[DIY] “Generic midi controller” Build-log
The “Generic midi controller”
I’ve been researching DIY midi controllers for as long as I am a member of DJTT. However it has always been difficult for me to settle on a design that really suits my needs instead of a quick project that I do not actually need. One thing I notice a LOT is that I would like to have a dedicated controller for my effects that enables me to control all of them without the need for shift buttons or weird button placement. I think this design is the solution for me. This controller is going to be placed behind a standard 12" mixer.
Design
First of all I would like to thank DJTT for the design pack for the “Midi Fighter X contest” that helped me create this.
Here it is:
Schedule
25-07-15 Order all parts (buttons, pot’s, teensy)
10-08-15 Complete design in auto cad for lasercutter
15-08-15 Finish and order PCB
25-08-15 Cast buttons in custom mold.
01-09-15 Send files to lasercutter (and possibly 3d printer)
20-09-15 Finalize software design
Technical details
Brain: Teensy 3.1
Material case: Three layers of 2mm acrylic
28/8
Ordered all parts except for the arcadebuttons (they are out of stock) just started on the first PCB design and have just finished the top layer of acrylic:
29/8
Ordered the fist PCB: (professionals be like 
when they see this)
30/8
Made a concept for the 3d-printed case, final design is going to be made in autoCAD:
Finished the design in autoCAD but upon requesting a quote it appeared to cost $276.83 so I’m going with bent acrylic
31/8
Ordered the Chroma Caps:
12/9
Received the lasercut parts: (final device is going to be gry with red):
09/16
Got the PCB’s in the mail, going to check them later but they look OK.
09/17
Got the buttons from focus attack for… here it comes… $7 a piece! wow! this sucks
This however does not:
09/19
Assembled the button PCB’s and tested them:
10/02
Finished the PCB for the potentiometers.
10/25
Assembled the PCB for the Pot’s:
11/7
Finally found a place that sold transparant plastic (acrylic) rods with a small diameter in small quantity’s, had to enlarge the holes though (with a drill bit 0.5 mm a time * 80 times) then i had to saw this rod in tiny matching pieces (saw, sand the end of the rod and saw the next piece using a saw box). Then I used superglue to glue these on, on the first two i used too much so I had to remove these buttons.
11/14
Finished smaller buttons:
20/01
Shitty pic’s are better than no pic’s 
, progress is slow especially since I’m in the middle of moving to Leiden.
03/11/2019
I ended up crashing really really hard with the smaller button problem, the acrylic solution was horrible and the shit quality of the led buttons didn’t help either (also I made the design waaaaaay to cramped). At some point I even bought a 3D printer in order to print a mold and fill it with silicon to produce some better buttons. The silicon fluid has since gone bad and my 3d printer has not been used yet. On top of this all I’m constantly traveling so I never get settled enough to actually unpack all my hardware tools. Yet, my will remains strong, I will persist and I will finish this one day. I’ve moved this entire blog post to my personal blog just in case but I’ll also keep updating this build log here.
Much love and cheers!
my recent solution was to buy a launchcontrol xl using 2 rows of 8 pots and the 2 rows of buttons. if ur into using remix decks its handy to have 8 extra faders or pots for their individual effects levels but i can see why u might not want that as part of your controller.
