DM2 Arcade Button Mod Wiring Help
DM2 Arcade Button Mod Wiring Help Posted on: 22.11.2009 by Susann Blachford Hi everyone,So i'm trying to see if i could put arcade buttons into my crappy Mixman DM2 controller.... I took the thing apart and just looking at 3 simple buttons the circuit has me kinda confused so i was wondering if someone could give me some tips on this. So heres a picture of the circuit: Heres what i THINK the circuit is currently: Heres what i THINK i should wire the new buttons as: I'm not sure if those resistors are of any importance.....hmm.. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated! | |
| Shanda Szostek 16.01.2010 | the 4 banks of the DM2 are achieved via software not by hardware I guess... |
| Brunilda Kora 16.01.2010 | THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!! Great to know that this can quite easily be done with a DM2!!! I'm curious, though. Why have you made a single unit? Won't you need to connect the 2 units together to make them work with DM2Midi? You probably know more about this than I do - BUT - the DM2 has 4 banks, right? That means that the 16 buttons on the scratch rings could be multiplyed by 4 to give you 64 buttons (like a monome...) Could you connect up an arcade button to one of the radial buttons and the bank select button, so that when you hit the button, it changes the bank and sends the midi message at the same time? It would be AWESOME if this was possible! Would it also mean that you could connect more than 2 scratch rings (if you connected the encoder to the bank switch also) and more than 1 crossfader? I'm believeing of a controller with TWO 4x4 grids of arcade buttons, Eight scratch rings/rotary encoders, Four faders and transport and navigation buttons... |
| Shanda Szostek 16.01.2010 | So, what is your plan for the DM2 joystick? Just asking because isn't it needed for the calibrating? |
| Keli Vandenbergh 16.01.2010 | ... Cool mod! What help do you need? I have some skills in diy! ... |
| Dorthy Delamar 15.01.2010 | very very nice work faeruithir... keep us posted...Im gonna start cracking on my DM2 next week..so you live in RI? I live up in Southern NH.... |
| Arline Gruel 15.01.2010 | i have a dm2, cant get it to install on WIN 7 though... |
| Susann Blachford 15.01.2010 | i go to Rhode Island School of Design so I used our architecture departments laser cutter. being a student rocks. |
| Merlyn Komula 15.01.2010 | nice, too bad I threw mt dm2 out a while back! Where did you get the laser cutted panel? Im looking fo some work done! SS |
| Susann Blachford 15.01.2010 | Here are some quick snaps of the mod in progress you can see the laser cut panel i made, the jog wheel attached, the encoder attached underneath, arcade buttons and some other buttons....the masonite casing... |
| Brunilda Kora 15.01.2010 | Great news - looking forward to the pics! |
| Dorthy Delamar 14.01.2010 | awesome keep us updated! |
| Susann Blachford 14.01.2010 | I am actually in the process of doing just that. I will post some pictures ASAP. |
| Shanda Szostek 14.01.2010 | Hey faeruithir, how is the progress of your dm2 mod? I am really keen on information bout this, as I am planning to catch a second dm2 for splitting it apart into 2 decks placed to left and right of my external mixer... with arcade buttons and the vinyl platters, this could be a very cool setup... So please data data dat input -.-.-.- as I am not such an expert with an soldering iron, besides cable making... |
| Brunilda Kora 26.11.2009 | DM2Midi is an awesome, awesome piece of software. I wish someone would hack it so that ANY midi controller could use it... |
| Susann Blachford 25.11.2009 | I won't be using the software that came with the DM2. As stated before I use the DM2 with Traktor, and modding the DM2 would be significantly cheaper than building something totally from scratch, and require a lot less technical knowledge. |
| Latia Pfleider 24.11.2009 | If your going for a complete mod I believe you should get a diy midi or hid board and just build something new. However I also own a Dm2 and if your doing it for fun thats cool, or if you want to use that software. I remember the software had lots of options using your own wav's. |
| Shay Wyche 24.11.2009 | Here's where I got the info, if you're interested. I'm off to bed. It's nearly midevening
here now. http://dm2.proboards.com/index.cgi |
| Dorthy Delamar 24.11.2009 | archies i have tried that set of instructions you have posted a while back with no luck, i will try again toevening to see if i can get it to function. I will test on vista and 7 and let you guys know. |
| Shay Wyche 24.11.2009 | My spare EKS XP10 is looking rather scared in the corner there. It believes I'm looking at it in a funny way. |
| Dorthy Delamar 24.11.2009 | yes you read correctly of this issue from other places that specify in dm2 mods, xp is the base thats suitable/functional, as far as vista and 7 ive heard it is incompatible i believe some people speculated of getting it to work on vista/7... |
| Susann Blachford 24.11.2009 | I don't have vista anymore and i've only tried it with XP and OS X |
| Shay Wyche 24.11.2009 | I did find this on another community
, seems like it might work. 1.) UNINSTALL EVERYTHING. 2.) Right click setup file and select PROPERTIES 3.) Now select COMPATIBILITY 4.) Select RUN THIS PROGRAM FOR WINDOWS XP 5.) Select RUN IN 640 X 480 SCREEN SOLUTION 6.) Run AS ADMIN 7.) Apply Now when you start the setup the screen is going to get REALLY LARGE DONT worry about it. Its just a one time deal. Just install like normal. Anyone tried it? |
| Brunilda Kora 24.11.2009 | Hmmm... Good point. I don't know if DM2Midi will work on anything except 2000/XP. |
| Shay Wyche 24.11.2009 | I've done a bit of digging on this and noticed lots of people having real problem trying to get this working on Windows Vista. Am I missing something or does it have to be plugged in to XP to get it to work correctly? If it works with Vista (or even Windows 7), then I definitely believe that this might be worth the hassle. |
| Susann Blachford 24.11.2009 | This is what a DM2 is: It is in essence, a toy that uses some crappy software for kids to feel like they're mixing music. However, people have written drivers for you to use it as a midi device on Mac and on PC (Joe Mattiello's DM2 OS X driver and DM2midi respectively). The PC drivers are much more in depth and customizable. the controller itself features: 2 large jog wheels 4 banks of buttons 16 LED lit radial buttons in each bank 11 other buttons a joystick (i haven't found a use for this really..) this gives you 75 possible buttons to use, which is great! The DM2 has been proven to work quite well with traktor and my current setup involves an X-session Pro and a DM2. However, the buttons on this thing are rather low quality, as is the overall build quality. So using the underlying electronics as a base i hope to build a much sturdier, better looking, more functional controller. |
| Brunilda Kora 24.11.2009 | Watch this space. faeruithir is blazin' a trail - big tings a g'wan! |
| Shay Wyche 24.11.2009 | Since I've never heard of a DM2, can anyone give me a synopsis of what could be achieved by modding one? You've pricked up my Spidey Senses. |
| Susann Blachford 24.11.2009 | So heres what i was believeing of making: The two row of 4 buttons below each jog wheel would be the light up radial buttons. I plan to also jam an x-session pro between the two jog wheels in my custom casing so i can have an all in 1 custom DJ controller with lots of arcade buttons! |
| Susann Blachford 24.11.2009 | I use the DM2 with my mac the mac driver is much less customizable than DM2midi unfortunately...and the developer seems to have stopped developing it....damnit. So i don't actually use the joystick as i can't really get it to do much.. As for the LEDs i was wondering if something like this: http://hacknmod.com/hack/make-your-o...tton-switches/ is possible with DJTT arcade buttons cause the kind they use in that tutorial is a different kind... |
| Brunilda Kora 24.11.2009 | Keep us posted, faeruithir. My biggest concern is what happens when you start adding extra lengths of wires in there. With a custom case, all the buttons can be spread out - but ONLY if extra lengths of wire can be connected. The LED question is a good one, too. It'd be nice to have an LED indicator next to each arcade button. AND the DM2midi software also allows for the LEDS to work when the button is held (push down, LED ON, let go, LED off) or as a switch (press down, led on, release, led stays on, press down again, led off). No doubt about it - a modded, re-housed DM2 is DEFINITELY a MidiFighter beater! [Just thought - could the joystick be modded so that it can be replaced with 2 line faders?!? Don't forget - the joystick has THREE banks of it's own, and the DM2 has FOUR banks... Wait - does that mean... Possibly TWELVE faders?!?] Good times! |
| Susann Blachford 24.11.2009 | Yep the radial buttons are the same kind, i've checked that. All the buttons are the same kind. My current concerns are: - Keeping LED functionality - can djtt arcade buttons be modded to add LEDs? Does anyone know? - does adding more wiring/different buttons draw more power than the USB can provide? I have no idea about this...i guess theres only one way to find out! Being at an industrial design student i have a lot of access to shops and machinery. I am currently designing a custom casing to put all this in and plan on having it laser cut! |
| Dorthy Delamar 24.11.2009 | Patch is right get on ebay and buy em up, this is gonna be great! yes you can install real crossfader into your dm2. |
| Brunilda Kora 24.11.2009 | Mate! You are the fucking MAN!!! Great work. I've got 2 DM2's sat here gathering dust - looks like I've got me a nice winter project!!! Great work! (Have you checked that the connections for the radial buttons are the same as the connections for the play/stop/pause buttons? It'd be a shame if they are not...) For anyone that doesn't know - the DM2 is an AWESOME piece of kit when paired up with pDooms DM2MIDI. There is gonna be a HUGE rush now for arcade modded DM2's - get yourselves onto eBay and snap 'em up while you still can!!! (Just had a quick check on the bay - looks like there are plenty in the US..) This is gonna be huge - I just checked dmtwo.dk - some of the guys over there are putting REAL crossfaders int into their DM2s! This is gonna be big... |
| Dorthy Delamar 25.11.2009 | nice! faeruithir! keep me posted, im going to go to town on my dm2 as well! |
| Susann Blachford 23.11.2009 | Alright, so here's what i did. For all you people out there wanting to mod your DM2s this DOES work. I just tested it. In the first picture, you can see a button that i soldered to the PCB with some wire. It's a pretty crappy soldering job i know, but it works for now. The button is a simple black momentary pushbutton switch from radioshack (i didn't want to invest in any arcade buttons just yet). In the next picture, I'll show you how to connect buttons onto the DM2 circuit boards. After you take your DM2 apart, there will be a number of circuit boards. Unscrew one that you want to mod (i chose the one under the Play, Record, and Stop buttons since i don't use those much so it wouldn't matter if i screw up). Now there will be a bunch of white rubber buttons on. Pull one off and you will reveal a little contact pad. The two end points of this pad is where you want to connect your buttons two ends to. Try not to get any solder on the pad itself. This is hard, and after screwing up once i found alternatively you can scratch the green coating off the copper parts to either side of the end points with a knife and solder there. Hope this is clear! I've got so many modding ideas now.... some include: - making a custom casing - taking the buttons away from inside the jog wheel and placing them somewhere else so i can have a 7 inch record stuck onto the jog wheels without losing button functionality. - rearranging buttons in all manner of ways - replacing ALL buttons with arcade buttons... the best thing is...the DM2 only cost me 15 bucks...if i screw up, i'll just buy a new one! Man i'm excited! |
| Monet Yucel 23.11.2009 |
Originally Posted by Fatlimey
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| Susann Blachford 23.11.2009 | well i found my answer i just had to solder two wires to the ends of the button then solder those wires to the two little contacts on either side of the touch sensitive part on the PCB. Will post pics soon!! IT WORKS so many modding possibilities now!!!! MWAHAHAHHA |
| robert chanda 23.11.2009 | You're missing a little piece of information here that would make it all clear. When you connect something to a digital input pin on a microcontroller, the pin has three states: "High", "Low" and "Not Connected" (NC). High is when you have a direct circuit between the +5 power supply and the pin, Low is when you have connected the pin directly to the Ground and NC is when the pin is not connect to anything. The problem with NC pins is that they are essentially very small radio antennas, picking up everything from Radio and TV signals to random quantum events happening in the cosmos, producing essentially random values that can occasionally generate enough charge to make the microcontroller believe "Aha, that pin went high!". That causes things to start sending random MIDI events and being unpredictable. The resistors you see there are connecting the pin to ground (that's the missing piece of information). This means that if the switch is open the pin gets connected to ground. This is called "pulling down" the pin, and the resistor is a "pulldown" resistor. The opposite can also be done where the pin is connected by a resistor to the +5, in which case the resistor is a "pullup" resistor. When the switch is closed, the circuit has a quicker way to travel to ground from the microcontroller pin causing it to register as Low. So, to get a better picture of what's going on you need to find out which wires are attached to the +5 supply, which lines connect to the groun and exactly which side of the microcontroller input pin the switch and resistor are. Then you can tell if it's a pulldown or pullup resistor and design your hack accordingly. Here's a really gentle introduction. http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encod...97/basics.html |
| Brunilda Kora 23.11.2009 | I though tabout doing this to one of my DM2s but chickened out because of this... Have you tried to fit an arcade button onto the scratch pad? Can you get 8 to fit around the pad??? A DM2 with an Arcade Button Mod is basically a MidiFighter with an additional 4 banks, crossfader and jog wheels... It'd be awesome. |
| Shay Wyche 24.11.2009 | The top drawing is a short circuit. The button wouldn't do anything. It's more likely the resistor is in series with the output connection of the button. I would assume the resistors would have to be placed back in to the circuit as they were taken out. They are probably there to stop led's blowing or something. |
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