thinking outside the box for controller... um... boxes.

So, I assume that there's quite a few guys here that like customizing their setups with the custom arcade buttons and what not. Now comes the midi fighter and the like. What sort of cases have you guys dreamt about making? I personally think a couple of levels would be cool for aesthetic purposes. Example: 3-5 medium hardcover books laid out with the innards cut out and the guts put in where the words would be. You could then mount the buttons on top of the books. Glue the books together and... "oh look, it's a little stack of nerd-bricks, haha you little nerd-geek... oh wait! those are anti-nerd-bricks with cool buttons! yay!"

Also, I think you could build a sweet box out of lego bricks, again you get creative with the lay out and levels.

Another one: a working light bright. mount the buttons on the back, and face the lightbright to the crowd with a sweet picture on it already. Next-level it with a momentary-off arcade button switch so you could do light rhythms with it, or just plug it into a sound-activated light controller.

I expect to do more like indie band type shows with my gear, so I'm not so worried about space as I'll usually have a bigger stage to play on.

Still, any other ideas? Just shout 'em out because it's just fun to be silly.

oh yeah, another one I forgot, the canadian version of the livid wooden box: Find someone who's cutting down a tree. Get them to cut you a slab of the trunk about a foot tall or whatever. Strip the bark off with a knife to give it the whittled look. Sand the end if you want. Coat it in penetrating latex glue stuff so it won't crack, and trim it to your specifications (3inches tall by however long they cut it for you by however wide the tree trunk is, 2 sides should have the rounded whittled curvature of the trunk still).

Then cut the middle out and cut some aluminum plates for the top and bottom and get the top machined for buttons. I noticed that lots of people found machine shops super expensive for 8 little holes in their vci's. A drill press will work just as well, although the buttons may not me exactly perfectly straight in rows, but you should be able to get it pretty close. Use a wood burner to write your dj name in the side! (probably before the latex coat in retrospect, lol.)