So I was considering buying an Akai LPD8, purely so I could use the pads for triggering stuff in Traktor. However, even though it is a bargain at £45 I it has occured to me that I should be able to build something myself even cheaper - especially as I already have a suitable box and some buttons lying around.
So, my question is what is the simplest/cheapest way to build the guts of this thing going to be? Bearing in mind I want to spend a good bit less than £45.
I have had a good look through what people have built on this forum (some amazing projects out there!) but most of them are built on midi kits that cost more than my budget, so I’m looking for more basic options.
At the moment I have two ideas:
Canibalise an existing controller. E.g., looks like I could pick up a Korg Nanokey second hand for under £30 on eBay and rip that apart.
Find out how to build the simplest midi circuit possible and build it myself from scratch.
Option 1 seems like the safe option and would surely work, however option 2 is much more of a challenge and could product cheaper results… Anyone got any advice for me or links to information that could help me out with option 2?
Thanks.
I had checked out the midibox website, but it all seems a bit too in-depth and after quite a bit of reading I was none the wiser.
If anyone has a link to a step by step guide on how to implement a very simple midibox solution that would be great…
If your thinking of a large controller with more than a few analogs when it comes down to it its not that much cheaper to build your own controller if its cheaper at all. The amount of time building one can be months alone in research. Mose of us building our own already have controllers and are looking for something custom.
That said if your doing something small. Check out a post here about using a xbox controller by B.C.Ninja
Im not trying to discourage at all.
some options are
midibox (like the others said midibox is by far the choice with the most options in what you can do but its quite the project)
Thanks for all the input guys. At this point I have reached the conclusion that I should be making a HID device rather than a midi one as it is definitely both easier and cheaper. Wasn’t sure what device to build it from but now I’m pretty sure I’ll use a gamepad…
Cheers, P
Game pad is definately cheap, midibox is a fantastic platform but unless you know what you’re doing it will cost a heap, i’m working on both principles at the moment so I would recommend the gamepad for starters then if you want more I could sort you out with a midibox platform as I’m etching my own boards and can source the components for wholesale prices.
Is there any way to wire in a rotary encoder to a gamepad? Perhaps so that it triggers one button when rotating clockwise and another button when rotating the opposite direction.
Thanks for the reply Ninja. I am definitely going the gamepad route for now. Looking forward to the continuation of your xbox controller thread…
Cabdoctor - the way I understand it a joystick is basically two rotary devices combined, so you should be able to replace one with the other… that’s as far as my knowledge goes though I’m afraid, have not done it myself yet.
The analog sticks on a game pad are two pots not encoders so you can’t just swap them over, however on this thread I posted two schematics that will convert an encoder signal into two seperate pulses, so turning clockwise will activate one button and counter clockwise the other.
This apparently supports rotary encoders. I’ve bought one and I’m in the process of building a controller. I’ve ordered cheap rotaries and hope to use them in the design.
