Another Kid Looking For DIY MIDI Help

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09-11-2011, 11:10 PM
rawkz0rz

Another Kid Looking For DIY MIDI Help

Hello DJTT! Long time reader, first time poster.

So here's the deal. I'm looking to build more or less a clone of the MIDI controller featured here: http://www.djtechtools.com/2008/07/1...59-minutes-99/
I have read up on MIDI controller construction throughout the forums, the comments on the blog post, etc. and feel like I'm ready to put it all together.

The thing is, there are a few questions I wanted to ask when it comes to parts. Like I said before I feel confident that I'll be able to fit them all together (I've built computers before and have always been good with legos, ;P) but I don't quite know which ones I should be buying. Really, what I'm looking for here, is just some advice in that department.

Before I go on, I just want to say that if a topic like this has popped up before please link me to it. I don't want everyone having to restate themselves! I did search the forums for something like this, but couldn't find anything, but if you can it would would be awesome if you could send it my way!

So, back to the subject at hand.

The only parts I've decided on for the moment are the buttons and the case. For the buttons I'm going with these: http://www.lizardlick.com/Seimitsu-P...ons_c_241.html (I know they're not the ones used in the tutorial, but if I wanted to add LED's later to make them light up, I could, and that is awesome.). As for the case, I'm going to build it out of legos and glue them all together so they won't break apart. I'm going to leave the top unglued, but insert screws into the corners, so if I need to open it up I can. The other parts I have questions about and don't want to just buy things without knowing if I should be or not. So let's get down to business.

HID Board: From what I understand there's a lot of different options for this. I've heard the Teensy is supposed to be the best of those options (or at least the most simple) but I also heard that it requires some kind of computer programming, which I have absolutely no idea how to do. I might have misunderstood, but that's what I gathered. So what I'm wondering is what did you guys go with, and what would you recommend for me?

Potentiometers: While looking at these what I noticed is that there are many more options when it comes to resistance and power ratings and volts and stuff than there seem to be with the arcade buttons. And this is scary to me. I really don't know what any of it means or what I should be looking for. I'm assuming it has something to do with the output of whatever HID board I buy, in which case I really don't know what I'm looking for, as I don't know which HID board I'm buying at this point. Any advice in this department would be greatly appreciated.

At the moment these are the two things I'm worried most about, and would love any and all wisdom anyone may have on the subject. And like I said, if there is another post out there somewhere that answers some or all of these questions, please let me know where I could find it, as I did look and couldn't locate it before.

Thank you all in advance!!
~Rawkz0rz!!
09-11-2011, 11:44 PM
theory28

bump.

for the TLDR just read from where it says 'HID board:' onwards
09-11-2011, 11:58 PM
tyfurious

Sanwas really are better, so be certain you'll use LEDs. I think the Arduino series is the best board, but that requires programming. I don't know much about potentiometers (I know sparkfun carries some reliable ones), but you want to make sure the space between the knobs and faceate isn't too great, so some deep though on the mounting and faceplate thickness would be important.

Think really hard and plan for everything. You try out any photoshop mockups yet?
09-12-2011, 08:13 AM
rawkz0rz

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyfurious

Sanwas really are better, so be certain you'll use LEDs. I think the Arduino series is the best board, but that requires programming. I don't know much about potentiometers (I know sparkfun carries some reliable ones), but you want to make sure the space between the knobs and faceate isn't too great, so some deep though on the mounting and faceplate thickness would be important.

Think really hard and plan for everything. You try out any photoshop mockups yet?

Thanks for the response! Just out of curiosity, what is it about Sanwa's buttons that make them better? I'm not trying to argue, I'm genuinely curious, as, well, it's a button, lol. From my beginners perspective it seems like they can't all be that different in terms of quality. But like I said, that's coming from the perspective of someone who's new at this stuff.

Do you have any suggestions for boards that do not require programming, or alternatively, could you send me in the direction of a place where I could learn the programming necessary for an Arduino board?

I'll check out Sparkfun's pot's and see what they've got. Also, I google'd the term "faceate" to try and figure out what you were talking about, but I couldn't find a proper definition. What is the "faceate"?

I haven't tried any photoshop mockups as I'm not sure what board I'm getting yet, and I figure you kind of need that to figure out what's going to happen with the rest of the parts.

Thank you again for your response, it's been very helpful!!
09-12-2011, 08:37 AM
Onimode

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawkz0rz

I'll check out Sparkfun's pot's and see what they've got. Also, I google'd the term "faceate" to try and figure out what you were talking about, but I couldn't find a proper definition. What is the "faceate"?

I'm almost certain he meant to say "faceplate". Your controller's faceplate can't be too think or else the pots/knobs won't be able to fit. And, if you don't have Photoshop to make the mockups, you can always use paper and a pencil! :D
09-12-2011, 10:35 AM
soundinsurgent712

I too am a noob when t comes to building a controller but this is the board I'm gonna use, http://highlyliquid.com/midi-controllers/midi-cpu/
As far as faders and pots I'm still looking into that.

Huey
09-12-2011, 07:50 PM
rawkz0rz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onimode

I'm almost certain he meant to say "faceplate". Your controller's faceplate can't be too think or else the pots/knobs won't be able to fit. And, if you don't have Photoshop to make the mockups, you can always use paper and a pencil! :D

Ah, yes, I'm almost certain I'll have to tinker around a bit with the lego faceplate, I'm probably going to have a lot of dremelling and sanding ahead of me, :P

As for the mock-up I'm gonna probably draw it out the 'ol fashioned way with paper and pencil then scan it in and refine it in photoshop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundinsurgent712

I too am a noob when t comes to building a controller but this is the board I'm gonna use, http://highlyliquid.com/midi-controllers/midi-cpu/
As far as faders and pots I'm still looking into that.

Huey

Would you mind sharing why you decided to go with that board? What advantages and drawbacks does it offer?
09-13-2011, 05:49 AM
soundinsurgent712

Well I after reading around I had it between that and this one, http://www.halemicro.com/UMC32_M/UMC32_M.html
with either one of those you didnt have to be a programmer in order to make them work. Pretty much solder up everything, plug it in and map away. Atleast thats what I got out of it, maybe I missed something, lol!! I think the one you picked you had to program it.
09-13-2011, 07:03 AM
DJDoubleYou

I think you should buy the UMC by HaleMicrosystems as midi brain
09-13-2011, 09:42 AM
rawkz0rz

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundinsurgent712

Well I after reading around I had it between that and this one, http://www.halemicro.com/UMC32_M/UMC32_M.html
with either one of those you didnt have to be a programmer in order to make them work. Pretty much solder up everything, plug it in and map away. Atleast thats what I got out of it, maybe I missed something, lol!! I think the one you picked you had to program it.

Yeah after reading up a bit more I saw that the one I was thinking about using does require programming, which I really want to avoid. Looking into the one you selected I see that it only uses a midi port, not USB, and I don't really have the option to use a midi port as of yet. Right now I'm all USB, so the one you were debating buying (the one by Hale Microsystems) seems right up my alley.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rutierut

I think you should buy the UMC by HaleMicrosystems as midi brain

After checking their products out, it seems like this would be the best option. They even have the potentiometers and some fancy-looking knobs that would cut out a lot of shopping elsewhere. At this point, this is the brain I've decided on.

Yay! Thank you all so much! I'm pretty sure this just about sums up my questions for now. If I have anything else to ask I'll be back, but lets hope things go smoothly from here!

Once again, thank you all so much!