Traktor Controller Design: 3D pics

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
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Traktor Controller Design: 3D pics

This is my design for a small Traktor controller to mount next to my Allen&Heath Xone 22. Budget controllers like the Akai LPD8 and the Korg NanoKontrol don’t meet half of my needs, so the obvious option was spending the extra £35 and making my own nice piece of kit.

Parts List:

1 x Leo Bodnar BU0836 I opted for HID purely for price and as I don’t need any more then 8 ana and 32 digi inputs. £21.98

8 x Sanwa arcade buttons. Nice and responsive for transport funtions. £10.00

4 x 10kOhm Linear slide potentiometers £3.00

4 x Linear potentiometer Knobs £1.20

4 x 5Amp Toggle switches £5.00

4 x 10kOhm Potentiometers £1.20

4 x Potentiometer Knobs £1.20

I used this great freeware to design and price the Anodized Aluminum rack mountable front panel.
Price estimate at £35

This totals at around £75, if I use a plastic enclosure the price drops to £40.

A couple Q’s: Are all the components I have chosen the right amperage and are they all compatible with the BU0836 microcontroller, do I need any resistors etc..?

Is there anywhere cheaper i can go for a custom panel?

Used Sketchup for the following pics:

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now i’m torn between buying the BU0836 microcontroller or dual usb gamepads.. which connect to one usb lead for a total of 8 analogue inputs and 24 buttons.

the price is only £10 aswell… so is it relatively easy to map the inputs on your pc to midi signals with some freeware or does it involve some scripting?

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check the sticky thread at the top - plenty of HUI to midi converter utilities there.

Me personally, I’d go for xbox 1 joypads… you get 6 analogues per pad and each pad has a 2 port usb hub so you can daisychain them together easily. The only thing you need to worry about is cutting off the propietary xbox connector and replacing it with a usb plug (which is really easy). You also need special drivers to get the xbox pads working in Windows (again, easy)

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cool, why xbox controllers? do they have have more reliable / better quality pcbs than cheap usb gamepads?

and if i was to daisychain them would they show up in windows as one or two devices?