nickca Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 (edited) My Midibox64 Description and a picture are in the link. If anyone would like info on how I modified the SparkFun button pad, I can provide it. It's quite simple, the two traces for each button have vias you can solder to, and anyone with reasonable electronics knowledge should be able to figure out what traces to cut for the LEDs. The worn/old aesthetic is intentional. I purposely gave the faceplate one coat of flat black spraypaint so it would easily scratch. I was sort of going for a "salvaged and repurposed 1960s Soviet submarine control panel" look. Edit: "Midibox Newbie" as a title is kind of funny. I built my first Midibox64 in like 2003, and I think this is the third Midibox forum I've posted on. Edited November 12, 2009 by nickca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaseM Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Nice Build, I've been thinking about building something similar. Two questions: 1) Did you use potentiometers or encoders? What were the specs? 2) For the button matrix, it says on the spark fun site: Each LED and button is brought out to the side connectors. via http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8033 Did you have to cut additional traces or did you use the breakouts that were already there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickca Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 (edited) Nice Build, I've been thinking about building something similar. Two questions: 1) Did you use potentiometers or encoders? What were the specs? 2) For the button matrix, it says on the spark fun site: via http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8033 Did you have to cut additional traces or did you use the breakouts that were already there? 1. Pots. I ordered some nice 10K ones from Mouser, originally I had some incredibly cheap ones that worked horribly. I forget the brand, it wasn't a super well-known one like Bourns. I have an encoder for the left/right datawheel, though. Actually, I sort of have a question about that: the encoder really doesn't work that well. It "jumps" and sometimes goes in the opposite direction. Is that just a software thing? I've tried two different encoders, and the latest is a high quality Alps. 2. I had to cut traces for the LEDs. The breakouts are for a diode-matrix configuration, and the Midibox needs 16 individual buttons and LEDs. For the buttons, there are vias you can solder to directly, and for the LEDs I just cut the traces and soldered to the LED's anode directly. Edit: The case is a PacTec PT-10, the same as the x0xb0x and others. The only thing about it is the faceplate is aluminum, and sort of difficult to machine. There's no way I could have cut 16 individual squares for the buttons: I used one of SparkFun's bezels, cut a big square hole for it, and mounted it to the faceplate with a combination of screws and JB Weld (a brand of "metal epoxy", dunno if it's known outside the USA) Edited November 12, 2009 by nickca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zunkdrummer Posted December 14, 2009 Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 That's a lovely looking box, sir. Good to see someone still likes crass =] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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