Custom MIDI Controller designer

[psylozen]

Mr Hawtin posted this a couple of hours ago, looks rather interesting.

http://www.zayik.com

You get a few palettes of knobs buttons and sliders, drag and drop them into a workspace in order to design your own custom midi controller. The beauty of it is, once you've designed it, you can have them build it for you.

I'm really curious what kind of designs we can come up with (:

m.

[MiL0]

...Software by Mark Hiner of Pierced Veil Projects.
...Microelectronics by Kenneth Graham of Hale Microsystems.
...Hardware by the fine folks at Front Panel Express.
...Assembly, Support and Operations by Dave Cross of 60 Works.

What's with the $1200 price variance? ($700 - $1900)
Pricing depends on the following: number of components, types of components, and knob/slider graphics.

A ridiculously simple controller with just one knob would cost close to $700.

according to the FAQ, a single knob controller will cost $700.

the midi brain appears to be a UMC32 which costs $89.95.

so that leaves $600 to pay for a case and front panel. Front Panel Express are expensive - I had a DJM800 sized front panel spec'd with them for approx $100. So that leaves $500 to pay for 1 potentiometer...

Still, it seems pricey. Are you making $500 off each sale?
Hah! No. Margins are pretty thin at the moment.

hmmmmm.....

[JSM]

but it is a custom controller for those who can't (or won't) build for themselves. At least he is using high quality kit ... agreed it's certainly on the pricey side ... but anything custom generally is.

well worth keeping an eye on.

[forekaster]

why wouldnt you just buy from livid or one of the other customs?

[synthet1c]

you can only have 32 components unless you call them, and the highest price qouted is $1900US...

[Miles-D]

i want to see a picture of one of their controllers.

would like to build myself an all in one controller (w/o soundcard) in a professional mixer casing..

[60 Works]

according to the FAQ, a single knob controller will cost $700.

the midi brain appears to be a UMC32 which costs $89.95.

so that leaves $600 to pay for a case and front panel. Front Panel Express are expensive - I had a DJM800 sized front panel spec'd with them for approx $100. So that leaves $500 to pay for 1 potentiometer...

Hiya, this is the Zayik guy, who also happens to be the 60 Works guy. I wanted to keep them separate because they're pretty different.

Yup, it's expensive. Nope, I'm not gouging.

I just looked at my master item list. Front panels (no screws, just cost for panels) are $369.57. The whole enclosure is aluminum panels, plus a hidden middle panel for stability. There's a buncha other stuff in the equation, like screws, the modular PCB system I created, shipping boxes and padding, the parts box, etc.

I tend to "pre-apologize" for my pricing at 60 Works and at Zayik. But this is what it is right now, if you want to buy custom from one guy who doesn't compromise on quality.

[60 Works]

Hiya, this is the Zayik guy, who also happens to be the 60 Works guy. I wanted to keep them separate because they're pretty different.

Yup, it's expensive. Nope, I'm not gouging.

I just looked at my master item list. Front panels (no screws, just cost for panels) are $369.57. The whole enclosure is aluminum panels, plus a hidden middle panel for stability. There's a buncha other stuff in the equation, like screws, the modular PCB system I created, shipping boxes and padding, the parts box, etc.

I tend to "pre-apologize" for my pricing at 60 Works and at Zayik. But this is what it is right now, if you want to buy custom from one guy who doesn't compromise on quality.

Just a quick addendum, that's a front panel with 0 holes/engravings for parts, a "blank" design.

[midifidler]

This is a fair price for a custom controller given the quality

[nem0nic]

Hey guys, I'm not trying to tear anything apart here, because I like the hustle. But $400 for a faceplate is complete nonsense. We get custom faceplates made for prototypes and custom builds (for trade shows, etc) done pretty regularly by a local company here in Seattle. Here are a couple of examples...








Not only are these examples custom, but they're engraved. In the first example, they've also got an ink inlay in the engraving. The RM in RM Electronics are the initials of out in-house engineer, and he "brands" his stuff for fun. That is actually handbuilt internals in an off the shelf rack case with a custom faceplate.

Neither of those 2 faceplates cost more than $130. And these are one-off custom builds by a small local company. Just saying...