clearmind

hey guys thanks for your answers as i told you i am a huge fan of midibox and already built an old midiboxplus (was it like that i even forgot) and a newer midibox the reason i wanted to hack a keyboard was because of the price and the instant usb thing but when you try to connect a rotary encoder instead of two buttons nothing happens my question was is there a hardware or software solution for that? -no hacking firmware because that is impossible i know, and even if there were it wouldnt be worth it- why i dont want to try building another midibox - because the first time i hacked a usb gamepad and built a midi controller in 30 minutes out of it, and when midibox decided not to support big USB PIC module, midibox lost its charm for me i know it is the most supported DIY midi thing around and i love it but i dont want to complicate things anymore. so i repeat my question forget about keyboard matrices the question -simplified- is this i know that in midibox it is possible to connect 1 rotary encoder instead of two buttons gamepads/keyboards have also buttons does anyone have a clue if it would be possible to connect rotary encoders to gamepads/keyboards/usb mice-other than the wheel-/ if nothing software can be done, is there a hardware/electronics trick that would allow me to connect a rotary encoder so that the stupid usb device would think that one of the buttons are constantly pressed when i turn it. i hope i finally made myself clear sorry for my bad english thank you

i have no idea infact.. since i do not understand rotary encoders i automatically assumed this; rotary encoders on midibox are connected to the same inputs as buttons so it must be a software trick that was what i thought

hi all, i am a true supporter of the midibox hardware and software but recently i find it much more easier to hack usb devices to get things done, i have a question about rotary encoders. these rotary encoders are are connected to the din modules (where the buttons are supposed to be connected) can one -optimistically- assume that he can hack a usb keyboard (which has 101 inputs) and use -lets say- 50 rotary encoders? if yes how? because i have been trying to understand this, but since i am only a little more clever than a monkey i could not figure it out what i figured out is that software is the trick for this/maybe? thanks in advance

hi there, i know it has been a long time since my last entry, and you all forgot about my midibox thing but i wanted to show you my beta stage midibox, i today bought some fancier stuff to make the interface a bit more good looking, but anyways this is how i solved the trigger problems, used big piezos only for their conductive surfaces and a glove with 3 small piezos on the fingertops for the ground part of digital inputs(buttons) i would love to share the maxmsp patch/program which i use to connect this babe to ableton ( i still couldnt learn maxmsp to build a midi sequencer/looper as good as ableton live :)) ) also i got very very interested into audiocommander's kontaktstation that i see it in my dreams:) i will definitely try doing something like that and contact audiocommander and ask for some help:)so thats all for now have a good year onur p.s. i am also capable of standing like a normal person, the height of the table made me look like this i guess

hi , i found a workaround to do what i want dont want to always talk about what i did but not show anything, but i will give a detailed post. right now i can only think about doing it

wow you really opened my mind thanks i will look for all

hello my first attempts on pvc and conductive paint was quite bad because that conductive paint shit that i bought works as a resistance and thats too bad. i am thinking of glueing two piezos looking at each other with a pvc sheet with a hole where the piezos can touch so that when im not touching, the piezos wont touch each other when i touch, theyll touch also by the way ill only be using the metal part of the piezos, -not to confuse anyone i thought i should be telling that-

hello all i guess i found the ideal solution for my project and i will share it as soon as i realize, test a little and take some photos im sure someone has used it before me its not an invention but i cannot tell you how excited i got when i thought about it its based on pvc conductive paint that we use in our broken resistances in car windows

thanks for the quick answer from the pdf i am doing some googling now and learned that there was a thing called `pressure sensitive analog switch` now i am searching for further info thank you man

hi, i cannot use switches for all of them for example i am planning on using the stairs of a bunk as a keyboard instrument which will be hit with sticks (for visual matters) are there any kinds of pressure sensitive like or -i dont know i could only think of piezos- switches

hello everyone, it has been a long time since i posted a message, but making my next midibox was something that i have been thinking most of my time. i have a different midibox idea (and also a school project sort of thing) it will be something like making music using everyday-furniture like couches tables stairs and so forth. ( i know some of you will remember the midi-couch thing -http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=4901.0- but what i am planning to do is a bit different and more "less-mechanically built" than midi couch. what i need is something like an e-drum (please dont give me the edrum links,of course i searched it) without the velocity sensitivity info. a small example for demonstration can be like this, -the user sits on the couch and that sends a note-on and when stands up sends a note of (without the velocity sensitivity info) -the user hits different sides of a table with his hands and gets different note_on and note_off messages (again without the velocity info) i only know that messing with piezos are dangerous, because they are so sensitive. but since i dont need the velocity info, would-could it be used as only button switches or something?? i mean when the player hits above a certain treshold it will give note on and off messages?? or is there any alternatives that comes to your mind??? one other example can be like this, you know the beds with stairs that you have to climb on to get into, if there would be a way to hit those stairs with a stick and again get note on and off signals (without velocity) the reason i dont want to build an edrum.info thing is the amount of inputs. you can only build 22 analog inputs (which are all velocity sensitive ok) but as you have understood from what i have been trying to explain, i need far more than 22 inputs. so, if any ideas come to your mind, please, please help me thanks onur

therezin; yeah i guess its better than drugs :)))) last friday i had my first serious live performance and used this box first of all it was so cool that everybody wanted to check it out :) but it had some bad sides too, first ( and the most important) of all the latency issue of the buttons; since the instrument is about the buttons this can drive you crazy sometimes. and another issue; i understood that remembering what was what will always be my problem on stage, and 8 buttons aren't enough for the way that i planned for performing. While i got too upset about this situation ( too tired and scared to build a new midibox with 16 rotary enc and 32 buttons ) i found the second best solution for my problem This my friends is a usb keyboard which you can just lay on your usual usb Midi keyboard ( if you have space) or anywhere and with a software called Controller Mate you will be able to assign it to ANYTHING (literally)!!!!! this gives me extra LOTS of buttons which can be assigned to ANYTHING and the buttons are so great that it had a picture which you spill coffee on the keyboard, i hope it will save my life on my next performance the buttons are made of something like RUBBER so it gives the feel of a sampler (of course with smaller buttons hehe) i will try to send some more information and pictures also as soon as the universal binary of the program is out ecause right now i can not try my setup the way i want, i can only assign buttons as it is my normal keyboard ( with the program i will be able to assign for example "Command Button +7" to F1 button of the usb keyboard the web site about the arcade buttons is fantastic but the prices are too high i guess, i bought my buttons for 1$ each but the illuminated ones are great :)))

thank you very much for your quick answer i decided to give a break about this midibox madness for at least a month (but it was today when i saw a doorbell and thought that it could be a great button for my next midibox :) ) , but this answer makes me think that there won't be such a break so i must start to find a good case for my forthcoming midibox64e which i am planning to change banks with a rotary encoder

hello, i have been playing with my new midibox for two days and there is something wrong with its buttons, i can not have the responses that i expect from them, for example when trying to play 16th notes in a tempo like 110, it sometimes skips one or two, which can be very very dangerous on stage, why can this be happening ? is this the problem of all midiboxes, or only midibox plus ??? or can this be a problem of for example bad soldering, bad cabling or something like that the midibox-like thing that i built previously (which had a pic16f84 and only had 10 buttons) did not have this kind of a problem and i built it with these buttons so i know that it isn't a button related problem

of courseeeee as soon as i find the way to put it, i will :)

Justin; "Usually they are soldered on a PCB and then the board is mounted to the front panel with spacers, or to the frame of the case and then the front panel slides over the encoders." Yeah i did it on this box also, the pots were mounted on the panel with a pcb-like thing (drilled) , Midibox Plus thought me lots of things, first of all the importance of good-soldering :) Michael; thaaaaankss :) i do the music myself but playing live one of my oldest friends accompanies me with his laptop, and we found out how exciting this is ( i used to play drums and he used to play keyboards in the band that we played, and we played for like 9 years) , so now it is time to build a tool for performance, i hope this box won't let me down stryd_one; yeah they are street-fighter buttons, i thought that they were the most suitable buttons for live performance, since they are big and don't easily get broken when you get so excited and hit it really hard, just like street fighter :) ooh by the way, i figured out a way to change the main.asm so the buttons on all the layers are different, and the two knobs are the same, so when you change a layer ( in my case song) only the buttons change if anybody needs it, i can send

i totally finished my midibox plus it has 2 knobs and 8 buttons and switches for layers. now i am plannng to build a midibox 64 e but i wanna rest for at least a month hehehe tired of seeing midiboxes in my dreams www.futursuz.net/midibox for pictures

heheheheheeheheheh that's exactly what i am talking about!! :) yesterday in my dream i was looking for a way to use the rotary encoders that i bought. I still don't know how i am going to mount them on the panel it won't be easy like pot. thats for sure, anyhow, today i decided to build a new box and if i like it i will post some pictures

allright last night and today i finished soldering the pcb at weekend i made the panel (both are really shitty, just to test if my plan will work) also i bought rotary encoders today. I had real difficulty trying to explain people what it was, because i didnt know the name for it in Turkish. (still don't, found a place with a Bourns sign and tried to explain the situation and the man showed me two kinds ( both without switches)) i bought 16 of them -not that i am going to use sixteen, i was so excited to find, with a strange feeling i bought as much as i could afford. :) but first i am going to finsih this midibox plus tomorrow i will try to figure out what is wrong with the midibox because one led doesnt work, one led works sometimes and i am not expecting the led associated to midi-in port. the real problem is i get strange midi messages sometimes, some of the pots don't work and some of the buttons don't work either, and still couldnt solve the layer thing. But thanks to TK, he sent me the source code. As i will be trying to solve the Hardware problems of my midibox-plus, i will try to copy and paste all the layers actions so that except for the buttons, all the faders will do the same job. p.s. i didnt solder the lcd because i was sooooooooooooooooooo tired of soldering so i guess i will be saving it for my midibox64e, ROTARY ENCODERS ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOLL and i am starting to think that building midiboxes should be considered as a mental disease. Once you start, you can never stop thinking about what you can do to your mdibox or what can you build or how can you build

hello again last night i had a chance to try one of my friends axiom it's awesome and i understood the concept of the rotary encoders by trial :) i don't know why but i thought that rotary encoders wouldn't let me control effectively but i learned that it wasnot true so ok now i am thinkinng of building a midibox64e :) today i will go to some electric parts suppliers and ask about rotary encoders hope i can find thank you very much about all your help

so does this mean a rotary encoder has values from 0 - 128 (for example) so you can turn it like a knob and it sends digital values ?

i guess i am really stupid because i can not understand how midibox 64 e will help me it has rotary encoders and buttons only doesn't it ? so how can i assign one rotary encoder for example to be the master volume ? even if i did, isn't rotary encoder a potentiometer which can complete more than on circles when you turn? so without ledrings how will i control one effectively ? I believe that understanding the MIDIBOX project should mean understanding everything about midibox and i want to build them all. Believe me after i build this one, my mind will start thinking about building the other ones but right now i can only think about building this one.

hi again, pcb was like 4$ but i only need 1 setup don't need bank sticks i only need changing button parameters but fixed fader parameters the layers will do fine for me if i can be able to do what i want because 16 layers mean 16 * 8 buttons (which will be enough for a live set)

today i got the pcbs for midibox plus (which i ordered from a local pcb maker) this means i have to build a midibox plus can anybody help with the source code?? TK ??

thank you very much for your answers, i will now read more about MB64e and how to customize it, because i could not understand exactly the bankstick thing, i suppose you did not mean to plug a different bankstick for a song or something ?