UPDATE 1/10/10 The midifighter is now a commercially available controller. For more info please visit http://www.midifighter.com/
Is anybody else working on any custom controllers?
This is a controller I have been working on for the last few months called the “Midifighter”. Obviously inspired by Eans arcade button mod each arcade button sends a midi note, and has an LED which can controlled using the midi out put on your software. The group of four buttons on the top right of the box are bank select buttons, each button maps the arcade buttons to a new range of notes. This effectively gives you quick access to 64 notes. The joysticks are raxed from a ps2 controller and send a different CC value on each axis. Eventually I want to tweak this so that it can be configured to send a different pair of CC values in each quadrant turning them into “super-sticks”.
In my copious spare time (ha!) I am working on a custom controller kit. More of a tutorial on how to make your own custom controller using an Arduino, based on a flexible description of how to create the four subsystems - keys, knobs, output lights and rotary controllers. You start with your design for the controller (a very teenagery thing to do, but actually the right thing in this case), spec out the component counts and build subsystem modules that you hook into the Arduino. The software after that is a fairly simple matter of polling components and sending MIDI. The only details are how to latch and shift-in your keys, shift-out your lights, how to multiplex your analog readings and how to buffer your rotary controllers with incr/decr counters so you don’t miss a fast movement. There are standard parts that do all these things - connect together, write some code to interpret movements into MIDI for your superknobs and you’re done.
I recently asked for help with the electrical engineering in the DJTT comments (I’m a software guy, no idea about decoupling capacitors or the analog limitations of digital circuits) and someone offered help, but I never got back to them and I regret that now. Please call in, I’d like to take you up on your offer!
Would work sweet with a VCI + traktor to trigger cues or to tigger ableton samples perhaps OR! that and a nocturne would be a totally sic ultra portable setup for running ableton. Arcade buttons for tiggering samples, joy sticks for effects and nocturne for eq’s and anything else (automap ftw!).
@Fatlimey
That was me so if you ever want any advice hit me up. I would be interested in seeing what you have got so far.. @midian
I’m pretty much finished redesigning the PCBs to have them made professionally so that I can get rid of the shit-storm of wires inside the case. I have to order several lots of the circuit boards so will have no issue putting together extra units for any one interested. I just need coin for the parts cost which will probably be between 250-300 NZD, if I was making more than 5 it would probably be more like 200.
The next version will be about the same height as a vci rather than the 45mm in its current state. I’m going to finish my one with a wood veneer on the top as I reckon it will look sweet with the yellow buttons and brushed aluminum but I can have the top laser cut from aluminum and powder coated or anodized for a more modern look. @rBobz28
I will post a video once i get some skills on it So far I have had a lot of fun using it to control tracks which have been sliced to midi in Ableton.
I’m finishing (finishing since the beginning of the year) a traktor midiBox controller.
You can see some of the buildlog HERE.
If you are building something more than a button matrix or just a few pots I’m recmmending midiBox platform.
Hey Duelist,
Yeah I have used it with the drum rack in 7, if you want a really natural sound its not quite ideal as the buttons are obviously not velocity sensitive, but you can trigger ridiculously fast with them probably up to 8+ times a second, and you can have a huge array of drum sounds in easy access.
Assigning the joysticks to loop length and compress results in some pretty cool effects.
@Tos
Your controller looks sic, loving the uv reactive marking. Does midi box use a USB interface?
Cool.
What I Was Thinking You Could Try Is:
‘Slicing’ Up A Track;
Then Map The Slices/Cuepoints To Drum Rack Pads.
You Could Then Use You Controller To Juggle.
This gives me the idea of having a version that can sit in front of the VCI, thats the same hight as it and width as the VCI, kinda like an extension of Ean Goldens mod. It puts 2 or 3 more rows buttons and a couple of joysticks between the VCI and the DJ for insane cue juggling and sample dropping routines.
First off nice custom arcade/mpd style midi controller. On a side note I’d like to suggest adding a forum section specific to custom controllers it’s a good topic of discussion would be great seeing more of these.
This is some great things to see, Open Source Hardware Controllers!!! YAY.
Can anyone point me towards a resource in making Midi controllers/instruments???
Or just any cool sites on this subject you have found.
Hey Tekki,
BOM cost so far is 115 for the electronics(buttons LEDs chips etc) whatever the PCB costs per unit, which is 300 / however many I end up making (up to 10). The enclosure is 25 as I have a mill I can use at work and Im just waiting for a final quote on having the face plates laser cut. Overall it should be under 250 NZD. At this stage the major cost is the professional PCB’s required to make this unit reliable as it breaks pretty much every time I open it right now, too many wires as you can see in the pic. @Duelist
Using the slice to midi is awesome but I cant find a way to get it to continue playing through the track from the sample I just triggered, can any one help out here? @kaon
Whats up bro see your a fellow H-town boy roll over and I can give you a demo, send me an email… @Ean + BentoSan
Cheers for the props, def keen for a modding + custom design forum, would be cool to use it to generate ideas for new methods of control & controllers. Many of the users on this forum already have vci’s/25sl’s etc which can do the majority of tasks at a far lower cost than trying to build something like a vci from scratch because of the time it takes and economy of scale required. But novel methods of control are always fairly simple to implement at a functional level and can lead to totally new techniques not offered by anything on the market, all we need is fresh ideas from people who don’t necessarily have the skills to design & implement them, knowledge can be a limiting factor in creativity
So far I have had a lot of fun using it to control tracks which have been sliced to midi in Ableton.
Cool.
