MONSTA Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Hello all,I am new here and have been researching making my own midi controlers for the past few months. Originally I was going to go the way of an arduino, but think your community seems the best place to start for midi specific noodlings.I love the monome buttons and have seen the Sparkfun alternatives, which seem perfect for my use for the most part, but in places I will need just a strip of 4, rather than a grid. Would it be possible to get my own PCB made for them (are they double sided and does this cause a problem) and cut up the silicone buttons to make a row of 4?Has anyone done this, or have experience with them and be able to guide me in the right direction/set me straight on it's impossibility.Thanks for any adviceChristian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryd_one Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Welcome aboard niietzshe :)Having custom PCBs made is definitely possible, although for something so small and simple, I would probably use protoboard for the job. But it's definitely possible, and very easy to use from the software side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilba Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 It's a bit hard to use protoboard - we're talking about silicon rubber buttons with conductive rubber pads, which need to mate with exposed traces on the PCB. Protoboard is typically bare copper donuts which are bad for contacts like this... even tinning them with solder would lead to intermittent conductivity and a crappy switch :-)Sparkfun sell a "mini button pad set":http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8998which mate with a different type of PCB:http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8963and this PCB is easy to split into single buttons to reposition them as you like.If you really prefer a row of four big square buttons like the other kind, then it's probably easiest to cut one of SparkFun's 2x2 boards in half, than go to the trouble of making a new PCB, and paying so much more in production costs to get them made. I mean, they're already designed to split a 4x4 board into four 2x2 boards, so cutting one of these in half and adding wire between cut tracks (or just connecting wires to the switches' pads) is probably not too much work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryd_one Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 It's a bit hard to use protoboard - we're talking about silicon rubber buttons with conductive rubber pads, which need to mate with exposed traces on the PCBClearly I'm thinkin' of the wrong switch :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONSTA Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Thanks for all the advice!I was wondering if I could cut up the PCB, but then thought it might be easier to get an entire board made up and just cut the buttons up. I've found a guy on here who offeres his button making services with a lazer cutter. This might be the way to go for me if I can just possition the buttons how I like.While on the subject of DIY buttons, do you guys/girls have any suggestions on making them sturdy. IE, if I just build it up on breadboard or similar, what would be the best way of making sure I had sturdy buttons that could take a bit of a bashing? I'm not going to be hitting them a lot, I'm a club DJ, not a controllerist etc, but I do have a habbit of giving them a good push when I want to drop something in.Thanks again for all your help, this place seems really friendly and enthusiastic!Christian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nILS Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Coinop buttons take a lot of abuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONSTA Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I was thinking more of the breadboard etc that you would mount the buttons onto. I can't believe it's so hard to get monome style buttons in configurations thats actually helpful for anything other than a matrix. If someone had the skills/tools to make buttons on here, you'd think they'd make a killing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryd_one Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 While on the subject of DIY buttons, do you guys/girls have any suggestions on making them sturdy. IE, if I just build it up on breadboard or similar, what would be the best way of making sure I had sturdy buttons that could take a bit of a bashing?t's all about the mounting. The fibreglass boards are actually quite strong, provided that you give them enough support. Just use lots of bolt+standoffs on the breadboard, and you'll be able to whack them all day long without concern.Mind you, they aren't velocity sensitive, and hitting buttons heavily is bad for your fingers... probably worth breaking the bad habit of pushing them so hard. (I have that problem with my keyboard, as do most people) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONSTA Posted April 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 Cheers. I don't push them "that" hard. Just sometimes add a little flare to a que etc and wanted to make sure they would take it.Right, now onto the core module, thanks for everyones help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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