XP5 is a midicontroller with built in audio interface by a company named Eks. It’s bigger brother is propably known to you all -Otus. But anyway, this post is about XP5’s. Here’s a picture:
So I’ve bought two used Eks XP5 midi controllers pretty cheap (130€), but i’m not completely satisfied with them. They have a great responsive jogwheel, but it’s way too small and the buttons are way too stiff. One day i opened one of the XP5’s and realised that they’re pretty simple inside. There are little switches for midi buttons so i was thinking could i replace the original shitty buttons with arcade buttons. So now i’m asking is it a hard job to rewire the new buttons? Of course the arcade buttons wouldn’t fit the original plastic case, so i would have to build a new one. In that case it would be stupid not to mod the jog wheels also. I was inspired by DJ dAb’s (?) vinyl CDR XP10’s so i was thinking about modding them to the next level with 7" vinyl records. I’m alright with soldering, but nothing special, but because of my work i have access to a lot of handy tools.
There’s a lot of options for the new layout, because one XP5 has 22 buttons, 1 fader and a jogwheel. I was thinking about building a layout that would have 4 buttons under the platter and 4 over, so it could be used what ever way around.
I’m thinking of doing almost exactly the same thing!
What I didn’t get about dAb’s mod is how he managed to keep the touch sensitivity working after replacing the jog wheels.
Regarding the arcade buttons… my plan is to simply ditch the XP5 buttons completely. I’m looking at building a midi controller of my own (using a midi fighter brain or similar). The idea would be to build a case with arcade buttons, mixer, etc that allows two XP5’s to sit inside flush with the rest of the case.
ah right - so basically the touch sensitive surface acts as a shift function? so if you press the touch sensor and turn the jog wheel it transmits different midi data than just turning the jog wheel by itself?
in that case it shouldn’t be too difficult to mod a 7" vinyl record, provided you can get some of that paint and wire it up properly…
I’ll open one up and post pictures from inside. I didn’t realise i need a multimeter, but that’s not a problem, i have it at work. Never used one though.
One idea came in my mind since there are 22 buttons in one controller, i could put there a joystick aswell. How do they work? I mean the arcade ones. Are they just 8 way buttons? I would of course just use 4 ways.
The ultimate kick ass idea would be of course to fit a 2 channel mixer there also to make two XP5’s and a mixer to all in one midi controller with audio interface inside. Hooking XP5s to mixer and routing them through a usb hub to a computer. That way it could be used as a mixer and a controller. But first i want to figure out to make one or two very good tabletop scratch capable midi controllers.
And can anyone recommend me online shops for my parts? I live in Europe. This one i know that has joysticks and buttons with reasonable prices (don’t know about the shipping costs though).
Why do I read this forum? I now have an XP10 lying in bits, but if we can make some kind of Midifighter type of arrangement with a jog wheel and pitch fader, then I assume most people would be interested?
The one thing I can’t figure out is how to remove the jog wheel from the plastic case. I’ve disconnected the cables from the back of the sensor and I’m left with just the casing, but I’m unable to remove the jog wheel.
Another slight problem is the 4 pins on the switches. It’s a little late so I’m not getting the soldering iron out, but I assume there is some sort of resistor/diode going across the switches?
I’m sorry if I seem to be hijacking this thread, but if you are looking at putting in a MAME joystick, I found this on Ebay. It seems to be the smallest and cheapest around.
If I am rambling on a bit, just tell me to shut up. I won’t be offended too much.
Rather than let this thread die, I’m going to post on it again and say that I’m seriously thinking of modding an xp10 so that it can control decks C & D.
Basically I’m thinking of is adding an LED lit latching push button which will tell me whether or not I’m using deck C or D. Then I will map the jog wheel, pitch fader and buttons to work exactly the same on each deck. That way I will have a mini Otus (as long as I map it correctly) for not even half the price of an Otus.
If I get really adventurous, I might even build a new casing and add a Midi Fighter type rack of buttons to go with the pitch fader and jog wheel. Who knows?
can’t really comment on how to do it but it is an awesome idea,
since I use a Nanopad for cuepoints the buttons don’t bother me that much but LEDs would be so cool, do you have any idea how to integrate and power them?
I’ve bought buttons like these for a previous project and they work quite well - link - They can be hard wired instead of using Traktor to light them. I wouldn’t use these type of switches for cue point juggling, but they are perfect for reminding you that you have a shift button on or something along those lines.
As for wiring other led’s look up Ean’s tutorial ‘Building a MIDI controller 101’. I prefer to do the wiring rather than programming software to get them to come on. I’m an electrician, so I’m quite hands on.
I’ve bought buttons like these for a previous project and they work quite well - link - They can be hard wired instead of using Traktor to light them. I wouldn’t use these type of switches for cue point juggling, but they are perfect for reminding you that you have a shift button on or something along those lines
exactly having a couple of lit modifier buttons (for example by sacrificing those tiny numbered ones on the top) would be great, especially since that would work without a midi send signal (wouldn`t you need an extra controller brain to implement that anyway?) since I don’t know anything about the electronic side I just wondered whether you could wire these directly to the connections for the existing buttons without supplying an extra plus for power or anything.
The other thing I asked myself was, how many LEDs you could connect to the unit without running short of power, since the XPs are USB powered only and the soundcard should consume a fair amount already.
All good questions that I don’t really have answers to at the moment. If I do need a 5v line voltage, I reckon I will be able to take it direct from the usb input. I have a scratchamp that I use at the moment with an Allen and Heath Xone 1D, so I won’t be using the soundcard in the XP10. I have opened up the XP10 and there are 4 connections for each switch; I will have to find out if it is possible to remove these switches and connect cables to the circuit board.
This will be a long term project (if I even start it at all) as I’m so busy with work and my 2 year old daughter. I will try and give any ideas or help to anyone in the mean time though.
If you’re going to buy a multimeter, go for one that includes the “continuity” feature with a beeper. It’s a mode that beeps when it finds that two points are connected with a readout of how roughly how well they are connected.
Probably the single most used feature on mine, it great for checking that your solder joint worked or that things are hooked up as you expect (especially switches).
nevermind - got it all hacked apart now! (had to prise the touch wheel off with my fingers and then use a pair of pliers to undo the nut that kept the spindle attached to the chassis.
check the attachments below…
it looks like it’d be relatively easy to solder arcade buttons to the underside of the circuit board. I’m hoping you can leave the original buttons in place so it doesn’t spoil anything (incase you want to put it back to how it was originally).
Fascinating. They went to the trouble of scratching off the identifying marks on most of their ICs. They look like the same microprocessors we use in the Midifighter, especially when you have a standard 6-pin In System Programming (ISP) header right there. One micro is reading the keys, one is running the audio.
I’d love to know who makes that big black rotary encoder in the middle. Are there any identifying marks on it?
Replacing the switches looks pretty simple - you unsolder each switch and you’ll find there’s two contacts. One goes via a resistor to the square microcontroller down at the bottom right and one goes to a shared ground. Just insert your own switch to complete that gap. No resistors or diodes needed.
Practice desoldering on something else first - get the iron good and hot, practice melting solder fast by adding a bit of solder to it, practice solder sucking or using copper braid, or for the best results use a hot air system to melt all the contacts at the same time. The options:
Given you have a basic solder sucker, the technique is to melt the solder quickly (so as not to damage the part and more importantly not to overheat the board) then in one motion to remove the iron and place the sucker over the entire pin, covering it completely, and suck the solder up through the hole in the PCB. Here’s a video of someone doing that, skip to 5:35 to see the technique:
