Hardcore Eks XP5 modding
Hardcore Eks XP5 modding Posted on: 31.03.2010 by Nadia Shelmadine Hi!XP5 is a midicontroller with built in audio interface by a company named Eks. It's bigger brother is propably known to you all -Otus. But anyway, this post is about XP5's. Here's a picture: So I've bought two used Eks XP5 midi controllers pretty cheap (130 | |
| Shay Wyche 01.06.2010 | 1. I've bought these led latching buttons (link) before and the work a treat for what I'm needing them for. They are hard wired so when the button is pressed it stays on until you turn it of again. 2. I'll just be using the units in Traktor. All the buttons will be mapped through that. I don't believe there is any need to use Bomes etc. 3. If these units work well I will be using them as my main decks next to a behringer ddm4000. That way I can use the soundcards on the XP10's for decks A&B, but map C&D to the faders on the ddm400. I've got an old scratchamp in the house that needs to be used for something. The midi mixer I've built in the photo is just for taking out to house parties/barbecues. Thinking about it, I could easily map that out for more effects etc in my main set up. |
| juan garcia 01.06.2010 | the eks xp5 and xp10 are just begging for a mod like this, the jogwheel is really smooth and nice to use, but the buttons are clunky and not nice to use at all. some questions 1) what are you using to control the leds? i'm assuming maybe the midi brains of the mixer since the xp10 doesn't have leds. 2) on the software side of midi, are you using bomes translator or anything like that or just the midi stuff in traktor? 3)you still using the audiocard in the xp10s? |
| Shay Wyche 01.06.2010 | Got a little bit done toevening
. I've marked out my layout on to the boxes I've bought. I'm hoping to make 2 of these things.... The bottom two rows will have 4 all black arcade buttons for cue points and a red and green button for play/load. Above that, will be the jog wheel and pitch control with the guts of the XP10 hidden underneath. The 2 rows of smaller buttons (where the blue button is) will be for sync/key/toggle display etc. The top row of 4 buttons (where the red button is) will be LED lit and will latch on, this will indicate what deck I'm playing on. Basically you could control all four decks on one unit with this layout, if you have quick enough fingers. I'm hoping to add this to the midi mixer I made with the same box and it should all look a little like this when it's finished (A long time from now) |
| Shay Wyche 27.05.2010 |
Originally Posted by MiL0
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| Arcelia Siebeneck 27.05.2010 | so what about just leaving the buttons on instead? so you could run two wires from the bottom of the circuit board to an arcade button... would that still work? |
| Shay Wyche 27.05.2010 | Can I just issue a warning. I've had the xp10 in bits for some time now and desoldering the buttons is an absolute evening
mare. They seem to have put excess solder on the pins and it has filled through the pin holes. With the four pins on each button I've found it very difficult to get the buttons off. When I eventually got one of the buttons off and soldered the cables on, I found that none of the buttons were showing up in EKS mapper. I've not had a chance to rectify this as it was only the other evening I got the buttons off. I will post more the next time I get the chance to look at it. |
| Arcelia Siebeneck 27.05.2010 | cheers for that "I'd love to know who makes that big black rotary encoder in the middle. Are there any identifying marks on it?" no sorry |
| robert chanda 28.05.2010 | Fascinating. They went to the trouble of scratching off the identifying marks on most of their ICs. They look like the same microprocessors we use in the Midifighter, especially when you have a standard 6-pin In System Programming (ISP) header right there. One micro is reading the keys, one is running the audio. I'd love to know who makes that big black rotary encoder in the middle. Are there any identifying marks on it? Replacing the switches looks pretty simple - you unsolder each switch and you'll find there's two contacts. One goes via a resistor to the square microcontroller down at the bottom right and one goes to a shared ground. Just insert your own switch to complete that gap. No resistors or diodes needed. Practice desoldering on something else first - get the iron good and hot, practice melting solder fast by adding a bit of solder to it, practice solder sucking or using copper braid, or for the best results use a hot air system to melt all the contacts at the same time. The options: http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/desolderpix.htm Given you have a basic solder sucker, the technique is to melt the solder quickly (so as not to damage the part and more importantly not to overheat the board) then in one motion to remove the iron and place the sucker over the entire pin, covering it completely, and suck the solder up through the hole in the PCB. Here's a video of someone doing that, skip to 5:35 to see the technique: [youtube]93OOl2ib8CE[/youtube] |
| Arcelia Siebeneck 28.05.2010 | nevermind - got it all hacked apart now! (had to prise the touch wheel off with my fingers and then use a pair of pliers to undo the nut that kept the spindle attached to the chassis. check the attachments below... it looks like it'd be relatively easy to solder arcade buttons to the underside of the circuit board. I'm hoping you can leave the original buttons in place so it doesn't spoil anything (incase you want to put it back to how it was originally). Thoughts? |
| robert chanda 27.05.2010 | If you're going to buy a multimeter, go for one that includes the "continuity" feature with a beeper. It's a mode that beeps when it finds that two points are connected with a readout of how roughly how well they are connected. Probably the single most used feature on mine, it great for checking that your solder joint worked or that things are hooked up as you expect (especially switches). |
| Arcelia Siebeneck 27.05.2010 | anyone managed to get the xp10 jog wheels off yet? i've just taken my apart and can't get the damn things off! |
| Shay Wyche 14.04.2010 |
Originally Posted by derjay
All good questions that I don't really have answers to at the moment. If I do need a 5v line voltage, I reckon I will be able to take it direct from the usb input. I have a scratchamp that I use at the moment with an Allen and Heath Xone 1D, so I won't be using the soundcard in the XP10. I have opened up the XP10 and there are 4 connections for each switch; I will have to find out if it is possible to remove these switches and connect cables to the circuit board. This will be a long term project (if I even start it at all) as I'm so busy with work and my 2 year old daughter. I will try and give any ideas or help to anyone in the mean time though. |
| Shelby Blancaflor 14.04.2010 | I've bought buttons like these for a previous project and they work quite well - link - They can be hard wired instead of using Traktor to light them. I wouldn't use these type of switches for cue point juggling, but they are perfect for reminding you that you have a shift button on or something along those lines exactly having a couple of lit modifier buttons (for example by sacrificing those tiny numbered ones on the top) would be great, especially since that would work without a midi send signal (wouldn`t you need an extra controller brain to implement that anyway?) since I don't know anything about the electronic side I just wondered whether you could wire these directly to the connections for the existing buttons without supplying an extra plus for power or anything. The other thing I asked myself was, how many LEDs you could connect to the unit without running short of power, since the XPs are USB powered only and the soundcard should consume a fair amount already. |
| Shay Wyche 13.04.2010 |
Originally Posted by derjay
As for wiring other led's look up Ean's tutorial 'Building a MIDI controller 101'. I prefer to do the wiring rather than programming software to get them to come on. I'm an electrician, so I'm quite hands on. |
| Shelby Blancaflor 14.04.2010 | can't really comment on how to do it but it is an awesome idea, since I use a Nanopad for cuepoints the buttons don't bother me that much but LEDs would be so cool, do you have any idea how to integrate and power them? |
| Matthew Urtel 11.04.2010 |
Originally Posted by Archies'bald
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| Shay Wyche 10.04.2010 | Rather than let this thread die, I'm going to post on it again and say that I'm seriously believeing of modding an xp10 so that it can control decks C & D. Basically I'm believeing of is adding an LED lit latching push button which will tell me whether or not I'm using deck C or D. Then I will map the jog wheel, pitch fader and buttons to work exactly the same on each deck. That way I will have a mini Otus (as long as I map it correctly) for not even half the price of an Otus. If I get really adventurous, I might even build a new casing and add a Midi Fighter type rack of buttons to go with the pitch fader and jog wheel. Who knows? Thoughts? |
| Shay Wyche 01.04.2010 | I'm sorry if I seem to be hijacking this thread, but if you are looking at putting in a MAME joystick, I found this on Ebay. It seems to be the smallest and cheapest around. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT If I am rambling on a bit, just tell me to shut up. I won't be offended too much. |
| Shay Wyche 01.04.2010 | Why do I read this community
? I now have an XP10 lying in bits, but if we can make some kind of Midifighter type of arrangement with a jog wheel and pitch fader, then I assume most people would be interested? The one thing I can't figure out is how to remove the jog wheel from the plastic case. I've disconnected the cables from the back of the sensor and I'm left with just the casing, but I'm unable to remove the jog wheel. Another slight problem is the 4 pins on the switches. It's a little late so I'm not getting the soldering iron out, but I assume there is some sort of resistor/diode going across the switches? Hmm. How do I put this thing back together? |
| juan garcia 01.04.2010 |
Originally Posted by MiL0
i have an eks xp-5. will be watching this thread with interest. |
| Shay Wyche 01.04.2010 | Most of the joysticks that people use here are analogue. You can pick them up really cheap from places like Sparkfun. here. The problem you would have is that most of the buttons will be digital, so an analogue joystick may be difficult to install. *edit. I've used Gremlin Solutions for arcade buttons and they seemed really helpful. |
| Nadia Shelmadine 01.04.2010 | I'll open one up and post pictures from inside. I didn't realise i need a multimeter, but that's not a problem, i have it at work. Never used one though. One idea came in my mind since there are 22 buttons in one controller, i could put there a joystick aswell. How do they work? I mean the arcade ones. Are they just 8 way buttons? I would of course just use 4 ways. The ultimate kick ass idea would be of course to fit a 2 channel mixer there also to make two XP5's and a mixer to all in one midi controller with audio interface inside. Hooking XP5s to mixer and routing them through a usb hub to a computer. That way it could be used as a mixer and a controller. But first i want to figure out to make one or two very good tabletop scratch capable midi controllers. And can anyone recommend me online shops for my parts? I live in Europe. This one i know that has joysticks and buttons with reasonable prices (don't know about the shipping costs though). |
| Arcelia Siebeneck 31.03.2010 |
Originally Posted by BentoSan
in that case it shouldn't be too difficult to mod a 7" vinyl record, provided you can get some of that paint and wire it up properly... |
| Matthew Urtel 31.03.2010 | Rip it open, then post the pics, and I will tell you how to wire it up. Make sure you have a multimeter though. I got a cheapo $5 one, but it works. you just need to find the pos and neg leads. While your at it post up a sketch of the type of casing you are looking for. I can whip something up in CAD in about 15 mins. |
| Xavier Emanuels 31.03.2010 | electrical conductive paint ? |
| Arcelia Siebeneck 31.03.2010 | I'm believeing of doing almost exactly the same thing! What I didn't get about dAb's mod is how he managed to keep the touch sensitivity working after replacing the jog wheels. Regarding the arcade buttons... my plan is to simply ditch the XP5 buttons completely. I'm looking at building a midi controller of my own (using a midi fighter brain or similar). The idea would be to build a case with arcade buttons, mixer, etc that allows two XP5's to sit inside flush with the rest of the case. |
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