DIY Crossfader?

[JeuxBox]

I am extremely new at this, so my terminology is going to be very basic but I had a question I was hoping to get some help with. I'm currently making my own Midi controller, following the instructions laid out by Ean in his YouTube video. Along with it I've done the basic mod of breaking apart an old mouse and reconfiguring it to be used as a very cheap platter. What I want to do is use these as practice with scratching and such. With this in mind, I wanted to some how add a crossfader, with hopes of either being able to switch decks or simply cutting the one I have selected. I'm using Virtual DJ (like I said, very basic) and have gotten my makeshift platter all worked up. My biggest question is, if there is any way to set up a crossfader that will be noticed by my PC. In a nutshell, I'm trying to combine these two DIY projects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAosg...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2j5OoIu5kw

Thanks for any help.

[Phormula1.8T]

please dont take this the wrong way because this DIY project is very cool and shows alot of intuitive thinking but if you are trying to learn to scratch, keep making this controller but get your self a turntable for either regular vinyl or timecode for the cut work. scratching on controllers usually sucks ass, some exceptions, but having said yourself you are new at this i doubt (and i may be wrong) that you'll make a scratch worthy controller. and then if you get to used to controller scratching it becomes very hard to learn harcore turntablist techniques to apply to your scratch work. if you do succeed, hit up Vestax. you'll be ballin :-P

P.S. sorry i didnt really answer your question.

[JeuxBox]

Thanks for the response. I know it probably isn't the best way to begin but until I have the money to drop on the appropriate equipment, this was all I could come up with. I'm not setting my hopes high with this, nor expect to become a big time DJ using an optical mouse and a card board box, just something fun I wanted to try and make but the more I look into the more it looks like its more trouble than its worth ha...

[Phormula1.8T]

thats totally cool dude. all im sayin is for about $300 you can get a cheapo mixer and halfway decent turntable that'll do you alot of justice in learning the art of scratching. having said that id like to see how your controller comes out!

[Nicky H]

Hi mate,

The guy in the vid is called rasteri and he made it using midibox

The full article is here:

http://midibox.org/forums/index.php?/topic/10400-scratch-wheel/

[kaleaf]

jeuxbox, you are not going to be able to hook up a crossfader to a mouse mod as far as I know. A crossfader is also called a slide potentiometer. It is a analog device, not like digital on/off mouse buttons or the optical encoder's. You could get one to possibly work off a xbox/ps2 gamepad mod by replacing a axis on the joystick. with the mouse mod you could set the mouse buttons to deck swap though or deck on/off.

diy jog wheels use a encoder (mechinical or optical like the mouse) those mods you are looking at with diy jog wheels have custom software or good diy hardware like midibox. I would like to know what you are trying for jogwheel

If you want to mod check out

midifighter (i hear you can add a crossfader later on)
umc32
u-hid
midibox (not for beginners)
theres a few others

gamepad - search here for b.c.ninja I think it was him

and also read back on this bourm it might be buried but theres good info here

[charo]

you can get digital crossfaders: the VESTAX CF-CC DIGITAL CROSSFADER is an example.

these little projects can be fun but keep in mind (IMO)

1)these projects take time. time you could be practicing, listening to new music, reading these forums for digital tips etc. ask yourself with limited time to spare, do you want to be a controller builder or be a dj? these are not mutually exclusive in themselves but projects tend to suck up time.

2)time is money. you have to ask yourself how much your free time is worth to you and then factor that into any savings you make think you are achieving by going the DIY route. If this project takes you 8 hours to complete then obviously you have paid 8*(your freetime hr/wage). this can and should expand to things outside of djing as well IMO.

I'm not saying there aren't rewards in DIY. For example this past summer i designed and built sailing riggings for my old canoe. It took the whole summer to rework the rig to get it working. countless test runs, long paddles home when something failed out on the lake etc. I could have easily picked up a used sailboat (small snark) for 300-500 and spent all that time learning sailing but I made the choice to go DIY and I have a different, specialized skillset from it than i would if i had bought a boat. also the feeling of joy i got when it was working at the end of the summer was incomparable to just sailing a standard sailboat.

sorry for what seems like the off topic just sharing to try to help, good luck.

[kaleaf]

1)these projects take time. time you could be practicing, listening to new music, reading these forums for digital tips etc. ask yourself with limited time to spare, do you want to be a controller builder or be a dj? these are not mutually exclusive in themselves but projects tend to suck up time.

Thats true. My projects are my hobbies and its just stuff I work and I already have a good amount of gear. I would agree for most people if they are looking to be a dj and have no gear that building something might not be the best start. If you have the tools and you have done this kinda work before you can do a quick and cheap xbox mod besides that I have not seen many projects that were cheaper than the entry level name brand stuff. One positive note you will learn stuff, maybe stuff you don't need to know to dj, but for example I am building a synth and my knowledge of synths has gone up as I learn more about them like you did Charo when you worked on your boat. Also I am more of a builder than a dj I build other kinds of electronics, custom airsoft guns that are 1 of a kind, working on a projector for a long long time and a few other random things.


anyway...

JeuxBox if you want to give it a try check out this xbox mod

http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7027