Just been blogging away and I have written an article on making a very quick and cheap DJ controller. I know there are loooads articles/guides and posts on here that are very very similar (they are in fact the only reason I was able to make a controller at all), but I think it’s nice to show what can be made very quicky and with no experience whatsoever with just a bit of inspiration from DJTT!
So check it out if you don’t mind and let me know what you think. Its just a prototype but its still proof that anyone can do it! It certainly doesn’t match up to the standards of some of the stuff on here but should encourage those who previously thought DIY stuff was beyond them.
welcome to the forums. i read your article and for the most part thought it was a good introduction to making your own controller.
personally i would change the part about no latency, while it may not have midi latency there is going to be latency in any system. even the change to the wording low latency is more accurate, but one should also be aware that it’s the soundcard & PC performance that are going to main determining factor in system.
the other option for doing this is opening up a usb keyboard (pc type type) and taking out the controller in that and wiring up the buttons to that in a custom box.
there are programs like glovepie if you want to translate that keystroke data to midi.
Thanks, yeah I agree on the soundcard and PC determining overall performance. I guess i was just trying to say that people should not be put off by the fact that the signal is not midi when the controller is just to control something simple like hot cues… the end result is the same.
Yeah i considered using glovepie, I came across it when I was looking into using my ipod and all those other crazy things like wii-remotes as a controller… I figured it makes no difference because then you would have to upload this program onto what ever computer you are using to play off, so its just as much effort.
I rarely change laptop but I have had to resort to my back up one when the charger for my main one broke just before a set… using a controller in this way confuses things so a plug and play midi controller can’t be beaten.
Thanks for the feedback and wise words charo, means a lot to me!