Since the beginning that I had the black VCI,
I was not completly satisfied with the hardware layout, in combination
with my “style” of playing.(3 decks)
When Ean made his “SE” I upgraded mine to firmware 1.3 and loved the possibilities he had created for the VCI-100.
So it kept me thinking for weeks (Breaking my head) how to mod my VCI;
First I made a layout(3 channel faders,3 filter,3 cue,3X4 arcade buttons,possibillity to ad 60mm pitch faders), on paper and tested in Traktor Pro if all knobs and buttons would work on the new assinged knobs.
Then I searched for the parts, but they are custom made by Vestax,
so I ordered potentiometers with almost the same specs,12 arcade buttons,
and 3 momentary pushbuttons 10mm (bleu led).
After I finish the hardware changes, my neighbour will design a CAD drawing
for me.Then I can go to a metal shop to let them make a whole new (Bigger) VCI casing.(27,5cm X 38cm fits still in my UDG prod.bag)
At this moment I am waiting for some parts to arrive, but I have made already some rewiring.See pics…
If the parts are soldered I first test the functionallity of all knobs and pots,
and then I will desolder and rewire the leds.
I still have not decided what eventually will be the definitive layout,
I have 2 possibillities,see pics…
Maybe someone has any suggestions to help me decide.
I will keep posting here untill the project is finished (hopefully it will).
So,
10 days later..
It was not so difficult to do with some logical thinking.
When the parts came in I was surprised that the code on the pots
where the same as on the ones by vestax.
All pots are linear and have a center detent now.
First I had to desolder all parts, wich was a little bit tricky, and I
damaged te circuit-board on 3 places.
When I soldered all wires on the pots and knobs, I tested the functionallity,
and there was a short circuit.
After some hours with a multimeter I found out it had to do with the circuit-board that I damaged.Because the circuits are on both sides of the board, you have to make sure some connections are soldered well on both sides.
After correcting this everything worked well.
At last I made the connections with the leds on the small pushbuttons (Cue).
Maybe I change the red leds of the effect, and loop section into bleu leds.
Now I (my neighbour) have to make a cad-drawing so I can go to a metal
shop fore a new housing..
Thanks all for feedback so far.
Finally I got the design finished in .dxf
I mailed 8 metalshops for production and prices for the metal housing.
So let’s wait…
Yesterday (very exited) I picked up the housing from the metal shop.
Started asap to put all parts together, to see if everything came in place,
as I tested before.
I tapped the holes for M3 standoffs and screws.
the 2 plates I put together (for potentiometers) and so far everything fitted well.
The holes for the new placed cue buttons I had to make a little bit wider, and
I made a design fault with the joggwheels holes.(I overlooked this in the cartboard design).I drilled 4 new holes for the left joggwheels, because they
where 5mm lower than on the right side.
I still need to do a lot of work;
soldering the arcade buttons,
find a way to lighten them up (It can be done,but it’s not an easy way).
And need still some parts;
-5 Black knobs Vestax.
-A good volumeslider (now I have the crossfader for deck 3 as on the picture)
Is someone familiar with this linear slider from bourns? http://nl.mouser.com:80/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=PTE60-151B-103B2virtualkey65210000virtualkey652-PTE60-151B-103B2
I can say I am very with the result, see pics below…
To Be Continued…
What I really like about your mod is that it is really well thought out. I just started my own arcade button mod and followed Ean’s footsteps in the cutting and splicing of wires. But I thought it was simplistic genius when I saw that you kept the orignal button board and just soldered the arcade buttons to the board itself instead of snipping the wires. It saves the existing LEDs for future use and removes the need for buying extra diodes. However, I’m not sure if the button circuit board can coexist with the arcade buttons inside if you don’t enlarge the case like how you did. Either way, I’m really impressed!!!
with the result, see pics below…