dengel

http://cgi.ebay.com/VESTAX-PMC-05-GOLD-FACTORY-FACE-PLATE-LIKE-NEW_W0QQitemZ7414089238QQcategoryZ101984QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Really nice because it doesn't have many holes in it - just a 2 pot and 2 fader holes/slots and not much else. $20 is pretty cheap, and might make a nice face panel for somebody's Traktor controller.

Thread edits are good sometimes though - I can't stand when I come back and notice bad grammar in a post I made or something of that nature. I post a lot late, and am usually tired when I do so. The next day, I come along and notice a typo and fix it, because with all the non-english speakers here I think it is important to be as clear as possible to make it easier on them. I also don't always want to bump a thread when my edit doesn't warrant bumping; this happens sometimes when I notice that I've mis-used a term and want to replace it with another correct one.. But I understand on the revisionist aspect. I don't know - fighting on a forum is one of the dumbest things I can imagine doing; but if you must, just quote the other person if you are worried about tracks-covering. For the cleanliness that editing provides, the occasional crank that misuses it can probably be safely ignored. They'll leave eventually, after people stop wanting to help them.

Has anyone here had experience with re-wiring exsisting mixers for Midibox use? I have another midi project I am kicking in my head, and for the expense I am considering just using a pre-existing Behringer mixer, for purely economic reasons. What benefits/troubles have you had using this technique?

I hardly touch the Xfader either, but It comes in handy on bouncy stuff and for effects - I like to do a send to a delay on the effects channel - assign the original song to Xfader A, and the effect channel to Xfader B (like you might do it on the DJM 600). Get a delay signal going,, cut to the Effect only which creates a drop effect, and bring the original track back in on a big ol' bass beat.

Whoa, missed the "10-20" part in his post. Yeah, thatsa lotta "illumination". I'd use a seperate power supply for that many too.

I'll answer a few of these: 1) You could easily hook the LEDs up to a spare power pin on the core, if you have one. MAKE SURE YOU USE THE RIGHT RESISTOR with your LED, otherwise the LED can burn out almost immediately. different color LEDs have different resistor and power requirements; read the spec sheets for the part to find out what you need to know. 2) Use a 9v DC power supply, and the cores will regulate it down to 5v as needed. Make sure that you have enough power for everything. A core with LCD and pots/buttons can draw around 500ma - overpower you PSU, and frankly I recommend a wall-wart for ease of construction. I would shoot for a 9v/1.5-2.0 amp power supply, which will give you all the power you'll need without over-volting and wasting electricity and creating a heat dissipation issue. You only need one power supply. There are pins on the core that give power to a second connected core. 3) Easiest way for a power switch is either: a) A quick-connect panel mount plug on the back of your unit, same size as your wall-wart connector. b) if you want, just install a panel mount rocker switch in line with your PS, and permanently wire your wart wires to a 2-pin connector for the power supply pins on the core. 4) No Idea. 5) Yes. Think of it this way - the M64e can use 128 DIN pins (4 DINx4's). Buttons take one pin (the other is ground) and encoders take 2 pins. So, with 16 encoders subtract 32 pins, leaving you with 96 buttons left. In addition, MB64e can handle (via AINs) an amazing additional 64 POTS too (MB64E maps these pots to slots 64-128 of the encoders; this is a newer version of the e, but it's in the changelog)! Imagine what a commercial midi controller with 128 rotary inputs and 96 buttons would cost... Thanks, TK!

German to English (via Google) of the above Page: The HOT DESIRE PISTOL! That is awesome, that's what I am going to call my heat gun from now on. Wow, thanks Bob! Appreciate the tip. Do you think that sealing it off will cure the problem of corrosion within limits ( like give it 1 year or so of life)? I could handle a 1-year maintenance cycle, I think.

Hmmmm - no reason except that I didn't see the other one. 1.3 worked well enough for testing, though. But I'll look for and upload the later version. I eyeball drilled the front panel and wired the pots for the 2-channel controller that I need for the party this weekend. Trying to find a box for it to live in for the night. This is a personal house party, so it doesn't have to look professional. And boy, it sure doesn't! I am considering calling it either the FuglyBox or Mad Box:Beyond Thunderdome ;D

I'd like to do the re-use route, but I am trying to use ribbon cables wherever I can to make assembly and repair as easy as possible. How are you scratching off the traces between buttons, since many/most of the buttons are connected together? In the "Clear Buttons" thread I went through what you've described, and in the Toyland thread there's a pic I made of what you are doing to re-use things. I'm just hoping to make custom ones somehow so that I am not tied to finding an old Light's Out game everytime I need a replacement part. One other option is to mount tact switches inside and make the whole thing mechanical. I honestly didn't think that was going to be an option, until I saw How friggin deep these buttons are. The inner dimensions of the holes are 9mmx10mm, and the hole is 1cm deep. The tops are thick enough that they could easily actuate a button.

I use Illustrator to do most everything, and then I have been using Rowan's printout technique to ensure that it all fits where it should. If you need and EPS or SVG file for your own use, let me know.

Smash, I trust you on that - but what magical method do the factories use to make this work? Because I've taken apart the case, and there is no sealing whatsoever - other than that provided by the silicon flange. My board is essentially a direct copy of the PCB that came with the unit. Do they do something magical to prevent corrosion whilst maintaining contact? I mean, the device I cut up is from 1995 (when they stopped making this model game) and it worked like a champ. Is it possible for a home user to tin contacts, or must I use express PCB or something? Thoughts on professionalism is one reason I asked if anyone else burned boards - either as a hobby or as a living - so that I could get the most relable product. One other thing: I planned on sealing the edges of the boards where the board meets the rubber with a thin silicon layer. Will that help things, if I can prevent new air from getting in there?

Yeah, I've read the tutorial. My wife is getting a bit "off" as she gets more pregnant, and unfortunately bring in a ferro-chloride etching bath home might not be the best idea... I have done silkscreening in the past, using a photo-etch process. What's your take on photoetch boards, rather than the chem-resist method you so wonderfully described (thanks, BTW).

If I happen to have iron on transfer paper already, can I use that instead of the label backing?

With a dremel cutting disc and some patience you probably can keep that from happening. I just posted a board design for my buttons here - can you etch? If you can, I'll draw you a schematic + some cash in exchange for your services.

I have the following single layer, simple board: No drilling needed or anything - I can take care of that. I'm just a bit chemical phobic frankly, and don't see myself doing too many more PCB's myself and can't justify the expense of buying all the materials needed for just these few boards. What might someone here charge to etch 6 of these boards?? They measure 55mm x 105mm (including the outer mounting hole area, not shown).

Well, the IC's from the bad board work OK in the "good" board, so it isn't the IC. It might be possible that there's a short BELOW the headers, where they are covered by the plastic so I can't see them. I'll check that tonight. Thanks for the idea, Doc. All DINs now working - there was a short under the plastic of a pinheader, as suspected when the IC's decide to work ;) I must've used just a little too much on that contact, becase the short was very small - but then again, so is an electron! So, with that, and thanks to the EXCELLENT test tip of trying the 64/128 App, I now have one working core, a working LCD, and 2 dins and 2 ains. To top it all off, my buddy called me about CNC'ing the panel! With my Lightsout button in, I now can begin assembly of the beast. I actually am going to build a VERY minimal rig for a house party this weekend. It'll be ugly, but It'll get the job done - 3 eqs, 1 fx send, one vol button, and 6 buttons per channel is the plan, with just the plain-jane 64/128 app to run it all. I'll control the navigation with the KB.

That's sad.... Also, no, they send different signals clock and counter-clock wise:

Pretty sure the IC's weren't damaged by that, but I can't factor out the possibility they were bad from the get go, since they've NEVER sent any button presses.. I've actually tested EVERY SINGLE din one by one :( hoping to get at least 1 hit. But in any case, I'm running (now) customized MB64E with menu buttons disabled from main.asm (I don't need them, but I DO need the Dins). Plus, even if I hit a menu button I'd be happy. I'd at least see something happen on the LCD. I checked the wiring and my button with a multimeter and aligator clips to ensure it was OK. They all seem fine (in fact, the same wires performed fine on my AIN testing). I've checked the soldering many times, and it looks picture-perfect. I also went from pin to pin on the IC's and got solid 5V all the way down the line. All the way to the pins - even to the terminals on the one test button - I get 5 volts. I'll try the core ground Idea to see if I can get anything. EDIT: Tried J9Vs to all Din Pins - nothing :( EDIT AGAIN: I think one of my two DINS is bad. I finally got a signal from one DIN hooked up alone. Once I hook up the other DIN (alone or in series) BOTH dins stop sending data. This has always been the case - that is, when both DINS were hooked up, they NEVER worked. Possibly the IC's are malfunctioning in DIN # 2, because the soldering looks greta, even under magnification. Perhaps I can get some new IC's from a local shop tomorrow and test that. Otherwise - it's another order to Smash!

Well, Thanks for the kind words. I've built the new Hex using my modified main.asm and mios_tables.inc using MPASM, and uploaded MB64E to the core. I am still frustrated by DINs that power up to 5v all the way through the chain, but at least it appears that the upload worked: instead of the ol' "Reverb" on my LCD I now see Int.1 1|CC# 7 [127]. Still not sure how to name these things so that they say things actually related to my app, but I think I will hold off on that until I build the box, and then work through it by twiddling a knob, seeing what shows up, and then tracking it down in one of the many include files. Then, I'll rebuild again and re-upload.

Oh, good - I figured that it might be similar to using objects in ASP, or SSi's in a web app to seperate code chunks - but since the whole deal is foreign, I couldn't be sure it worked in the same way.

I am going nuts with these DINs. I have checked voltage just about everywhere, and get the expected 5 volts everywhere I check. Also, by accident when I was taking off the wires to the din, I crossed one of the SC/RC/SI wires, and it went into Bank Select mode (which I couldn't get out of, so I had to reload MIOS and then reload MB64 to get out of the "all boxes, all o's" screen that I got put into after reboot. I also tried reversing the IC's, since I figured that might be wrong. but much as on the AIN test, that just makes things not power up. Arrrghhh! I even tried using just two wires, in case the button was broken, to no avail.

Thanks, TK. I guess I am trying to figure out why there are so many files in the install directory, when with Mios Studio you just upload a hex file. and that's it. Iinstalled MPASM so that I could create a hex file from an ASM; I guess my biggest problem is that I don't understand how all these parts (the various INC files, ASM, SYSX, and HEX) files come together to make it work. Is it all pulled into a single hex file when you build it from and ASM? It's very confusing for someone whose programing knowledge is all in ASP and .Net. :(

OK, I got my Lights Out today, and I have to hand it to Tiger - that's some quality construction The buttons are thick -and yes, very tall as mentioned by Th0mas! They have an excellent feel. To go more into detail, the PCB that the buttons sit on is a 5x5 matrix similar to that of a PC keyboard. If you need a 5x5 square, congratulations - you're done! Disconnect the key matrix board from the processor "game" board and go to town. The LEDs are all prewired and resistored. This doesn't hold true if you want to use the boards in other configurations than 5x5. Obviously, when you cut the board, the interconnections that lead to the matrix will be broken, and you'll have to wire the buttons individually. Each individual button is a square ring of contact traces, finger-jointed together with an LED in the center. These rings are all interconnected to each other, so if you are looking to use the original board it looks like there are a few things to do: 1) scrape the traces away that connect the buttons, so each button is like an island unto itself. 2) drill vias to the inside and outside of the rings, like so: ... 3) and solder some leads through the back to create the new button. 4) You'll also need to attach leads to the red LED in the center, and add an inline resistor if you aren't using a DOUT module for lighting control. If you want, you can remove the LED and replace it with your own. This is of course the poor man's way - if you want, making your own PCBs would be a much better choice. Also, the height of the buttons will require the use of standoffs to push the buttons back from the board, so make sure you plan on that when mounting.

Looking sweet. It's fun how with these custom controllers you can see a glimpse of the person's mixing style. Like the "Master" Section, btw.