[DIY] "Generic midi controller" *Build-log*

[DJDoubleYou]

Just a little update:

Received my Teensy 3.1 and am now working on the software part


I want my controller to be as thin as possible so I experimented with some Sanwa OBSF-24's and this is the biggest size reduction i could get away with (without reducing feel/quality)

[Alistair Hutton]

The Teensy is so tiny, when I got mine with a bunch of ither electronic components I almost threw it away by accident.

[DJDoubleYou]

Ok my little niece was visiting today so i made her a Midi controller that she could use while i was DJ'ing, used only scrap materials i had lying around (except for the teensy, that one is going to be used in another project ) Here are some pic's and a vid of it in action.

First of all we hot glued all the components in place: (I ended up using a scavenged potentiometer from an old Behringer mixer instead to make it a true $0 controller)



The first components in place plus gluing on the buttons



Everything looks good, now lets begin on the inside:



This took a long ass time:



Connecting everything to the brain:



And the result!:




Here is a little vid of me using it:




Oh eh naturally a Parts List

- Shitty buttons from a chinese RC controller
- Clothing Buttons that were initially glued to the carton box
- Carton box that contained some fair-trade tea
- A Potentiometer from a cheap mixer inc. cap
- Three brand new LED's that you just wasted.

[DJDoubleYou]

OK a little update, i had to gain some experience with the 74HC595 and 74HC4051 chips so i build me a little midi controller:



you can follow the progress here, I have no idea what Tumblr is meant for but it works pretty well for me

[Alistair Hutton]

I really wish I had added some leds to my Midi Thug.

[DJDoubleYou]

I really wish I had added some leds to my Midi Thug.

To be honest those 74HC595's are killing me, i'm going to use ws2812's or APA102/4's for my final controller

[DJDoubleYou]

first design for the faceplate, the final design is going to be made up from three layers:

[paradajz]

To be honest those 74HC595's are killing me, i'm going to use ws2812's or APA102/4's for my final controller

I can assume they are. Have you read 595 datasheet? Total current that chip can handle is 70mA. I'm going to assume that you've put 220ohm resistor across each LED. I don't know which color they are, but let's also assume that voltage drop on each is 2.2V.

5V - 2.2V = 2.8V

I = U/R
I = 2.8V/220ohm
I = 12,72mA

12,72mA*8 = 101,76mA.

595 is not meant for driving LEDs. That Arduino tutorial which suggested it is horrible. You should pick another chip, or build a LED matrix (best solution IMO).

[DJDoubleYou]

I can assume they are. Have you read 595 datasheet? Total current that chip can handle is 70mA. I'm going to assume that you've put 220ohm resistor across each LED. I don't know which color they are, but let's also assume that voltage drop on each is 2.2V.

5V - 2.2V = 2.8V

I = U/R
I = 2.8V/220ohm
I = 12,72mA

12,72mA*8 = 101,76mA.

595 is not meant for driving LEDs. That Arduino tutorial which suggested it is horrible. You should pick another chip, or build a LED matrix (best solution IMO).

Yhea I think I broke them when soldering, but the 595 gets used a lot like this in numerous video's like this one:

[paradajz]

Yhea I think I broke them when soldering, but the 595 gets used a lot like this in numerous video's like this one: video

It is still wrong! You can easily damage them if you're going to use that way, or in worst case damage your Arduino/Teensy.