So i just got done with my midi foot controller.
Really happy with the result!
The hardware is a Saitek P480 gamepad.
3PDT buttons from ebay.
Led holders from moodysounds.se
Pots are Alps pots made in JPN.
Case is Deltron GP9 measuring 222 x 146 x 55mm
Wrapped the case in wrapping vinyl since my dayjob is at a signshop.
Printed the top decal aswell on brushed aluminium look vinyl.
On/off switch at the back.
Only thing im dissapointed with is the pots, i read that Alps brand are the best but they don’t respond as good as i hoped either. They start responding from 11.30 a clock kinda. I also did wire the thing up so that the leds located with the pots were supposed do dimmer but for some reason when i had both pots running like that the pcd flipped out. After trying pretty much everything i gave up on the dimmer function and just putted lighted leds in there to not have empty holes.
Think i might change the hardware in it later for something more reliable then a gamepad pcb.
Looks great! Not sure why one would put rotaries on a midi foot switch though, seems like a highly impractical approach to me. Why not use faders? (Edit: I know that analog effect pedals have them rotaries, but that makes sense because they don’t have other controllers or laptops to control the parameters)
Are those leds controlled through MIDI btw? Never knew you could do that with a gamepad!
Think i’ve spent around 100 euros in total. Not really sure but something like that.
Actually it’s not, might be the pictures lying, also i got quite small feets, for me it works great
Thanks! Im pretty happy with the look of it, i love handwritten fonts and the “hand of sean” is one of my fav!
I’ll choosed to have them since i wanna be able to controll a few VST parameters during liveshows, the reason i built it is for live usage so.
Faders would have taken to much space in the box.
The leds are “hard” controlled, the switches are actually on/off switches but they work great for displaying midi signals aswell since the midi send note is on during the time the switch is down. I diden’t knew either before i tried it out and spent some time on diffrent configs with the soldering on the switch. Finally i got it working!
Im really happy with the result besides that the pots dosen’t respond before 11 a clock. I tried a bunch of brands but results were always the same.
Also the fail of having the pot leds dimmer kinda bums me.
Im probably changing the hardware for something better then a gamepad quite soon. Not sure to what tho since i don’t wanna go with chips like Arduino, have no programming skills whatsoever so.
I’ve used a Saitek p380 Gamepad before and run into similar problems. The inside looks the exact same as yours. The problem you’re having with the pots is because you have separated the 2 boards. (I did the same)
Some things need to be connected in order for the pots to work properly. Easy fix would be to join the two boards back together and your pots will work how they should (Like magic )
If you have thrown it away? :eek: Certain software lets you correct the problem too although you will only get half the resolution.
That is a very clean build!! I would’ve switched the encoders with a pair of expression pedals on each side so I could have better control but thats just me
True that but i have no need for exp pedals since i made it for a special purpose, i use a line 6 pod x3 for the fx normally and this is just a compliment to that setup to control VST hosted on a 10" netbook in the rig.
I ran in to some serious problems yesterday tho…
Having the 3pdt switches which has on/off functions don’t work out quite well.
Think about like this, i want to bypass a VST plugin, if i map a button to a bybass function it turns out that i press it the vst goes bypass, i press it again and it releases the switch, and i press it again to turn of the bypass and then i need to press it once more to come back to a state were i press it again the bypass is on again, so basiclly i need to press the switches twice to turn on/off things. That due to the switches are on/off and not on/on.
I have no idea how to solve the issue because i need those indication leds to be able to monitor whats going on. I guess a gamepad wont cut it.
