4MidiLoop Arcade Button mod + 4 Jog Wheels !!!

[thictool]

I bought mine in England at a store called JUNO Records.

http://www.juno.co.uk/products/icon-...gle%2BShopping

[zestoi]

I bought mine in England at a store called JUNO Records.

http://www.juno.co.uk/products/icon-...gle%2BShopping

pretty cool price. think i paid 100gbp for mine from ebay. seems to be quite hard to find most icon products and their names don't make it any easier... "iPad"?? really!?!??

they seem to have finally released their icreative, touch sensitive controller, too now.

[Nephew]

Jeez....and your what, "The Jog Wheel Police" ???

Im useing the seperate Jogs cause.....ummm, I like em? and cause the Jog / Endless Encoder functionallity on the 4MidiLoop completely SUCKS.

BTW if the 4MidiLoop was moving "away" from Jog wheels, I highly doubt they would include Endless Encoders labeled SCRATCH / SEEK

Here's a little quote from an interview with the man who designed the 4midiloop

CDM: Let’s compare this to something like the Traktor Kontrol S4. Aside from the obvious lack of the jog wheels, where does the 4midiloop fit in – how does it differentiate itself?

Mathias: The difference to all available 4-deck-controllers is the fact that you have all possible controls for all 4 decks and 4 fx slots on the 4midiloop. So there are no limits and no necessary shift-switchings like on the other devices.

The S4 is a 4-deck-mix-controller with capability to control 2 fx slots and deck function of only 2 decks (simultaneously).
And of course these jogwheels — which I hate and which are unnecessary for techno and similar styles (my opinion).’

I simply use encoders for seek/scratch functions… it saves so much space…

Now granted by labeling those encoders seek/scratch he's really not trying to scratch like a turntablist, in all actuality he should have labeled it seek/scrub. I'm sure they just wanted to keep it labeled as such as that is what the function is called in Traktor.

[thictool]

Im not at all interested in "Scratching" with the added Jogs in this setup or with 4MidiLoops Endless Encoders.

The purpose I use Jogs for is mostly searching thru tracks (in my headphone) in an "on the fly" manner while setting various Cue Points so I can manipulate things that I feel works in that moment within the track im seeking thru while playing live, and for pitch bending. If your into premade "Cue Points" and spending time at home prepping for sets, then by all means I can see no need for Jogs. However im not really inspired at "home" to do much of anything except pet my dog and eat way too much.

While playing live I am VERY inspired to do all kinds of things that I normally wouldnt think of....so in this senario I prefer to have the ability to seek, bend, drop Cue Points and manipulate with the most ease (hence Jogs). I dont want to be constricted to pre-made Cue Points and a limited ability to set Cues "On The Fly", Seek thru and Bend tracks. 4MidiLoop offers just that....limited seek, limited bend, limited Jog functionality all across the board.....not to mention the "sometime I work & sometimes I DONT work" Play and Cue buttons.

Just my opinion....and unless a person owns a 4MidiLoop or happens to have tryed one, I dont really think they could speak with any authority on these matters.

[thictool]

I built thIS setup shown in earlier pics of this thread into a DJ Case. the case demensions are 24 in (back to front) 22 inch (side to side) and 4 inch (high) with the lid off. Everything in the case (all included equiptnebt) weights about 34 pounds with the lid off. Everything is extremely tight while lid is on and off.

I hated setting this rig up at the venue prior to a gig when I was all in seperate peices, so my goal here was to build something where I could open the lid, plug in a few cables and be ready to go.

I added a 12 inch external monitor to the rig so I could save space and because its much less intensive on my MacBook Pro. You save a whole lotta resources on your MAC by doing this and it runs much cooler. Running an external from MacBook Pro is sometimes refered to as CLAMSHELL MODE.

I also added a Direct Line convertor Rolls MB 15b (hidden underneath) so that I could have a DB boost if I needed one while connecting RCA or XLR from my Sound Card. This helps if I want to run straight to the AMPS instead of having to rely on whatever mixer the club happenes to have there.

So heres whats in the setup / DJ Case (Some you can see and some you cant see if its hidden within the case):

4MidiLoop w/ 8 Arcade Buttons which I modded myself

Two ICON IDJ controllers which I stripped and modded to only contain 2 Jogs Wheels each (4 Jogs in all)

Mini Keyboard

Rolls Direct Line Box MB15b. Allows DB Boost to XLR BAlanced and can make an RCA output have a Balanced DB Output as well

Powered T7 USB Hub w/ 7 Powered USB Ports (Hidden underneath)

RME Babyface Soundcard (Best sounding sound card I ever heard) It makes NI Audio 2,4,6,8,10 sound like a transistor Radio

12 inch TFT LED External Monitor (which can handle 1024 - 768 Resolution

Two LED Lights (One For Keyboard & One for the 4MidiLoop)

A power strip providing power to all things in the setup as well as 4 open plugs for anything I might need to additionally plug in. Theres a 8 Foot cord attached to the power strip so I can plug it into any outlet and instantly everything is powered on.

Little Dot MK III Tube Headphone Amplifier (So the headphone monitor volume coming from my soundcard can be made much louder)

MacBook Pro

A MACBOOK stand. Allows me to run my MAC in Clamshell mode and keep it safe, space saving / compact and solid while it runs in "closed" mode

Honestly this setup is a dream come true.

[thisisian]

very impressive!

are there any heat issues running the MacBook pro in clamshell mode?

[thictool]

No heat issues....Runs cooler actually because its way less intensive for the Mac to not have to run its own LCD. Plus its overall cooler because there is no LED lights running on the MAC.

Theres lots of info on this...Google MAC Clamshell mode...

[kahlheins]

Hi, i thought about getting the idj as well because its so cheap and i need something to practice beatmatching (i just have 2 x1)
Do you think it would work fine for that? I would take out all the buttons and faders, cover it, solder 2 new pitchfaders into the idj and give it a new case.

[thictool]

Modding the idj is no easy feat. Taking the buttons out is easy, but removing the pitch faders and rotarys are not so easy. I learned that if u remove the rotarys and faders completely, you break the electronic flow of the pcb board - meaning nothing works once the flow is interupted. I had to manually leave the faders and rotarys connected to the board and cut them at the base of the pcb board so they wouldnt poke through the faux top peice I custom made. Also there is no room inside the idj to add any additional harware, its really tight inside.

[zestoi]

i don't see why the only people who are looking to buy the idj want to remove all but the jogs... i replaced all the knobs on mine today for some decent feeling ones that are a bit taller and i find it quite cool... if all someone really needs (like the OP) are some jogs then fair enough - but the pots arent too bad, or the buttons and u could just not use them if u didnt need them...