Midifighter Extreme!! mod project!!

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Midifighter Extreme!! mod project!!
Posted on: 07.04.2011 by Hunter Renslow
Ive been working on a midifighter mod project.I am going to do a full build log,the project just took up alot of my spare time so I haven't had a chance yet!


Bourns 60mm faders and CD4051B multiplexers. The multiplexers Fatlimey talks about in this thread http://djranking s.com/community /showthread.php?t=23597


The multiplexers set up with 8 inputs into each one(some are being used for buttons so i added pullup resistors at a later stage)




case made out of mdf


primed up!!


button layout!
The 4 black buttons on the left are "global banks" the change the midi channels to 3,4,5 or 6.The notes and cc's are always the same just the channels change!!
Code:
Bank 1   - browser
Bank 2   - loops
Bank 3   - deck control
Bank 4   - effects(instant gratification)
The white button under the global bank button is a shift button

The four black buttons on the top are for decks a,b,c and d (four banks mode)



leds on the buttons are controlled by a pic24
Hunter Renslow
22.05.2011
Originally Posted by guywithknife

In any case, we are still perfecting the Traktor mappings (well, Sidetrakd is), which is slow going, since the Traktor UI is a bit of a pain to use.
^^^ this!

With our global banks I have access to far more MIDI commands which makes some stuff easier.I've never mapped anything too crazy before and everything was going pretty well until I tried to map some outputs.Turns out even in tp2 everything can be made pop and crackle when working with led outputs
Sonja Weatherwax
22.05.2011		Beast! Absolutely love this community , can't wait till I get started DJing.
Kimberly Lewark
21.05.2011		Thats our "demo mode" You can drop into and out of it by pressing a six button combo (six buttons so its not likely you will press them all in a gig).

Its actually insanely simple - nothing advanced at all: I keep an index into a table. The table tells me which led to light up. Then, every iteration of the "do stuff" loop, I light up the correct led and delay for 100 milliseconds. You notice this if you press a button while in demo mode: if you press a midifighter button and demo mode is also lighting up a midifighter led, the led for the button you press flickers as demo mode clears all other leds, while pressing one of our extension buttons will not light up any leds. Syncing with the midiclock, or implementing it without a delay wouldn't bee too difficult.

I am actually working on something right now which I may use to create all sorts of cool light shows. If I do that, I may even back-port the code to work with unmodded Midifighters, we'll see - no promises just yet.

In any case, we are still perfecting the Traktor mappings (well, Sidetrakd is), which is slow going, since the Traktor UI is a bit of a pain to use. After thats done, we will release some proper videos, more pics, the source code and some kind of build log.
Hang Postman
21.05.2011		this... is awesome, nice job
Latrice Boever
21.05.2011		How are you doing the scrolling lights around the rim of the controller? I assume that it is tied to midi clock?
Vernie Beharry
17.05.2011		^ Thank you. . .Time to go research and back to my own project (only a year and a half behind ). . .I have some help on the coding, and a plan. . .

. . .but now. . . back to work. . .
Kimberly Lewark
13.05.2011		Looks fine to me. Note that I don't know anything about its operating characteristics (eg crosstalk issues and such), but then, I don't really know about the ones we used either, except that they seem to work fine for us in practice.

To get it working with Fatlimeys firmware (you will have to recompile it yourself with the MULTIPLEX_ANALOG define selected -look around line 195 in the Makefile and uncomment (remove the #) from the line mentioning MULTIPLEX_ANALOG), you would connect pins S0, S1 and S2 to digital 0, 1 and 2 and connect pins C0 through C7 to your analog input devices. Then connect the SIG to the Midifighters analog 0.
(Note that the photos, the schematic and the datasheet use slightly different labelling: Cn drawn on the circuit board is labelled In in the datasheet (where n is 0 through 15), SIG is labelled common I/O (and COM in the schematic))

To make it work with all 16 multiplexed pins would require some modification of the firmware (similarly, using more than one of these together, for a maximum total of 64 analog inputs, requires more firmware modding still). Its not terribly hard (and we do it in our modded firmware, you could take a look when I release it - though we use some of our inputs as buttons, complicating the code a little more).
Vernie Beharry
13.05.2011		@GuyWithKnife or SideTrakd
Stupidly n00b Question, but could I get away with using this Mux? http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9056

Or would using the chips mentioned have to do?
Irwin Ney
13.05.2011		Man, you rock! I'm loving every aspect of your mod!

Good work!
DJTT is hiring and they may have a job for you
Vernie Beharry
13.05.2011		:eek:

HOLY. . .FRIKKEN. . .JEEBUS!!!!!

:eek:
Shonda Soulier
13.05.2011		this is glorious... the thought of attempting to do this to mine makes me break into sweats, but yours is glorious.
Hunter Renslow
12.05.2011		Here's a quick sneak preview!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvvS3nsrv3Y
Aurea Kager
12.05.2011
Originally Posted by sidetrakd
Finally all the led's are working!!We started at 8 o'clock last an 12 hours later everything works!!
!
Post a video mate!!!

We all want to see it in action!!!
Hunter Renslow
12.05.2011
Originally Posted by guywithknife

I also have another firmware-only mod planned for existing midifighter owners, but I won't give away any details until its done (you know, in case I never actually get around to doing it)
This is happening!!Its a handy little feature that will help solve some problems for some people!
We also have another feature we're working on that is going to be absolutely awesome!!Will share when its fully ready, but will warn everyone now its gonna be good!!!


Originally Posted by notshy
Sick ! I'd be game for having a crack at making one of these !
Ha!there were a few hairy moments when I would have gladly given you mine!!Now its finished and I just need to perfect the mappings!



For anyone wondering,the black buttons on the left bank all the buttons into global banks by changing the midi channel! The green led to the left of the button shows which bank is switched on.
By holding the shift button(the one underneath the four global bank buttons)I can change the faders and knobs into banks allowing them to be banked seperately!The blue leds to the right of the button show which banks the faders/knobs are on!!
Kiyoko Wellisch
12.05.2011		Really beautiful mod guys. Nice work.
Kimberly Lewark
12.05.2011		Hi everyone, finally got around to posting under my own account. I'm Sidetrakd's brother and I'm the one to blame when the modded firmware stops working. But of course as every good software engineer knows, all bugs are the hardware peoples fault, so I just blame Sidetrakd when something doesn't work

I will be releasing code for this as soon as I get a chance to clean it up. I inadvertently added a lot of unused "debug" code (and commented out code ) in the last few late evening hackfests and I'd rather not let the public see such shoddy work. I'll post a link to my github page once its online.

Besides the code for this mod, I intend on publishing code changes which DJTT can merge back into their firmware if they wish (ie improvements that aren't specific to our mod). Basically the following:
  • Handy function to switch MIDI channel for subsequent MIDI messages (we use it to "bank" the buttons to different channels)
    Code:
    void midi_set_bank (const uint8_t bank); // channel = configured base channel + bank
  • Enhanced SPI API which makes it easy to install and select SPI slaves
    Code:
    void spi_install_slave (uint8_t id, uint8_t port, uint8_t pin, uint8_t select_with);
uint8_t spi_is_selected (uint8_t id);
void spi_select (uint8_t id);
void spi_select_none (void);


// Sample code:
//////////
// Id must be unique and in range 0 through 8 (LED driver uses 0, ADC uses 1, so next free is 2)
#define SPI_SLAVE_FOO 2

// Install an SPI slave with SS on digital 0, bring SS low to select
spi_install_slave(SPI_SLAVE_FOO, SPI_PORT_D, EXP_DIGITAL0, SPI_LOW_TO_SELECT);

// Send some data
uint8_t to_slave_byte_1 = 0x12; /* whatever */
uint8_t to_slave_byte_2 = 0xef; /* whatever */

spi_select(SPI_SLAVE_FOO);
uint8_t from_slave_byte1 = spi_transmit(to_slave_byte_1);
uint8_t from_slave_byte2 = spi_transmit(to_slave_byte_2);
spi_select_none();
  • Ported DJTT LED and ADC code to use said enhanced SPI API
  • Possibly some other bits and pieces which I've forgotten due to lack of sleep


I also have another firmware-only mod planned for existing midifighter owners, but I won't give away any details until its done (you know, in case I never actually get around to doing it)
Lorelei Przybylowicz
12.05.2011		Sick ! I'd be game for having a crack at making one of these !
Mac Fly
12.05.2011		Looks dope man, Clean and professional looking.
Jacque Divinity
12.05.2011		very slick!
Olene Minyard
12.05.2011		Can you make me one?

That looks absolutely awesome! Fair play on a superb mod!

I've been dabbling with the idea of making my own MIDI controller but wouldn;t have a clue where to start. Got some cool ideas of where to go, just not sure how to get there
Hunter Renslow
12.05.2011		Finally all the led's are working!!We started at 8 o'clock last an 12 hours later everything works!!
!
Vernie Beharry
11.05.2011		Awesome, Awesome, AWESOME build!

What's funny, it actually looks like Ean's own Midi fighter, and the newer MF that's on the way in the store. . . .

I can't wait to see this in action, and attempt my own as well.

Well done, Sidetrakd!. . .Very well done, indeed!
Hunter Renslow
09.05.2011		New pcb arrived today!! Thanks djtt!! Now to get this project finished!!
Anisa Fourte
30.04.2011		Man this is an amazing project!! Please do a write up because I might have to make this myself! Really good at putting things like this together, it's just the programming that gets me. But you've already got that part covered!
Lorelei Przybylowicz
30.04.2011
Originally Posted by sidetrakd
Did another little bit of modding!!
HAHAHAHAHA ! I hope my MF doesn't end up like that ....
Hunter Renslow
30.04.2011

Did another little bit of modding!!
Hunter Renslow
30.04.2011
Originally Posted by mike_o
how many hours went into creating the firmware control scheme?
Couldnt really estimate,we did a lot of trial and error trying to get the extra led's working right

Originally Posted by mike_o
would you consider writing one for someone else?

let me know if you'd consider it and I'll do a drawing of the layout to see if its realistic.
we will probably be releasing the firmware when everything is ready, tested and our build log is done!

Maybe you can design your layout around our firmware,that would save alot of work and some small changes would be easy!
If you use 4 cd4051b multiplexers you can have 32 analog inputs
Our firmware has 12 allocated for knobs/faders and 20 for buttons
4 of those buttons bank everything into 4 global banks and 4 work like the standard midifighter 4 banks mode giving you a lot of controll

We are adding some more awesome features to our firmware too but were gonna keep everyone in suspense till its finished!!
Benita Jankauskas
30.04.2011		I've been wanting to do something like this but I cant program anything at all, let alone a custom firmware.

how many hours went into creating the firmware control scheme?

would you consider writing one for someone else?

let me know if you'd consider it and I'll do a drawing of the layout to see if its realistic.
Benita Jankauskas
01.05.2011		dude!!!

you are the best midi fighter modder I've seen on here.

I might go and visit my grandma in Ireland later this year.

I'm gonna come and see this controller as a DJTT tourist attraction like it was the giants causway!!!
Hunter Renslow
01.05.2011
Originally Posted by michaeldunne109
Man you need that click well i do. Did a couple of evening s in a club that had a djm500 where the mid had no click on one channel so annoying and the booth was dark.
Hell yeah! No the knobs have the centre dent so thats not the problem,
What i mean is the faders feel different because its a wooden case,they give a hollow thud when you flick them up or down instead of that solid click you feel on a normal mixer with a metal faceplate,so even though the faders are lovely and smooth they didnt feel right and I couldnt figure out why till now
Maryanne Weatherill
30.04.2011
Originally Posted by sidetrakd
New pcb shipped!! Oh the excitement!! We've come up with some awesome changes to the firmware and are really excited to get things moving!!Watch this space.....you're going to love this!!!!!!


Im also believeing of redoing the case with a metal top as the faders dont feel natural without that "click" you get with a normal mixer,maybe thats just me but its been bugging me and I only just figured out why!
Man you need that click well i do. Did a couple of evening s in a club that had a djm500 where the mid had no click on one channel so annoying and the booth was dark.
Antoine Wasiewicz
30.04.2011		That is a NICE looking controller. Great work.
Hunter Renslow
30.04.2011		New pcb shipped!! Oh the excitement!! We've come up with some awesome changes to the firmware and are really excited to get things moving!!Watch this space.....you're going to love this!!!!!!


Im also believeing of redoing the case with a metal top as the faders dont feel natural without that "click" you get with a normal mixer,maybe thats just me but its been bugging me and I only just figured out why!
Kecia Wnukowski
26.04.2011		Very very inspiring stuff. Thanks a lot.
Hunter Renslow
26.04.2011		New PCB ordered...... now we wait!!

12.04.2011		that is one sexy beast. me likes.
Hunter Renslow
12.04.2011
Originally Posted by Duttylectric
sweet. would love to see it in action!
Bit of a hold up,seeing as the pcb failed! Cant wait till its ready!We're already putting together ideas for an improved version!!
Charline Dunch
09.04.2011		sweet. would love to see it in action!
Lilliana Perris
09.04.2011		Nicely!!
Hunter Renslow
08.04.2011


when everything is finished im going to clean up this mess by etching a circuit board

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