The BIG Arduino MIDI controller thread

[DjNecro]

I haven't, no... I am now though...

My goal is to have at least 2-4 encoders per channel plus 4 or 8 for personal choice... Are endless encoders really that useful for gain? I find my self barely touching it, and when I do, it's rarely more than a few degrees of motion...

Anything you would change? Placement, distances, sizes (5mm small/12mm large buttons, 10mm knobs), etc?

Also, what would one pay for such a device? assuming I end up completing it

[MiL0]

are you thinking of selling it once its completed? Depending on the finish/quality, anything between $500-800? I'd probably want a bunch of arcade buttons on there first!

the reason I would consider using encoders as gain controls is because Traktor autogains each track when it loads. This means that you would need to use soft takeover on any potentiometer as the knob would always be in the wrong position when loading new tracks. An encoder solves this problem perfectly.

[DjNecro]

Ahhh.... good point sir! Although I tend to adjust the auto-gain myself since I don't find it works all that well, I can understand that there would be many people who don't... I'll make the 4 channel gains endless encoders...

What's the deal with arcade buttons? It seems as if everyone is all gaga over them, but is it just the size/feel? or are they somehow more accurate than normal buttons?

My issue is that they're HUUUGE.... I would sacrifice quite a bit of real estate to fit them... however after I get the required stuff (global/fx/loop/channel/etc) nailed down, I'll see how much space I have left over..

Re: selling it... I probably wouldn't sell the first one I build, but I am toying with a custom controller building service... tell me what you want, and i will build it for you... It would be more expensive than just a controller, but the end result is 100% custom for your needs.


What would be your 100% MUST HAVE feature that is not always included on a controller? (i.e., such-and-such controller would be PERFECT, if only it had a.............)

[MiL0]

check any of Ean's videos to see what you can do with arcade buttons, performance-wise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8eB83axVvw

my perfect controller would be the concept I'm designing at the moment (check my sig - the cdj2000 link)

[DjNecro]

Ean's stuff always impresses me, however I don't really see what the arcade style buttons did for his performance... Anyone with sufficient skill (sooooo not me...) should be able to perform pretty much the same with similar (but cheaper) buttons... as long as the button is reliable..

Unless you can find me a place to buy arcade buttons for about a buck each that is...

[safefire]

Arcade buttons are all about the feel and ease of pressing the button.

I think Ean stated in an interview some while back that he actually starting having wrist problems due to playing bad buttons.
When you're heavily hitting the buttons, or quickly, whatever, it's nice to have some big, soft fluffy buttons to press, rather than some small rubbery ones.

[DjNecro]

I was thinking of using the short travel clicky style that is used on the ddm4000... If there is room for them, I will certainly add as many as I can though....

[MiL0]

Arduino arrived today... got it hooked up and finally working (pain in the arse trying to get the drivers working in Win7 x64)

I loaded my first bit of code on to it just now and it's all working nicely

Just spent the last 20 minutes ordering a whole bunch of extra components so I can do some basic stuff with it, including:

NEW HELPING HAND TOOL SOLDER MODELING KIT MAGNIFYING
KINGBRIGHT 0.56" 7 SEGMENT LED DISPLAY HE RED (CA)
10 WAY SINGLE ROW PCB PIN HEADER CONNECTOR (10 PACK)
6 WAY DOUBLE ROW PCB PIN HEADER CONNECTOR (15 PACK)
(Pack of 25) Small Tactile PCB Switch / Button 6x6x4mm
840 Pin Breadboard 66mm x 174mm & 140 Jumper Wire Kit
Solderless Breadboard Jumper Cable Wire Kit 2 bundles

plus some encoders, more potentiometers and some ribbon cable/wiring... hopefully should have something semi-usable in the next week or so!

[MiL0]

32 analogue pots via midi using multiplexers:

[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/captaincredible/3359088943/in/photostream/"]Arduino based 32 pot midi controller | Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/3359088943_c4b24d6a7d_m.jpg@@AMEPARAM@@3359088943@ @AMEPARAM@@c4b24d6a7d[/ame]

[michaeldunne109]

Just book marked this

Hope i get time during the week to go through it.

Thanks MiLO for starting this.