custom traktor controller with internal 7" vga screen mod

[MiL0]

Clone Thing by Spinor < click to download

"How to use it?

You see a list with regions to clone (initially it is empty). Below the list there are some fields to enter new regions.

1. Enter the name of the window you want to clone, but instead of taking the full name in the title bar, just use the first 10 characters. Alternatively select the name from the list of all currently visible windows by clicking the 'Select Name From List' button.

2. Then enter the coordinates of the source region. These are the top-left X and Y position followed by the width and the height of the region (so not the bottom-left X and Y position!). You can use the included program, "AU3_Spy" to give you the precise co-ordinates of where the mouse pointer currently is.

3. Finally enter the coordinates of the destination window. Again, the first two are the top-left X and Y coordinates. The second are the target width and height. Press 'Add' to add the region to the list.

Repeat 1-3 until you specified all the regions Then press 'Go' and the windows will open. Right-click the windows to unlock them so you can resize them.

You have to make sure the windows you clone are actually visible on the screen or else it won't work."

You can use (ctrl+alt+shift + F1/F2/F3/.../F12) to toggle the windows on and off temporarily.

Original post:

Just a little idea that I'm working on at the moment. One of the biggest negatives for me is watching a dj who's constantly fiddling and starring at a laptop screen when he should be performing. It's also my belief that the vast majority of the Traktor screen isn't necessary - all you really need is the tunes listing and perhaps the waveform displays. You don't even really need a keyboard and mouse, if you have sufficient midimapped controls for everything.

So, basically my plan is to build a flightcased custom Traktor controller that also houses a laptop/SFF ITX pc and a compact 7" screen. The laptop would be on but the lid would be closed and it would sit under the controller, inside the casing. The idea is that there are enough physical controls on the controller that it won't be necessary to display the entire Traktor layout on screen, just a small section(s).

This is made possible by the recent introduction of USB secondary displays - like this one:



(available from here for £64 - release date is 17th June)

It's a 7" (USB input) display and has a resolution of 800 x 480 - not enough to display Traktor in fullscreen mode (the pixels would be too small to comfortably use anyway, even if it could). This prompted me to contact a programmer friend and ask him to design me a custom bit of software. It's still work in progress (I'll upload it in the next week or 2) but so far here's what it can do...

It basically allows you to choose a region of any window (such as Traktor) and create a clone of it. This clone can then be moved to any region of the desktop (or another display). It can then be distorted and resized - you could clone the waveform display, move it to another display and then stretch it so that it fills the entire screen for example. This all works at fullspeed with no latency. You can continue to do this for as many regions as you like.

By doing this it's actually possible to completely re-arrange the layout of Traktor! You could clone each section, resize it and then move it to any position you like. This really opens up the possibilities for custom controllers imo - imagine a controller with two tiny lcd displays, one for each waveform! My current project is to build the above 7" screen into my midi custom dj controller and have it toggle between fullscreen displaying the playlists and the two/four waveforms for each deck.

Anyway, hope that's got you all thinking... the one thing it can't do (and probably never will) is allow a mouse to interact with the cloned windows. But hopefully you'll have a midi controller to do that for you so it's not a big deal.

Feel free to comment or suggest anything I might have missed.

[CerebralExcretion]

damn, that could be cool!

[MiL0]

hmm just noticed the usb display has a latency of 30ms. I was thinking it might be quite cool to get a touchscreen version and use it as a virtual platter as well but 30ms is quite a lot...

[charo]

and if you go smaller then 12inches for your touchscreen, it gets harder and harder to make adjustments with your fingers, you'd probably need a pen.

I like the idea of having a touchscreen platter though, something like the dascratch but a program like MTL would rock

[MiL0]

and if you go smaller then 12inches for your touchscreen, it gets harder and harder to make adjustments with your fingers, you'd probably need a pen.

it's not the physical size of the screen that's the problem - it's the resolution of the screen. But anyway, any touchscreen platter software that was too small could be increased in size with the cloning software I mentioned above, thus improving sensitivity.

[charo]

have you seen any touchscreen platters like you are talking about? i know there is those touchscreen turntable videos on youtube (attigo tt), but have you heard of anything else?

[MiL0]

no but I imagine it wouldn't be difficult to program something - I could probably knock something hacky up in AHK heh

probably the easiest way to do it would be to clone the waveform display using the took I mentioned above, stretch it so that it fills the whole screen and then use your finger to 'scratch' the waveform.

[Foreverhex]

I few things for you all to look at. It may help in you custon gear journey.

Coffin Case
http://www.native-instruments.com/fo...6&d=1207015768

Touch Screen DJing

[MiL0]

wow - nice one... that's some inspiring stuff!

here are a few more options for LCD screens:

http://www.aeicomp.com/Computer_LCD_...LCD%20Monitors

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SPF-85.../dp/B001E25LSO

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MIMO-...-Display-Black

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/8-VGA-TFT-LCD-...3%3A1|294%3A50

http://kohtek.com/Lilliput-8inch-43-...ource=GB&id=uk

http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=27810

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LILLIPUT-8-TFT...3A1%7C294%3A30

[MiL0]

I few things for you all to look at. It may help in you custon gear journey.

Coffin Case
http://www.native-instruments.com/fo...6&d=1207015768

Touch Screen DJing

any chance you could link me or give me the names of these controllers? im interested in finding out a bit more about them...