[Build] the xone 1D cheap knock-off clone

[Saoudi]

hi guys & gals
its been only few months since i converted to digital djing thanks to the great ean golden and the DJTT Super Community and i have almost read every single build log on building your own controller

so ... today ! ... am introducing you the very best controller humankind have ever witnessed a state of art the god of controllers ... i introduce ...
*drum rolls* ... *curtains fall* Xoomon - 4D !!! :eek:



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well not exactly its still a drawing i made on Photoshop but am starting soon and planing to share the whole procedure with you guys for the following reasons:

1- i have no idea what the hell am doing
am sort of a geek but never ever messed with soldering or coding
*talks to self* {then what kind of a geek am i ? }
2- i always look for feedback any kind of constructive feedback
3- sharing ... because sharing is cool
*talks to self* {dude that was supposed to be your reason no. 1}

so the idea is building a controller that is able to do as much as the xone 1d and even a bit more basic things every digital dj need nowdays specially those s4 owners *Jumping around screaming* Yes i have one ! wooot <3
atleast IMO ... so i have came up with the above idea/design which with minimum costs possible and mostly with anything laying around
should be ... lets say ... a xone 1d ... a x2 midi fighter ... a mouse (trackball)
*hash is taking* crazy you say ? no sir you are crazy and you have seen nothing yet !

i plan to go a bit crazy with it but that will break my primary rule which is minimum costs as possible maybe once done i will update it with the additional stuff and mark it as optional

as for now i would like to hear some feedback and specially mapping suggestions to see if they meet what i got in mind or am i as usual totally off track :P

i will try posting the hardware i bought and which am still buying later today after taking some pictures of them !

oh yeah almost forgot am not a native speaker so please bare with my miss spellings and ruining the English grammar

[chrisw]

Is that a big track ball?

[Saoudi]

yes sir ! switching to your laptop mouse pad or wired mouse each time is a bit annoying specially when at a gig u would look kind of boring IMO so came up with this idea of integrating a mouse within the controller and for the ease of use i preferred a trackball and since those are a bit expensive for the project am planing to build my own trackball using the older generation mouse the ones with a ball or even the new laser ones would work fine (i have found 2 methods to achieve same results on both)

do you find it a good idea ? is the trackball location good right there ? feedback pwease ! :P

[Saoudi]

so as i said before most of these items are dirt cheap and most likely found around your desk i plan on upgrading some items but thats optional and only once the project is done and i have achieved the goal of building a controller i need with max performance for lowest price possible


so here we go with the pictures of the hardware i plan to use:


a water proof keyboard with aprox. 85 soft rubber buttons/pads
i will be using it in the lower part of the controller for hot cues banks and presets a midifighter-like thingy ... the feeling is not bad


my most important device a 3 port usb powered hub with a card reader (which i might go crazy with later) i will be plugging all my devices to this hub to power them up ... using a hub (the easy way) because i wont bother buying an expensive u-hid pcb or any other brains that require coding in which .. i pretty suck :P


another important device which i will use its brain in making the xone 1d like main part of the controller two usb game pads with a single usb cord ... another dirt cheap device (i will be updating the first post with aprox. prices in the next few days) which i just realized that i might need to buy some more looking at the amount of knobs i got on the upper part of the controller


dont LOL ! ... well its ok you can :P
i know its not familliar to see this device in a digital djing website specially not a modding thread but i IMHO i find the buttons on these remotes pretty good in shape and feel ... will be using the number buttons under the fx knobs to match traktors fx layout and will use the smaller ones under the faders


another un-familiar device built into a controller a mouse ... in this project actually am modifying the mouse into a trackball which is easier/faster to use than a normal mouse or a mouse pad ... specially when some mobile djs like me place their laptops a little bit high and far from being able to access the mouse easily/frequently ... and tbh i find it boring to look at a dj who is looking at his screen and roaming with his mouse as if he was web browsing :P


am still hesitating about this part either to make a whole acrylic case or build a wooden case and use the acrylic as a face plate ... anyways this an acrylic sheet of 0.25 cm thickness i had since a while


this is the knob i will be using mounted on a pot just to give me an advanced look of both together on the controller ... by the way this is not a normal knob its a knob pulled of a light dimmer (remember the goal is to use stuff found around which we already have) the feeling is not bad but it needs a paint job ... am a knob fan so went hunting over the internet for some good knobs (for a future upgrade/project) and i was pretty surprised how expensive they are comparing to their original price which was 0.07-0.8 USD the only down side was u need to order around 200-1000 pcs depending on the supplier


here is my pot without the knob nothing special just an ordinary 10k rotary pot ... i ran out of these really fast i need to buy some more !


this is the most expensive part comparing to other items which i had to purchase around 5.5 USD each :P


but i have a doubt about them are these the correct ones used in digital controllers and stuff ?

thats all for today and apparently i will need to purchase some few things before i start breaking stuff (which am really good at btw ) and mounting them

any ideas suggestions i would really love to hear some feedback from you guys ... <3


-Momo Slai

[VirtualLogic]

Ur going to need 2 more game because each controller has 4 analog inputs.

[DevilDare]

Very interesting!

Definitely following this as I have something similar in mind.

Keep us posted and good luck!

[Saoudi]

Ur going to need 2 more game because each controller has 4 analog inputs.

i wasnt able to do the math in the past few days because of that piece of hash i bought instead of the pots ! JK :P but yeah i wasnt able to do the math !
so i guess am buying another 2 pads with a single usb cord
... but what am a bit worried about is the internal space that will require a bit more than what i planned and my hub has only 3 usb ports ... lets see ...
adding another hub seems easy but does take space and i cant put hands on any good powered hubs with loads of ports and a cheap price ...
anyways i will try to find a solution ! *smokes a joint*

Very interesting!

Definitely following this as I have something similar in mind.

Keep us posted and good luck!

sure man i will do my best and yeah i will need a lot of luck since i lack some ironing skills ... actually i have none
by the way you might be more interested in my next project (i might just upgrade this one) i will go really crazy with technology and gadgets ... want a flavor ? ... an internal hard disk !