I'm at the moment working on 2 different hardware projects for my DJ Console and VDJ.
1: Passive approach
No electronics ! This is to move faders etc to an external box and see how much i can improve the functionality of the Console this way.
2: Active approach
With Electronics (External mixer approach).
This post is a feature request for the second. My goal is to build a small and cheap external mixer with professional functionality to use with DJC and VDJ.
I have 3 important design rules for the project:
1: Small size. About the same size as the Hercules DJ Console (depending on features added).
2: USB powered.
3: Cheap. The goal is that it shouldn't cost more than $75-$100 in electronics + box and faders, depending on functionality added.
I have designed and built a couple of mixers before but mostly for semi-professional radio use so designing it is not a problem, i'm more thinking of what functionality to add.
Here are some mixers that i like (the functionality) and i'm looking at at the moment for ideas: Rane TTM 56, Omnitronic fx-524, Numark Matrix 3, Allen & Heat Xone 32 & Xone 62 etc.
So, it would be great to have any input that you might have on the functionality this mixer. This since i haven't decided what features to implement yet.
Questions:
- What features is a must ?
- What features would be nice to have ?
- Any functionality ideas, suggestions ?
If anyone is interested later i can make the Schematics, PCB-files (EAGLE), professional made PCBs etc available, but this is NOT a commercial project so that is depending on how much time i have.
1: Passive approach
No electronics ! This is to move faders etc to an external box and see how much i can improve the functionality of the Console this way.
2: Active approach
With Electronics (External mixer approach).
This post is a feature request for the second. My goal is to build a small and cheap external mixer with professional functionality to use with DJC and VDJ.
I have 3 important design rules for the project:
1: Small size. About the same size as the Hercules DJ Console (depending on features added).
2: USB powered.
3: Cheap. The goal is that it shouldn't cost more than $75-$100 in electronics + box and faders, depending on functionality added.
I have designed and built a couple of mixers before but mostly for semi-professional radio use so designing it is not a problem, i'm more thinking of what functionality to add.
Here are some mixers that i like (the functionality) and i'm looking at at the moment for ideas: Rane TTM 56, Omnitronic fx-524, Numark Matrix 3, Allen & Heat Xone 32 & Xone 62 etc.
So, it would be great to have any input that you might have on the functionality this mixer. This since i haven't decided what features to implement yet.
Questions:
- What features is a must ?
- What features would be nice to have ?
- Any functionality ideas, suggestions ?
If anyone is interested later i can make the Schematics, PCB-files (EAGLE), professional made PCBs etc available, but this is NOT a commercial project so that is depending on how much time i have.
Posted Sun 02 Jan 05 @ 7:39 am
One idea i have (when the first mixer is working) is to build a USB PC-keyboard interface inside the mixer and add something like 20 buttons to the mixer than can be mapped directly to VDJ.
This way i would be able to control the features on VDJ directly from the mixer.
I could use the MIDI-approach but i think i will get a much better response time this way. It's also simpler to do.
This way i would be able to control the features on VDJ directly from the mixer.
I could use the MIDI-approach but i think i will get a much better response time this way. It's also simpler to do.
Posted Sun 02 Jan 05 @ 8:25 am