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It should work if you connect your pot in parallel with a resistance of around 12.5K.

Yep Moebius is right :)

As far as I am aware the pots map to the encoder entries so if you have 64 buttons you then have a total of 64 entries available for pots/encoders i.e. you can't have 64 pots and 32 encoders at the same time. You could though (for example) have 16 encoders and 32 pots - that's how I read it from the application anyway.

If you've now got the DIN connected correctly to the core I would suggest checking continuity between the 6 DIN Pins and the core. If they are OK, check that the DIN PIN is dropping to 0 volts when you close the button - it's an active low. Make sure that you check the voltage both between the + rail of your button board and the ground on the power supply and between the + rail of your button board and the DIN ground when the button is closed - make sure that both grounds are at the same reference. If you don't find anything at fault then, take a look at the DIN circuit diagram and measure voltages on the shift register pins - you may have a dodgy joint somewhere.

Yes you could use one large piece of veroboard - the reasons I cut strips for the meters was mainly to save on board because I was running short but it was in my mind to do it like that originally so that it would be easier to take out a single strip if an LED fails etc. For the 'rings' I used strips because they fit between a panel mount encoder and an LED button on a small circuit board - all at differing heights. A single large board should be easier to fit for the meter bridge initially with a couple of screws etc. On the bridge the strips are 2x24 - there is a 1 hole gap between each LED (this is a large box) so a thin strip of black PVC can be inserted if diffusion becomes an issue. The straight LED 'rings' are made with no gap between the LEDs - I've not actually got these wired up yet though because I'm currently wiring up the other box (due to finish the wiring today).

Check out http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=53e9a9093a3b6a9aadc7379d52229b86&topic=4909.msg30331#msg30331 The LEDs are simply mounted on veroboard which has been felt-tipped to make it black. The strip sections are then covered with the panel design which is also laminated. It's a LOT of soldering on a 2xLC box though over 350 LEDs to get fitting nicely and aligned straight.

Yeah....these have been on the cards for a long time. Not a patch on what a midibox can do to be honest.

;D I didn't realise they were THAT big - they're reduced in size a lot from the original images. I'll see what I can do but maybe everyone can see better what's going on when they can see a bigger picture?

I am still at it, honestly :) I've been concentrating on the live box more recently as that's the priority. Everything is now mounted on the font panel bar the play switches alongside the faders where there has been a slight hitch - the boards weren't quite correct due to a typing error! ::)- The spacing between 2 holes was 12.07 instead of 12.7 mil - boards are re etching at this very moment and busy desoldering the 80 buttons from the incorrect boards.

Well, personally I don't think it's any more easy/difficult than any other midibox. If you follow the standard box you don't need to edit any code. There's a bit of calibrating to do with the motorfaders ,you need to make sure you get all the diodes orientated correctly on the MF modules and you'll need to sort out a dual voltage power supply if using motor faders but apart from that....

I'm building a 2xLC box for a similar purpose at the moment - I would tend to go with the LC design ammended to suit the overlay you have rather than 64 or 64E.

Cheers. Still at it - just getting back into it after a couple of weeks off over Christmas. There's a niggle with sticking tact switches for the LC box when the caps are on the switched which has been driving me nuts so I'm doing wiring work on the Live box at the moment. The front panel graphics are finished for it except for a few final details, which I won't be sure about until the box is up and working so I will have to unmount everything from the panel (all rotaries are panel mount) to get the graphics on - a felt tip pen and a camera are in order. I'm just having a bit of trouble locating someone that will print on lazertran locally at the moment - I need to use A3 sheets, as they won't allow anything other than plain paper to go through their machines...

Yes I've gone for strips rather than circles for the led rings and have used square LEDS. The LEDS are mounted on a piece of veroboard and the strip is glued to the PVC backplane via a small strip of PVC at either end of the LED assembly. Re assignments on the live box - yes it's for good old Ableton. Those are A\B buttons at the bottom of each channel - you'll be able to see the assignments better when I've got the graphics on the front panel - I'm just doing those at the moment. Not every control on the panel has actually been assigned yet - I've a few spare for future enhancements in the software. Basically though, the 7 rotaries with buttons on the right are encoders. The two rows of 4 next to that are pots on the returns (4 levels and on/off buttons). The central section of rotaries are mainly pots - the ones with larger holes next to them are encoders. On the left all the rotaries are encoders, each with a corresponding button. The square buttons underneath that for transport etc (Stop, Play, Keep, Scene Up, Back, Fwd, Revert, Scene Down). A jog wheel underneath that for moving through scenes I wrote a patch a long time ago in Max that varies note data across a keyboard with what scene is selected - in this instance with the play buttons on the channels this allows the 10 play buttons to move up and down the scenes and also stay synced with the screen. If possible I'm going to code this in MIOS but if not I'll just slightly alter the MAX patch to what I'm doing now. Then, each channel has a button for record, channel on/off,,solo/cue and stop. In combination with the A\B buttons this allows any channel or combination of channels to be recorded in any other channel and also allow tricks etc to be done 'out' of the mix while cueing (depending on crossfader position) and then be brought into the mix when needed.

I got the panels cut at Schaeffer - mega $. My strengths are with electronics/programming etc but I'm not very good at the manual things. I figured that with taking 2 large projects on and having a schedule on the live box I would be much better off getting the panels cut professionally as, expensive as they are, it would work out cheaper with cost against time. At the moment I've actually got 2 live box front panels - the first one arrived damaged on one corner. Shaeffer asked if I wanted to have some money refunded or have the panel recut - I decided for a recut because with the thing being so expensive and a one off I wanted it to be perfect. I was expecting Schaeefer to pick the other panel up but they haven't done so yet. If it turns out that they don't want it back I may have a pre cut panel for sale if anyone is interested (it will have to be the same layout design etc, natch but I can supply a parts list for what it has been cut for). I'll also have some expanded PVC for sale at some point too if anyone wants it - it's 3mm thick and I've got around 1.5 square metres left (I think - I haven't measured it yet).

I thought I'd get round to posting a few more photos up: Fitting the front panels to the chassis (these were taken at night so apologies). The live controller: 2xLC Mounting led rings for 2XLC box: (Later changed for circuit boards) 2xLC Meter bridge: That's all for now folks....got to go and route all the wood out now because of that design mistake.

Farnell sell spray which works very well for me - it's around £10 per can.

Been really busy lately with the box - have also started a 2xLC box. The house is basically a MIDIbox production site at the moment. Here are some pictures of the work in progress, please excuse some of the photos as my camera is a bit dodgy: The frame for the live box The frame for the 2xLC box: Cooking a light meal: Some lovely Ferric in the kitchen - place in oven at 80 degrees to keep warm. Yum. The board after etching: Front panel for the live box: 2xLC Front panel (not including meter bridge panel) A selection of boards for the live box front panel PVC arrives - hmm have I ordered too much? So, at the moment apart from work (what am I doing on nights in slack time...yes MIDIbox!), MIDbox is my life ;D The kitchen, bedroom, garage, garden, dining room, living room and studio are all full of tools, components, boards and bits of midiboxes in progress. I've got a B side that I must complete before December, remix projects and 2 collaborations with other producers to arrange but there's no room for making music when you're making these babies it's full steam ahead with the MIDIbox madness. Government health warning: MIDIbox will take over your life. MIDIbox will take over your family's life. You have been warned! :) ;) :D :)

Has anyone tried to contact Shaeffer this last couple of weeks?

I'm displaying everything in the LCD but using LEDs for timecode too (although I'm not sure if this will work with Cubase yet). I have left the file as it was and just used it to work out the measurements for the channel widths.

hi - I've left everything as is with the code but that particular file contains a map across the two displays for the 55 character - some characters aren't used for the channels and then there is a 2 character gap between each channel. You can then work out your channel widths from the character widths on your display. It's very simple to change the mapping of the characters there as well.

I think I may have found the answer to my question - LC_HLP_MsgCursorPos in lc_hlp.inc uses the left display from character 7 to 39 and the right display from character 0 to 33 so I need to find a 'best fit' for faders across each display as the split per channel won't be exactly in line with the characters.

Hi - not sure if this is the right forum for this question - apologies if it isn't. When using 2x40 LCDs on LC is the whole width of each display used? Looking at the pictures of extended LCs in the gallery where 2x40s are used it looks like only 3/4 of the display is being used - is this the case? If the whole of the display IS used is the track split perfectly even across the display and if not how is it split?

Yeah, I've been looking for these too - I'm building an LC as well as my other box. I've sent them an email but I've been informed they won't be getting them back in stock as they have lost their supplier for them. They are still on Panasonic's site as a current part but the minimum order is 100 (I think). I've had no joy finding anyone else selling them yet. Finding motor-faders is like finding a needle in a haystack. The only other ones I've found so far have been around £25 each - for 8 faders at that price you may as well just go out and buy a pre-made box. Mouser have some ALPS faders in for.....$50 each. Ouch :'(

Yes 3/8...1/4 it's all the same these foreign measurements innit ;) LOL Now.....where did I put my head ???

:o I don't believe you are forced to do anything. The difference is that one is 6mm, the other 3/8", simple as that. :) Previously Smash only stocked encoders in 6mm format and pots in 3/8" format - all fine and dandy if you were buying them separately but if you were mixing encoders and pots on the same box there was a problem with knobs - 6mm knobs will not fit on a 3/8 shaft (3/8 is slightly bigger), so Smash very kindly :) has started to stock 6mm pots with the same D fitting as the encoders he stocks after I told him about the problem (I believe that others have had the same issue now that people are starting to make bigger/more complicated boxes with various mjxes of pots and encoders) I was having with knobs. Most of the knobs out there seem to be in metric format and to mix 3/8" and 6mm on the same box would mean having a different type of knob for each - not neccessarily very good for aesthetics.