Before I got my Midi Fighter, I was using the denon controller with traktor as an additional controller to use with my Kontrol S4.
It worked, but I wasn’t fond of the buttons. After doing a lot of brainstorming today, I decided that I would mod the controller with arcade buttons. This will require the design of a new enclosure, desoldering of the old switches, and wiring from the buttons and encoders to the board. There are a total of 43 switches and 3 encoders. So, this will be a fairly robust controller.
The layout of the board is very simple:
I will post my progress as this project moves along.
Well, after some more planning, I chose not to use acrylic as the material for the enclosure. I chose something easier to work with that was also already assembled. After some thrift store “digging,” I found a suitable enclosure to work with: a 2nd hand jewelry box.
As I started the layout for the holes, I initially used the midi fighter top plate template. I later found this to be inadequate and I just drew out the circles for the holes by using the actual top plate from my own midi fighter.
After drilling the current holes, I found that some cuts were not lined up right. So, I am using my dremel to fine tune the holes so the buttons are in general alignment. My button order should be coming in later this week. So, after I finish up the holes and do some sanding and painting on this enclosure, I will be ready to mount all the pieces up and start wiring everything up. I’m using some buttons I have on hand to help me out with the hole fine tuning.
Jason, can you provide a little insight on how to de-solder the tactile buttons from the PCB and wire up new ones? I was thinking about doing this on my Xsession pro but said fuck it because I can’t figure out where the traces go.
Well, after looking at the way the components are soldered, they are all on the back of the board. So, I didn’t need to desolder the tact buttons. I just ripped them off the front of the board by twisting them off.
if you study the board, you should be able to spot where the tact buttons are soldered in.
Things I have learned after drilling the first 20 holes [left side].
The drill bit to make holes is fast, but sloppy.
I have switched the dremel to routing mode. This offers me a higher degree of control. The holes take longer to cut, but taking the extra time is worth it.
in the basic layout drawing, the spots for the top 3 knobs were just made using the 24mm hole from the midi fighter. they won’t occupy that much space on the enclosure.
i’m having a fun time with this project and working on it has taught me some things that will carry over into the next project, which will be expanding my midi fighter.
i am also toying with the idea of doing the same kind of revamp with the x-session pro i have.
