Hale UMC32, Livid, Midifighter etc brains

The idea that one pin maps to one button is just a convenient simplification that allows the sellers of these products to say their controller is "easy to use". Which it is, provided that you can map your problem to the "out of the box" capabilities of their device.

In the real world of controller design it's possible to map any number of keys to just three pins using a number of outboard chips called parallel-in-shift-out devices. Each one of these chips (cost around $0.30) can daisy chain with it's neighbors to allow you to instantaneously scan the state of a large number of keys using only a few pins. The trade off is that large numbers of switches can take a while to read in - to offset this you need to have a high speed controller that can "bit bang" these values in as quickly as possible. So the responsiveness of your controller is related to the speed of the processor.

If you're on a budget and are willing to do some programming yourself, get a Teensy controller (http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/) for $18 and a few outboard chips and make your own board using a piece of stripboard and a soldering iron. You can use the Midifighter source as a starting point to build your own software and you can be controlling your MIDI device for less than $30. All you need to supply after that are POTs, switches and a box with a front panel, which you would have to do anyway.

If you go for the UMC32 you're paying a LOT for the "out of the box" convenience and, as a side effect, limiting your design possibilities. You say you're on a budget, so hopefully this can show you the cost/benefit analysis you need to look into. Is the extra $60 worth it to you? Can you program? Would learning to program your own microcontroller be a valuable life skill?

well in my current mood i would not recommend it! i'm having issues have i have 16 arcade buttons hooked up as you can only connect 8 buttons to each source 8 outputst=11991&highlight=controllerism+project[/url]

well I want to make a vci-100 style controller, but with the ability to easily control 4 decks and without jog wheels. Surely I could make this with a few UMC32's daisy chained together?

The idea that one pin maps to one button is just a convenient simplification that allows the sellers of these products to say their controller is "easy to use". Which it is, provided that you can map your problem to the "out of the box" capabilities of their device.

In the real world of controller design it's possible to map any number of keys to just three pins using a number of outboard chips called parallel-in-shift-out devices. Each one of these chips (cost around $0.30) can daisy chain with it's neighbors to allow you to instantaneously scan the state of a large number of keys using only a few pins. The trade off is that large numbers of switches can take a while to read in - to offset this you need to have a high speed controller that can "bit bang" these values in as quickly as possible. So the responsiveness of your controller is related to the speed of the processor.

If you're on a budget and are willing to do some programming yourself, get a Teensy controller (http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/) for $18 and a few outboard chips and make your own board using a piece of stripboard and a soldering iron. You can use the Midifighter source as a starting point to build your own software and you can be controlling your MIDI device for less than $30. All you need to supply after that are POTs, switches and a box with a front panel, which you would have to do anyway.

If you go for the UMC32 you're paying a LOT for the "out of the box" convenience and, as a side effect, limiting your design possibilities. You say you're on a budget, so hopefully this can show you the cost/benefit analysis you need to look into. Is the extra $60 worth it to you? Can you program? Would learning to program your own microcontroller be a valuable life skill?

well in my current mood i would not recommend it! i'm having issues have i have 16 arcade buttons hooked up as you can only connect 8 buttons to each source 8 outputst=11991&highlight=controllerism+project[/url]

You should be able to do it with one - it really doesn't take much processing power to sit around and wait for a button press. Exactly how many controls were you planning on using at the same time? Even a crappy controller should be able to handle hundreds as you only have two hands!