Korg NanoKontrol Arcade button mod
So hopefully this is going to become a worklog :)
So when the midifighter was posted on the blog I looked at it and thought "That's nice but it needs some knobs and maybe a fader to be really cool" I then looked at my Korg NanoKontrol and thought "You have basically all the controls I need it's a pity your buttons suck" I then realised I've never pulled it apart to see how it works (something I love doing) and so I did. Here's what I discovered:
Sorry about the poor pictures I have shaky hands and a cheap camera.
So all the buttons are just contact point on the PCB. Damh. I was hoping for something I could solder off. After looking at it for 20 minutes disappointedly I had a brainwave, those little contact points must just be shorting from the button and all the buttons are layed out so:
[Bare metal zig-zag] <LED> [Bare metal zig-zag]
After a bit of testing with a paperclip (go-go high tech equipment) I figured out that each side of metal has a zig-zag of + and a zig-zag of -.
SO the solution is cut opposite sides!
[Bare metal zig-zag with the - side cut] <LED> [Bare metal zig-zag with the + side cut]
Then solder onto the PCB and blam! Arcade button action! Now I've run into a problem... I can't cut the traces, I have "essential tremor" which means my hands shake all the time so I don't have enough fine motor control to cut the little traces :(
But that won't stop me! I'm sure I can find a scalpel and a friend who can help me.
TECHNICAL QUESTION
So the basic design I have right now needs more button and less faders...
Can I convert a fader to a button? I know I can set traktor to treat the fader as a button but how do I wire a button up to where a fader was?
The fader has 4 pins, with the fader still connected I've sent ages shorting the pins in different combinations but I can't get a consistent ON/OFF from them... Google says there should be a VCA-, VCA1+, VCA2+ and Ground pin but I don't know what to do with them after that to get an ON/OFF state.
