TexZK
One year of work (first thoughts about building a controller)...
MANY hours spent making designs, boards, soldering, holes...
This is my own self-made MIDI controller!
It's 23.20 and I've just finished to build it!
It works like a charm! About 3 milliseconds between a refresh and another! Far better than my DJC Mk2 (~16ms refresh delay)!
Here's a picture I've just taken:
I'll post a video soon! Tomorrow I'll have an official presentation at school (high-school), showing the projects made by students this term. I'll be there, with my GPMC, controlling VirtualDJ!
MANY hours spent making designs, boards, soldering, holes...
This is my own self-made MIDI controller!
It's 23.20 and I've just finished to build it!
It works like a charm! About 3 milliseconds between a refresh and another! Far better than my DJC Mk2 (~16ms refresh delay)!
Here's a picture I've just taken:
I'll post a video soon! Tomorrow I'll have an official presentation at school (high-school), showing the projects made by students this term. I'll be there, with my GPMC, controlling VirtualDJ!
Posted Sun 03 Jun 07 @ 11:38 pm
sbangs
sweet have a good show :)
Posted Sun 03 Jun 07 @ 11:44 pm
bagpuss
Where can I buy one from? It looks like something out of a 60's Sci-Fi Series :).
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 12:46 am
andytaylor125
Looks very nice, how do you remember what all the buttons do though!?
Some geek questions:
What microncontroller have you used in it by the way?
You got in connected with a MIDI cable or on USB?
What have you used to get the potentiometers signals onto the microcontroller?
Some geek questions:
What microncontroller have you used in it by the way?
You got in connected with a MIDI cable or on USB?
What have you used to get the potentiometers signals onto the microcontroller?
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 10:41 am
asymptote
Thats fantastic. Must have been fun to build.
I'm sure I saw Kraftwerk playing something like this in the 70s. ;-)
I'm sure I saw Kraftwerk playing something like this in the 70s. ;-)
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 11:19 am
millsmobile
Oooooo-RIGHT!
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 2:34 pm
DJ-ALF
Looks nice but you should go with black/silver combination of colors ;) Good work man!
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 2:43 pm
digimixer
Reckon you should call it the 'Connect-4' controller :)
Seriously though, good work, wouldnt even know where to start with something like that !
Seriously though, good work, wouldnt even know where to start with something like that !
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 2:50 pm
TexZK
Thanks guys! I know it looks old-skool, but it's been completely made by hands (my father's ones for the box and mine for the rest).
Another info: I'm going to use a knob to select over 4 channels for buttons. This way, it will virtually handle up to 384 buttons and 32 potentiometers (these can be unsynchronised when changing the current channel).
Now go with some answers:
I know them because I've built it with a logic. The top-most on the left & right are for effects. The ones below are for cue points; the ones onder these are for loops. Finally, the bottom-most are for general deck controls which aren't included with my Mk2 (beat juggling, BPM editing, beat jumping, etc.).
The central part is dedicated for misc buttons (e.g. fx selection), gain & volume, equalisation and two "faders" (I don't use them anyway for crossfading, because I prefer working with volumes).
It's a PIC16F687 sold by Microchip at less than $2.
I've used the 10-bit ADC included with the PIC16F687. It's very fast and accurate enough, even if with 10Kohm potentiometers the LSB sometimes gets mad; anyway, just touch the knob and it will stop oscillating. Wires and boards are shielded, but dome spurious read still happens; I'll try to solve this problem by upgrading the firmware.
Another info: I'm going to use a knob to select over 4 channels for buttons. This way, it will virtually handle up to 384 buttons and 32 potentiometers (these can be unsynchronised when changing the current channel).
Now go with some answers:
andytaylor125 wrote :
Looks very nice, how do you remember what all the buttons do though!?
I know them because I've built it with a logic. The top-most on the left & right are for effects. The ones below are for cue points; the ones onder these are for loops. Finally, the bottom-most are for general deck controls which aren't included with my Mk2 (beat juggling, BPM editing, beat jumping, etc.).
The central part is dedicated for misc buttons (e.g. fx selection), gain & volume, equalisation and two "faders" (I don't use them anyway for crossfading, because I prefer working with volumes).
andytaylor125 wrote :
What microncontroller have you used in it by the way?
It's a PIC16F687 sold by Microchip at less than $2.
andytaylor125 wrote :
You got in connected with a MIDI cable or on USB?[/quote)
It's Standard MIDI, even if data lines are inverted because my opto-coupler doesn't work well (it's a 4N25) and the PC soundcard doesn't include one. So, I had to remove the inverting device (opto-coupler or transistor) and invert MIDI data in the MCU firmware.
[quote=andytaylor125]What have you used to get the potentiometers signals onto the microcontroller?
It's Standard MIDI, even if data lines are inverted because my opto-coupler doesn't work well (it's a 4N25) and the PC soundcard doesn't include one. So, I had to remove the inverting device (opto-coupler or transistor) and invert MIDI data in the MCU firmware.
[quote=andytaylor125]What have you used to get the potentiometers signals onto the microcontroller?
I've used the 10-bit ADC included with the PIC16F687. It's very fast and accurate enough, even if with 10Kohm potentiometers the LSB sometimes gets mad; anyway, just touch the knob and it will stop oscillating. Wires and boards are shielded, but dome spurious read still happens; I'll try to solve this problem by upgrading the firmware.
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 5:02 pm
andytaylor125
Interesting answers, thanks for that.
Well done by the way.
Well done by the way.
Posted Mon 04 Jun 07 @ 6:16 pm
DJ Marcel_1
TexZK wrote :
I've used the 10-bit ADC included with the PIC16F687. It's very fast and accurate enough, even if with 10Kohm potentiometers the LSB sometimes gets mad; anyway, just touch the knob and it will stop oscillating. Wires and boards are shielded, but dome spurious read still happens; I'll try to solve this problem by upgrading the firmware.
andytaylor125 wrote :
What have you used to get the potentiometers signals onto the microcontroller?
I've used the 10-bit ADC included with the PIC16F687. It's very fast and accurate enough, even if with 10Kohm potentiometers the LSB sometimes gets mad; anyway, just touch the knob and it will stop oscillating. Wires and boards are shielded, but dome spurious read still happens; I'll try to solve this problem by upgrading the firmware.
Try running your databus wires in twisted pairs.
Twisted pairs = unshielded wires wrapped around each other in a helix spiral to cancel out interference from other electroic devices and wires.
You can run you signal and ground wires from each button/pot in twisted pairs and it might help cancel any other electronic "noise"
I see this all the time in automotive network databus wires in cars. (I'm a mechanic during the day)
Posted Tue 05 Jun 07 @ 12:12 am
TexZK
I'm sorry Marcel, but I'm using shielded twisted pairs... Anyway, I think it's related to 10K potentiometers, which don't give enough power to the ADC. I'll try with lower values; despite this, I can handle these errors by upgrading the firmware with appropriate error handling routines ;)
Posted Tue 05 Jun 07 @ 1:05 am
TexZK
Here's a video taken yesterday during the official school projects presentation:
(the sampled voice is my mate's, the girl who has filmed)
Posted Tue 05 Jun 07 @ 11:46 am