Hey folks, I’ve gleaned a lot of info from this site, so I thought I would pass some on to others…
I’ve been working on a DIY Midibox Traktor controller for a while now, and it’s finally nearing completion.
I’ve got build information on a blog at http://www.nonsilence.com and also at the Midibox Wiki. I’m being careful to document everything, warts and all, so others might have less trouble with theirs.
All in all, with a little bit of reading and preparation, these Midibox projects are certainly within reach of anyone with a little bit of soldering skill.
Thank you, it’s considerably less neat at this point, as I have all of the pots, faders, and LED’s wired. I’ll be taking some new pictures this evening and will update.
I have a midibox core, din and dout boards built, built them a year ago. that’s as far as i gotten.. still plan on designing something…
I’m only looking to build units to add extra buttons for cue points and rotary encoders to compliment the vci-100 I have.
Been on the pre order waiting list for the gm5 usb to 5port midi
chips and boards over on the ucapps forum
looks pretty slick…
Question how much was the fee to have the panel cnc cut from FPE.
luckily i have a very close friend that has a cnc, where we have cut wood and plexi, havent tried al or any other metal as his is only setup for dry cutting
I was in the same boat for a while…holding onto midibox parts until I finally got the inspiration to make something with them. I’m excited, I should be able to switch it on for the first time this evening…
The front panel was somewhere near $100 US, I don’t recall the exact amount. I went with the thickest panel material, and the engraving added considerably to the cost (and wasn’t strictly necessary).
Well that’s really not too bad for a one off panel that’s precision milled and engraved.
Did you also choose to have the inlays filled with a color?
When it comes to having that many holes to drill and slots to cut for the faders, etc its almost out of the realm of the do it yourselfer unless you have access to either a cnc mill or a metal die press. Trying to use a dremel and a file would take way too long plus the engraved lettering just makes the unit look so much more professional.
Checked out the blog, very nice work, CLEAN.. using the flat ribbon connectors for the boards will make it so much easier to service & troubleshoot instead of just soldering the ribbon cable.
Cant wait to see it in action.
btw… here are 2 photos of what I do for a living. (not trying to hijack the thread)
Circular holes for knobs and leds are no problem. I’ve built an analog synth in the past and drilled those panel holes myself…turned out pretty well. However, long narrow slots for the faders would be tough, as well as precisely matching the slots to the drilled holes for the fader’s panel mount screws.
I didn’t end up having them fill it with a color, as the blank aluminum color shows through very well with the black anodizing.
I have just started on my own little project, but it won’t be anywhere as complicated as your unit. I decided to start off with a small mixer type controller, but if that goes well, I will proceed to do something like yours.
DJTimmy: That’s some attention to detail there. Very impressive. I’m a bit of a neat freak myself when it comes to wiring.
Archies’bald: Is your project midibox based? If so, I think you’ll find that it’s just as easy to do 32 pots as it is to do 4 pots. Think big! Each midibox module typically handles 32 objects (pots and faders, buttons, or LED’s), so you’ll have the boards built and attached, you just won’t be using it at full capacity if you don’t have the full number of inputs/outputs attached. Either way, I look forward to seeing your progress.
Here’s the slightly less neat final version, after all of the panel wiring is complete. Still a few things to do before I can power it on and upload the firmware, but there’s not much…
Just ordered a core kit after looking at this. Im going to see if I can build that before I buy the other boards. Thanks for sharing the pics and taking the time to make a site.
Kaleaf: Good move. If any questions arise, feel free to hit me up. I’d be happy to help. Also, the ucapps.de forums have a lot of information in the archives…
I’m starting out with the UMC 32 as it seems the easiest option for a novice. I’ve already got most of the case buttons/knobs fitted (but not wired). The idea was to build something relatively cheap and sturdy to take to friends houses, so I didn’t have to worry about expensive gear getting ruined by a small accident. I’m also building a portable pc in to an old 1210 aluminium flight case, its cheaper and more solid than a laptop.
Once/If I get it up and running I will definitely research the midibox more as it seems to have better capabilities than other midi control modules. In the mean time I will start a new thread myself when I think I have the basics sorted.
Archies: We’d love to see some pictures as you progress. It’s really inspiring to see what other people come up with when they’re not constrained by pre-packaged gear.
As for me, it turns out that the ALPS faders (only 3 of the 9 faders on the surface) that I ordered were logarithmic, not linear as I had thought. So, it’ll be a couple more days before I receive those.
The top half of the case will have the 17" monitor in it, while the bottom half will have the PC in it. I will be adding system fans on either side of the board and one above the cpu. It will only be used on the odd occasion at house parties. All of the foam has been removed from the PC side of the unit.
Thanks. I have built a few PC’s and had lots of parts lying around (Hard drive, DVD player, Ram and even a dual core processor), so this seemed to be a natural progression.
I have no doubt the computer will work pretty well, but I am a little more concerned about the Midi controller. I will be fine building it and wiring it up (I’m an electrician), but the Midi mapping and getting that side of things to work correctly is all new to me.
