building a custom midi controller

[afshawn998]

Hello again. today i am reaching out to you guys in the hope that you can help lead me in the right direction on how to build my own midi controller. I would like it to be small and along the lines of ean's dj 101 but with 6 buttons and more knobs. I'm gonna be mapping it to tractor to control some build/ sweeping effects i have made and to control other miscellaneous stuff ill come up with. i just want it to be small and compact and easily transportable. i currently have a s4 mk2 and a spectra and want something that sill fit perfectly into that set up. If you guys have any better ideas or can point me in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it.

[MadCat]

Hey whats up?
If you just need to be pointed in a general direction then i would suggest you start researching online. There are a few companies that produce what they call the brain of the midi controller. Some example include Teensy, livid instruments, liquid, doepfer, and the classic arduino just to name a few. If you want plug and play ability with no coding involved then you should go with livid instruments, they have a good section on diy controllers with a wiki page for instructions. If you dont mind a little simple coding then either one of the reaming brains mentioned above would be easy to use. They allow you to hook up analog and digital controlls such as buttons and potentiometers as well as led's to accompany your controls. I hope this helps. if you have any more questions feel free to ask

Thanks - MadCat

[elmooso]

You may find this helpful.

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Fr...tylish-Modula/

[poltergeist]

DJTT actually ran something on this a while ago. Totally worth checking out
http://www.djtechtools.com/2008/07/28/dj-101-diy-guide/

[mrdorianjames]

There are several platforms for making midi controllers. Here are some:

Arduino based options-
Arduino is fairly popular these days and can be used for other projects as well. Depending on Arduino you choose, it can be limited in in inputs/outputs compared to some other options. It seems more configurable but requires some knowledge of electronics and programming. AFAIK, Of these Arduino options, Teensy seems the most well built for it because it has built in midi/usb. This is my choice
https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/teensy31.html

Midibox-
a pretty extensive platform for a ton of buttons and quite a following. Seems like it requires less programming knowledge and more electronics knowledge http://www.ucapps.de/midibox64.html

Highly liquid-
seems a pretty quick and simple option but I don't know much about it http://store.highlyliquid.com/collec...ducts/midi-cpu

Livid brain-
Another simpler option from a well known midi controller manufacturer. http://wiki.lividinstruments.com/wiki/Brain_v2 I've thought about this one but seems like the $50 price tag could escalate when adding components making it cost more than just buying a midi controller.