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Pioneer CDJ-2000 style Traktor controller


MiL0
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Still in two minds about whether I can successfully pull off and complete a midibox controller (otherwise I'll go down the U-Hid, etc route) - perhaps one of you can help convince me it's worth the effort!

Mock up project idea here: http://midibox.org/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=7874

My controller is designed to be used in pairs. The 7" screen is a USB display link monitor called the Samsung U70. I've written a script in Autohotkey that clones section of the Traktor GUI and then allows you to re-arranges them on a 2nd or 3rd monitor (see here for more information: http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5489).

The VU meter is also controlled using another Autohotkey script I've written, see here: http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18512 . The jog wheel hardware (touch sensitive jog) comes from two EKS XP10 midi controllers that I'm going to gut. I've also acquired a Pioneer CDJ800 jog wheel that I'm going to attach on top.

Anyway, those are the non-midibox parts of the controller. The relevant-to-this-forum features are:

12 encoders

12-13 pots

55 buttons (including the encoder secondary push to click buttons)

?? LEDS (haven't decided on a number yet, but will definitely be less than 32)

Based on this midibox Traktor project I figure I'll need the following midibox components:

1 x Core8

1 x AIN

1 x DOUT

2 x DIN

1 x LCD

Despite being acutely aware that this forum/scene very much encourages research and learning, you must appreciate that quite a few people are frightened at the seemingly steep learning curve that's expected. The documentation is considerably vast and I find it quite difficult to disseminate what information is relevant to my project. With that in mind, I humbly would appreciate anyone's help with my project... here are my questions:

1) Does my midibox hardware list look adequate?

2) My C programming skills are non-existent - would a Core8 or Core32 offer me the easiest 'plug-and-play' solution? What's the advantage, in my projects case, of using one rather than the other?

3) If I wanted to add a motorised pitch fader, am I asking for a world of pain? What should I bare in mind?

4) Do Encoders use up two of the digital inputs on a DIN? (three if you include the push button)

5) If I were to use this midibox project as the basis for my project, would I be able to avoid having to do any C programming? I don't mind getting my hands dirty and learning a few things.. I'm just genuinely concerned that I'm going to invest a lot of money and time in something that I won't be able to finish (whereas with U-Hid, things might have been different).

Sincerest apologies to everyone who reads my post and sighs at another n00b thread... sincerest thanks to anyone who takes the time to write an answer that doesn't involve, "read the wiki n00b!"

MiL0

post-8162-069432100 1287677229_thumb.jpg

Edited by MiL0
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"read the wiki n00b!"

Sorry I couldn't resist.....

Anyway, in answer to your questions, yes encoders require 2 DIN inputs (up and down). Switched encoders need 3. Therefore I make it that you need 77 DIN ports (3 DIN modules)

The CORE8/CORE32 question is a very difficult one to answer at the moment. If you have no C programming knowledge then you would have much more chance of getting a CORE8 based controller working however if you want to change anything, most CORE8 projects are written in PIC assembler which is MUCH more difficult to learn than C although it is also possible to use C to write programs for the CORE8...

There are no actual "released" projects for the CORE32 at the moment although there are beta versions of SEQ/SID and LC, none of which would really help you get a working Traktor controller although the LC is probably the closest....

Unless what you are building has exactly the same hardware spec as an already working project, you are unlikely to get away without doing ANY C or assembler programming. I don't wish to discourage you but we do need to be realistic. If you have NO programming skills then you may struggle a bit... Hold on though, if you can write an autohotkey script then you have some programming skills :)

Adding a single motorized fader would potentially be a problem as you would need an MF module (which supports up to 8 faders) and you would probably need to add MF support to whatever project you based your controller on yourself.....

Cheers

Phil

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Thanks for the helpful reply - definitely made a few things clearer in my mind :)

All my reading so far suggests that the Core32 is likely to be the future of Midibox projects but I definitely want to make this as easy as possible! The Core8 is cheaper than the Core32 so that's one advantage I suppose! And that's a shame about the added complexity of adding a motorised fader... perhaps, if/when I complete this project, I can add it at a later stage.

I guess my next question is, isn't there any generic software for the Core8 that will support ANY combination/number of inputs? What I mean is, isn't there something pre-written that will support whatever I attach to the Core8? A lot of the HID boards have GUI utilities that allow you to specify which inputs have pots/switches attached and how many there are. If there was something like this for the Core8, then I'm guessing you'd have a lot more people getting interested in Midibox designing (and choosing it as a platform instead of more expensive options like Livid Brain, Pot32, u-hid, etc).

My autohotkey scripting skills are basic... I usually just take existing scripts and modify them to my needs. If there's an existing C project that I can easily adapt to my needs then I'll definitely have a bash at that. But... I appreciate that for a lot of people on here, midibox is a good excuse to learn some new skills, for me though, it's a means to an end... I desire a Traktor controller and will (try to) choose the easiest method that will allow me to bring my ideas to fruition. That's not to say I'm lazy by the way - part of my geeky side desperately wants to use midibox because I like to learn new things... I'm just concerned that midibox might be too much of a steep learning curve.

Edited by MiL0
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actually, now I look at it, my design uses a not too dissimilar number of inputs to a Midibox64:

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox64.html

http://www.midibox.org/users/tor_arne/midibox64_walkthrough/index.html

if I were to use all the C/asm project files for a Midibox64 with my controller, can you forsee any issues? would the number of encoders vs the number of pots be a problem? (ie should I use a midibox64 or a 64e?). If this is possible, would it be reasonably easy to comment out the code I don't need so that it supports just the inputs I'm using? would that be all I need to do, programming-wise?

edit: just looked at the midibox64e source.. eek! is there not a midibox64 that supports pots, buttons AND encoders?

Edited by MiL0
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search and ye shall find!

turns out the midibox64e can work with pots now :)

http://ucapps.de/midibox64e_changelog.html

experimental support for AIN/MF modules

Although MIDIbox64E has been designed for rotary encoders, it can now also handle with up to 64 pots/faders or up to 8 motorfaders.

Pots and faders are mapped to the "encoder" entries 64-128. Example: if group width is 16, and group 1 is selected, encoders are using Entry 1-16, and pots are using entry 64-(number of pots)

So if I buy the core8, DIN, etc parts I listed above and then upload the Midibox64e code, it should support the inputs I require with no code modification?

Judging by this thread:

it might be possible to use Midibox64e with no modifications. The question is, will I be able to wire up 12-13 AIN inputs and 77 DIN inputs without doing any coding?

Edited by MiL0
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 years later...

Hi Everyone,

I just found this thread, ~10yrs later  :-)

Btw, is there any progress on this project MiL0? 

The links are no longer working to the Autohotkey things :-)

I'm interested in to try out this on my controller.

Big thanks.

Á.

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