New controller (maybe going to the market)

[MrPopinjay]

Turntables did not start with 100mm pitch faders. I've seen pre-tech 1200s turntables with short throw faders and pitch knobs. Hell the Technics sl1800mk2 and sl1700mk2 both have knobs rather than faders. 100mm pitch faders stuck because they are largely thought to be the most comfortable to mix on.

Lots of people go outside of 6% and hell, a 50mm fader isn't really long enough for that. On a 1200 you get +/- 4% on a 50mm fader and on a CDJ1000 you get +/- 3%. That means that if you're playing a 128 BPM house track you can only select from tracks between 125 and 131... You might be comfortable with that but my Jungle collection ranges from 140 to 240 BPM and I literally could not mix within such a small range.

And if you're using standard 8 bit midi you're going to have to go even lower to +/- 1 or 2 % as the resolution will be too low to have decent pitch accuracy with a range any higher...

If you're going to have unusable pitch faders you may as well get rid of them altogether.

[Joel Santos]

I knew about that on the turntables I was just saying that when they started to be the thing (the 30 years of technics master turntable) people got used to 100mm.

Still... you make an interesting point. I'll have to test and see if I need more space or less. You can always get more resolution on the pitch you know that.

[MrPopinjay]

Not with 8 bit midi you can't. 127 steps is what you get. With a CDJ standard pitch resolution of 0.02% increments you have a maximum pitch range of +/- 1.28%.

+/- 3.2% if you're using the inferior 0.05% pitch resolution of the old CDJ800s.

[Joel Santos]

So I really thought about it and MrPopinjay has a point on a size of the pitch. I've changed the controller now it has less buttons (to make space for a bigger pitch fader) and I tried and space everything better to be comfortable. Between knobs there is a space of 2cm which seems pretty fine for me. My vestax has 1.5cm. The jog still is 6cm and I spaced it a little from pitch once again to be more comfortable to use the pitch. Got there already 4 leds: 2 that change color. one when deck A changes to C and one when deck B changes to D (still wondering about their position). The other 4 are for the cues on each channel. Thinking now where should I get more and which are easy to map for example. I'm also thinking on leds inside the arcade buttons and the jogs.

I think i'll have to get more height on the controller because where the cue leds sit there should be the screws from the faders so... i need more space

Here it is: santos_controller_2.JPGsantos_controller_2_top.JPG

[MrPopinjay]

What's that on the top right? A headphone jack?

[Joel Santos]

Yes it will have two headphone jacks one on top and other on the normal place on the front. Both will do the same. still thinking if each should have an independent knob.

[0Notice]

Yes it will have two headphone jacks one on top and other on the normal place on the front. Both will do the same. still thinking if each should have an independent knob.

Headphone cord would get in the way...

[Stewe]

Between knobs there is a space of 2cm which seems pretty fine for me.

Even 1,5 cm between knobs is cool with me.

The jog still is 6cm

Shit dude that's micro

Got there already 4 leds: 2 that change color. one when deck A changes to C and one when deck B changes to D (still wondering about their position).

Why not placing them next to deck switch buttons?

Also do you aim in Traktor when you think about layout of commands and in which order you're gonna assign them? Some diagram would be nice so we can maybe help you with ideas.

[KS2]

Not a fan of arcade buttons but the rest seems ok. If the base is actually going to be wood that'd be cool as.

[Joel Santos]

Headphone cord would get in the way...

That's the reason why i'm going to do two headphone jacks. Otherwise I only have it on the top.

Not a fan of arcade buttons but the rest seems ok. If the base is actually going to be wood that'd be cool as.

That's the idea mate. To use wood on the sides and on the top get a laser cut metal sheet.

Stewe: Actually that is something that I don't really know about. On what to do about the layout of commands. For now i've been centering myself on the hardware layout but hey... can you help me here? About the jog size... as I said, it is to be used as a transport / cue and not really mixing. Mixing is supposed to be pitch bend based. This way I can get there cheaper encoders. Maybe in the future I get better encoders but if i get a bigger jog i'll have to have a bigger controller and for now I think it's the perfect size. I was thining on making a deck switching based on Shift + other button. On those top 5 buttons on each deck there should have a shift.

Here is what I was thinking on doing with this layout (those that have ?? I just don't remember what it was supposed to be): santos_controller_2_top_layout.jpg