First DIY, advice needed [Build Log]

[heaps]

They just don't make em quite how I want.

Basically, I'm going to make a midi controller which is 2 midi fighters smashed together with 2 faders in between and 4 eqs at the top of each deck.

It drunkenly will look like this:


I'm thinking of buying all the circuitry through Livid Intruments, but is there a cheaper/ more efficient route?

I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing this, but I'm sure we can figure it out, eh?

[VirtualLogic]

if its your first time i would go with two or three gamepads, they are cheap and are easy to program.

[heaps]

Are they reliable? Do they have latency issues? Will any PC gamepad do?

Thanks for the advice.

Guess I kind of need a mentor on this one.

Also, I want it to be usb powered, and durable.
1st step, I guess is to find a casing, I'm going to look for something aluminum with a lid that can be closed over the top, like a built-in decksaver (maybe an old lunch tin with an added faceplate?). Then I suppose I'll order 32 arcade buttons, 8 potentiomenters, and 2 faders, then mount them to the faceplate.

[kilobytekaushik]

A single nanokontrol will do, look in the mod gear thread.

[extraclassic]

A single nanokontrol will do, look in the mod gear thread.

How do you get 32 buttons from a Nanokontrol?

[MiL0]

Livid is expensive and requires quite a bit of soldering work to get up and running.

I would go for either:

- 2 xbox joypads (since 2 x normal joypads would be only 8 pots; you need 12)
- Highly Liquid cpu
- Leo Bodnar
- some sort of combination of the above with an Akai LPD8 or Korg NanoKontrol

it really depends on your skill level to be honest. If this is your first controller then I'd probably get the Highly Liquid cpu since it's reasonably priced, a proper midi device and has great support on their forums. Judging by the number of recent posts on this forum, I'd say think carefully about using joypads - they might seem simple at first but you may have to deal with all sorts of potential unexpected problems further down the road.

[ToOntown]

Judging by the number of recent posts on this forum, I'd say think carefully about using joypads - they might seem simple at first but you may have to deal with all sorts of potential unexpected problems further down the road.

Was just going to say this... seems like lots of software and latency issues with gamepads. Might not be worth the hassle.

[extraclassic]

I think a lot of the time software and latency issues is down to user error.

I've never experienced either while using gamepads.

[heaps]

The Highly Liquid CPU would be perfect if only it were midi-over-usb... I don't have a soundcard that accepts midi in. :/

[extraclassic]

Maybe try something like this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-USB-MIDI-C...item2c55613f1a