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concept for my controller, extremely new at this


Michael S
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first post for me, so hello everybody! my name is michael and ive just stumbled on to this site after an inspiring thought to try to build a controller to my liking and needs (like everyone else here i suppose? lol)

like the title says, i am EXTREMELY new to this so if any of you could share some widsom with me it would greatly be appreciated!

but, lets get down to business.

ive done lots of reading so far and i can imagine i have much more left to see simply because 95% of what ive read so far has gone right over my head.

im not asking for someone to hold my hand and make this for me, i just need to know im going about it the right way.

mididesign1.jpg

my main purpose for building this would be for my music production and my partners live playing (hence the need for the sequencer type buttons on the bottom)

this is my "basic" design,12 knobs on top, 8 sliders to the right, 32 buttons on the bottom.

SO, if ive learned anything from what ive been reading i would need:

Core32 Module PCB With IC x1

AIN Module PCB x1

DIN Module PCB x1

and then of course the actual knobs, buttons, slider pieces, and the casing.

here lies the problem, surely thats not everything i would need to put this thing together?

and the other thing i wanted to do was have LED-lit buttons. do they make buttons like that or would you have to place a seperate LED to light up the button? (i want to have transparent rubber buttons)

ALSO, ideally, the LED's for the buttons would scroll in time with the bpm of my sequencer.

is that possible? or am i trying to make something that isnt a midibox64?

here i also have my "ideal" set up with 32 more buttons across the bottom

Click for picture

if i went ahead with this design, i would just need another DIN module right? and any other things ive missed in my previous attempt of figuring out the necessities.

ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated,

thank you all for your time

Michael

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Hi mike, and welcome aboard :)

While I haven't any real hands on experience building such controller u suggest (im more into the synth stuff), I could give u an advice or two :). Look at youtube - lots of videos featuring controllers and synths using midibox platform, and u can see them perform, and u might get ideas for your own design and how to do it.

Also the wikipages are full of info, also ucapps.de has lots of info, but I gather u already went there ;).

What I can say, is that midibox platform with MIOS is extremely flexible, and you could do almost anything u can think of with it if you can code some, or get help doing so. There are also huge amounts of people more than willing to help out here.

Always nice to have new additions to the community ;).

Stop by the chat, and questions can be answered real time ;). There are almost always a few people with great knowledge in there at all times :).

See ya.

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i agree theres tons of info lying around this place, im already overloaded after reading through just a few wiki entries and forum posts lol

i definitely have my design planned out tho and im pretty set in stone about it unless there would be some kind of constructing problem where it wouldnt work/fit right.

i just want to make sure im grabbing all the right pieces/parts because it would be some slap in the balls if i ordered all the wrong stuff :laugh:

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Hi and welcome!

As far as i know, the "old" MIDIboxes (e.g. MIDIbox64) have not yet been converted to the new 32-bit platform, so if you want to build such a project, use a Core8 instead of a Core32. Get one or more DOUTx4s for LED indicators. You´d need two DINx4s for 32 buttons + some rotary encoders. Also look in the MBHP projects´ configuration sections to see what is possible - they are very configurable and likely to offer what you need.

If you are a programmer, you can instead directly hop on the 32-bit bandwagon and join the current bulkorder of LPCXpresso baseboards, but then some coding is required to get your desired functionality, that´s why I´d suggest to start small and stick close to what is listed in the MBHP projects section on ucapps.de and repeat one of the builds there.

Greets, Peter

Edited by Hawkeye
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Here are some options for your illuminated buttons:

http://shop.lividins...om/builder.html

http://www.sparkfun.com/categories/145

There are also some individual illuminated buttons available but they're often horribly expensive.

As for the Core, I'd personally choose a Core32 module. Even if you're not a programmer you'll appreciate the USB connection, which the Core8 does not have.

I'm currently building up a case I've had laser cut at Ponoko. I can highly recommend them. The design can be made using all free software ie. Sketchup and Inkscape.

Are your knobs potentiometers or rotary encoders?

As for things you've missed..... connectors, wire, pot caps, fader caps, screws, soldering iron etc....

ALSO, ideally, the LED's for the buttons would scroll in time with the bpm of my sequencer.

is that possible? or am i trying to make something that isnt a midibox64?

Not quite sure what you want it to do, but it's not part of the midibox64 app, unless your sequencer can output a midi signal each beat.

Are you using this for Ableton live? if so, you may want to check out

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As far as i know, the "old" MIDIboxes (e.g. MIDIbox64) have not yet been converted to the new 32-bit platform, so if you want to build such a project, use a Core8 instead of a Core32. Get one or more DOUTx4s for LED indicators. You´d need two DINx4s for 32 buttons + some rotary encoders.

exactly the kind of guidance im looking for! thank you!

and no im not a programmer either, COMPLETELY new to every aspect of this besides using a midi controller lol.

@findbuddha

awesome links, bookmarked, thank you!

i dont know how to technically explain what i mean with the LEDs, but if you see in this video (monome) http://vimeo.com/3072632 the top row scrolls in time with the song, thats what im trying figure out how to implement something like that

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Seems you might actually want a sequencer with some knobs and faders for tweaking, levels, etc.

Check some of these videos to see if the MBSeq project might be what you're looking for:

The project page is here: http://ucapps.de/midibox_seq.html

Additional knobs and faders are possible if I recall correctly, but probably better added on a separate core.

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As Hawkeye explained you will need the older core 8 with a 452, for what you want you will be better off with the mb64e this allows analogue and digital connections as well as led connections using the dout boards.

What i always do is use a gm5 board and link that to the core using the digital pins, this allows direct usb connection to your computer rather than using the 5 pin midi ports on the core.

Remember that the dinx4 uses encoders (endless) you will find some nice cheap ones here: http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=RE04232

Also an encoder uses two pins, so if you connect it to the first pin which is "0" the it will use pins 0+1 the third leg will go to the Vs pin.

As for the scrolling lights it will involve some code writing, however there is a wealth of information on the forum.

The most important advice that anyone here can give you is to read, read and then read some more, everything you need to know is in these forums, spend some time doing a search, and then ask questions, try and quote threads so that other members have something to reference to with your questions.

Most of all enjoy building something.

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As for the scrolling lights it will involve some code writing, however there is a wealth of information on the forum.

so i would be able to do this with just a midibox64e instead of the recommendation to build a mbseq?

i read something that said something along the lines of being able to achieve the scrolling effect by sending "midi out to the buttons" ?

i dont really understand that all that much just yet, but would that be one way of going about it?

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