Posted by zestoi
not sure about where to get other types of buttons that are good from, never really looked i guess. personally i wouldn't buy a "mixer style" controller that didn't have faders. i know some people like rotary mixers, but then u need some really nice big fat pots; most people would prefer faders tho i suspect.

a scratch dj mixer is a whole different kettle of fish ofc - you'd then need loads more space around the crossfader and really nice smooth/loose xfader and upfaders.

faders may take up quite a bit of room but most people would probably go for those over pots...

ah - if u just mean pots instead of faders for that midi fighter style one - then that's probably a good plan... don't really need faders on that one imho.
A scratch dj mixer / controller - thats what I am looking for. And I cant find anything I like (I dont need jogwheels, I need space around the faders, cuebuttons, some effect knobs and a short way to my turntables).
I like the idea of that mixer style controller on the picture. Maybe a shift button in the middle can bring more functions to the system

I am looking for buttons too. Arcade buttons are much too big. I thought of taking these tactile buttons with LEDs (white/red/blue/orange/green): https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10442
But they are a litte expensive (I can get them in Germany for 2€/piece) - does anyone know somebelieve similar?
I like the buttons because they are small and with colored LED.

I ordered a A&H XONE22 crossfader. http://www.thomann.de/de/allenheath_...er_xone_22.htm
45mm, A&H quality (not as good as a proXfade - but for 22€ its a very good thing).

Any other ideas?
Chasidy Heckenbach
13.08.2012		not sure about where to get other types of buttons that are good from, never really looked i guess. personally i wouldn't buy a "mixer style" controller that didn't have faders. i know some people like rotary mixers, but then u need some really nice big fat pots; most people would prefer faders tho i suspect.

a scratch dj mixer is a whole different kettle of fish ofc - you'd then need loads more space around the crossfader and really nice smooth/loose xfader and upfaders.

faders may take up quite a bit of room but most people would probably go for those over pots...

ah - if u just mean pots instead of faders for that midi fighter style one - then that's probably a good plan... don't really need faders on that one imho.
Iraida Woike
13.08.2012
Originally Posted by zestoi
true i guess - tho it wouldn't hurt for a few more controllers to have the option of arcade buttons. i love the arcade buttons on my midifighter *but* they're too big really to replace all buttons on a controller - and you really don't need arcade buttons everywhere. i'd rather have multi coloured led feedback on a bunch of more rubbery buttons than arcade buttons everywhere tbh.
I find it hard to find good buttons that are not arcades. Maybe I have to read out the internet like my friend Joel. Do you have any tips?

Yea different layers are good. Like for this midi fighter clone the two blue buttons are hardware modifiers that depends on eachother. But I tend to not like working with layers when I dj. To much to get confused about. But if you want it compact then that is the way to go I guess.
Iraida Woike
13.08.2012
I believe you're onto something cool, but just once I would love it if a prototype looked nothing like a midi-fighter.

Just my two cents.
Yeah I agree with you but this was what I needed for my setup. But now when everything is done I would not build it like this. For example I would not use fader. I find faders pointless, unless your a scratch dj. Encoders do the same job and take up less space.. Now I would rather have an eq section and some encoders where the faders are. I guess you always wants to do things different when you are done. That is what keeps you building more stuff
Chasidy Heckenbach
13.08.2012
Originally Posted by ToOntown
I believe you're onto something cool, but just once I would love it if a prototype looked nothing like a midi-fighter.

Just my two cents.
true i guess - tho it wouldn't hurt for a few more controllers to have the option of arcade buttons. i love the arcade buttons on my midifighter *but* they're too big really to replace all buttons on a controller - and you really don't need arcade buttons everywhere. i'd rather have multi coloured led feedback on a bunch of more rubbery buttons than arcade buttons everywhere tbh.
Shonda Soulier
13.08.2012		I believe you're onto something cool, but just once I would love it if a prototype looked nothing like a midi-fighter.

Just my two cents.
Kenya Bridgers
12.08.2012		Hey! this was the project i was going to work on check out my thread when i load up my sketchs my idea was a little different. you guys might like to take a look ill upload it tomorrow.
Random X
08.08.2012		Loving the first, mixer like, controller.

Let me know how that one goes.
Mirta Heidenrich
08.08.2012		Hey there!
Looks great! I got my Teensyboard at home and did not start building a controller yet.

What kind of faders did you use?
Can I ask you for help when I start writing code for my controller project?

Cheers!
Santiago Brasier
08.08.2012		We ended up using the 4051B for both my mixer and Johans gridcontroller. For future builds we would use one with more channels. However this build didn't call for it.

Thanks for the kind words!
Cheers
Brendan Andrascik
08.08.2012		Hey Joel! Really amazing job there! Looks really nicely built, love it, specially the mixer controller! Looks like a really fun build.
Which multiplexer did you use for those?
Santiago Brasier
06.08.2012		Zestoi, that's very useful to make my mixer working properly in mixxx! Thanks!
And you are right, they are centered sending 127/1 (7F/01) if I recall the hex numbers right.

Cheers
Era Roka
06.08.2012		Alreadey checked out the umc32+ but not enough controls for me. I'm gonna give it a try
Santiago Brasier
06.08.2012		W, would love to see a sketch of your controller! Always interesting to see how others believe! Feel free to send PM if you like.

Cheers
Dorcas Bassignani
06.08.2012		the second one looks kinda familiar...

like the concept of the mixer
Santiago Brasier
06.08.2012		Yeah, we sure have tripped a few times both codewise and hardware wise. But in the end we make it work somehow =)

I have hardly done any programing prior to this project. Made my own config for zestoi's midimasher and some web related stuff years back. I leave most of the programing to Johan, try to learn as we move forwards though. I find it fairly straightforward when reading finished code. But sometimes it's hard to come up with new stuff when new to both syntax and language.

However, this project has turned out so much easier then expected! So unless you're strapped for cash, give it a go!

Don't underestimate prototyping though! With cheep materials to make sure you get everything "right" the first time.
Suppose learning is part of the experience though!

Already looking forward to the next project! Want to make a high resolution cdj style controler if I figure out a good enough way to make large jogs and a 300x300mm twitch inspired all in one. Time will tell though!

Teensy is a good way to go but look at the umc32 if you want to avoid programing at all cost

Cheers
Iraida Woike
06.08.2012		Yeah shouldn't be any problems with that. Just use multiplexers and don't connect them as we did. We have individual control pins for each mux, when we could have use the same control pins for all multiplexers. Like this http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/schematic_ioexpand.png. Well you learn from your misstakes :P
Era Roka
06.08.2012		very intrested in your codes, planning on making a controller with 45 buttons and 23 pot's
Era Roka
06.08.2012		yhea checked out fuzzy's sounds good.
Iraida Woike
06.08.2012		Yes definitely! We can provide our codes later with good comments. Together with fuzzywobbles I believe you could do it. Teensyduino is good in the way that you do not have to wory about the MIDI part and it also has a nice library for encoders.
Era Roka
06.08.2012		do you believe it's possible for me to do this, as a noob (only some HTML&vbs ) in programming
Iraida Woike
06.08.2012
Originally Posted by tyfurious
Not sure why it's so huge, but it's nice.
We have big hands . No, but lack of good tools.
Iraida Woike
06.08.2012
Originally Posted by DJDoubleYou
when you started this project, did you had any programming experience
Well you can say that we have two different roles. Joel is the hardware "expert" and I am the software "expert". My coding background is mostly in java and matlab. I have also done som html, perl (I am study bioinformatics), sql and just a little C. So I have some experience but not that much I believe, expecially not in C (but it is not that different from java).

The tough part about programming is understanding the logics since it is kinda different then for example math. There is actually a study going on here in Uppsala about why people have such a hard time learing to program. It is gonna be interesting to see the results from this study
Gilma Marchini
06.08.2012		Not sure why it's so huge, but it's nice.
Era Roka
06.08.2012		when you started this project, did you had any programming experience
Chasidy Heckenbach
07.08.2012
Originally Posted by ZiiK
Quick initial mapping made for mixxx and everything seems to work well apart from encoders. Not sure I set them up right in mixxx though. They seem to work in traktor.

Cheers
nice controllers if you're not using javascript scripting then you probably need something like this within your <control> mapping tags to tell mixxx it's an encoder spread equally each side of the middle value, which i presume your encoders are:

Code:
    <options>
        <Spread64 />
    </options>
more info here: http://mixxx.org/wiki/doku.php/midi_...ng_file_format
Geri Jarra
07.08.2012		that mixer style controller is very interesting, cant wait to see how you map it
Kandi Odom
06.08.2012		Nice, looking forward to see the final product!!!!
Rochel Gleese
06.08.2012		Candy controllers looks like a sweets shop!
Santiago Brasier
06.08.2012		Quick initial mapping made for mixxx and everything seems to work well apart from encoders. Not sure I set them up right in mixxx though. They seem to work in traktor.

Cheers
Santiago Brasier
06.08.2012		BTW, since this is our first build we've tried to keep it simple.

If there is enough interest to have another go there will be metal faceplates and wooden cases. And of course new interesting layouts!

Cheers

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