Building an Advanced Traktor Controller with MIDIbox
Hi folks, I learned a lot from this site so I thought it was about time to give something back .
During the beginning of this year I started thinking about building a MIDI controller together with a friend. Actually I’ll be helping him to build his own controller.
The controller will be based on the MIDIbox hardware platform.
I attached a rough sketch of it to this thread below.
Because this is kind of long term project we decided to set up a blog about the work in progress.
By trying to cover the entire process completely we hope it will convince other people to start building a MIDI controller themself.
I’ll try to update this post once in a while but its easier just to subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed.
If there are any suggestions or questions feel free to comment or drop us a line
The controller could be used with Ableton as well. I’m not using Ableton at the moment but we kept it in mind designing the layout.
Something we deliberately left out (cf. Ableton) were “Send” knobs such as on the VCM-600. Of course if necessary the smart knobs (encoders) beneath the EQ could be used together with a modifier to achieve the same thing.
In the beginning we might just mount a regular encoder until the jog wheel assembly is finished.
Eventually, the jog wheel will be custom made - inspired by DJ Raseri’s Scratchtroller.
Infrared LEDs and an IR photodiode sensors from an old ball mouse will be used to accomplish this. An old motor from a hard disc should give the jogs a similar feel to those on the VCI-100. Moreover, they will be touch sensitive.
There are some pictures of the sensors and the hard drive motor on my Flickr page already.
Very cool, and I’ll be keeping up with your progress. A couple thoughts, as I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about Traktor and controllers recently:
For a Midibox, you’ll need 4 buttons for the menu nav if you’re planning on using the LCD. Those buttons are <,>, Execute, Snapshot.
You might wish to give yourself some breathing room around the edge of the panel. As you know, most times the footprint of the component is larger than what shows on the top panel, and some of your buttons, etc, are pretty close to the edge.
Does Traktor allow for direct button selection of the effects? It seems (although I’m not 100% sure) that it only allows for scrolling (next/previous) through effects types. Again, I could be wrong on that one.
Do these buttons have to be dedicated to those functions at all time?
That might be a problem then.
I was thinking about using the first row of buttons under the LCD screen together with a modifier key to put them or perhaps the entire controller into “navigation” mode.
In the past that was the case. In Traktor Pro it is possible to directly select effects. The upcoming version will also feature 4 FX slots.
I believe the nav buttons can be remapped, but not on the fly. That has to be done as a modification to the Midibox64 or 64E MIOS application that you’re using. My nav buttons don’t send out any Midi, and that’s the default. There’s probably more info on the ucapps forums.
Re: Traktor directly selecting effects.
Good to know, I’ll have to break out the manual. I couldn’t figure out how to do that last night.
The assembly by itself hopefully somewhere near the end of September.
Then of course the mapping and programming which will be a handful as well I guess…
We’re not really in a hurry cause once the buildings done, half the fun is over
A year has almost gone by and we are still not finished.
The thing is, I had a serious accident in August last year and it actually changed my life.
I also had different priorities lately.
Excuses…
We changed a couple of things:
Added arcade buttons
Ditched the jog wheel
Added LED rings
Overall, we simplified it a little bit. However, we still have a lot of work to do.
We soldered all the modules but we didn’t start assembling it yet.
The jog wheel is cool but not necessary when you think about it. In fact, it is just a rotary encoder with a better feel to it.
Leaving it out speeds things up quite a bit.
LED rings really enhance rotary encoders.
I started sketching the front panel in Illustrator today with the exact dimensions.
Once it’s finished I’ll post it on our blog (this week).
I can’t make any promises but hopefully we’ll blow your mind once this is finished…
ahhh accidents are no good. I am lagging on my midibox also I have the boards but have been low on cash to get the encoders and panel. I am also building a midibox sid synth aswell as the midibox 64 after those I want a midibox seq.
I also am buying gun stuff, airsoft stuff, paying off a over limit credit card, argggg you know how it is.
any more progress on this? I’m looking into midibox stuff for my next DIY controller… there’s quite a lot of research to be done with these things though…
Man I sold my VCi300 and bought 2 midibox cores last August, bought some very expensive led buttons, encoders, alps pots and panasonic faders.
Soldered up all the modules, uploaded mios, tested and then had a front panel water-jetted.
Then my wife had a baby and the whole lot’s just sitting in a box. I must have spent about £600 on it and can’t be arsed building it any more
So I bought a VCi100 - probably gonna get an S4 or some Denon gear later in the year now - I’m such a lazy mofo
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