Navigation Ball to emulate a mouse

[The III Man]

Hi,

Im planning the layout of my midi controller for ableton and as much as I want to get away from the keyboard I know I'll still want to use the mouse for lots of things that you simply cant do easily with a midi controller.

I was thinking it would be cool to have a omnidirectional ball mounted into the controller to emulate a mouse and then a little button above it - sort of like you get on some arcade games (i think). Does anyone know where to get one of these and what its really called. (i was thinking if i couldnt find one i could just turn a mouse upside down?)

Would it then be possible to use the software Ive seen people talk about that emulates midi to hook this up to the computer?

Any ideas/ help on this would be great - has anyone got a better navigation solution??

thanks for your help

III

[stryd_one]

Sounds like you want a trackball, then you can just run a USB or PS2 connection to your PC from there...

[Sinnsyk]

U can use any mouse with balls, just turn it around and use the spinning weels and the ball that's already there.

Shouldn't be so hard.

But please, don't try to midify this. Too much work for something that already excists :P

[Sasha]

U can use any mouse with balls, just turn it around and use the spinning weels and the ball that's already there.

Shouldn't be so hard.

Is is hardly posible. Try to turn your mouse upside-down and you will see there is nothing to support the ball at the right position. Also, ball is too samall. I am implementing Genius optical trackball into the controler I am building with my friend. It is very compact and easy to integrate. Strongly recomendations. It dont worth a hassle for 20-30 EUR.

[The III Man]

thanks for the advise, i'll have a lok at this - and yeah i agree theres no point in using an midi for the mouse stuff

cheers

[TheAncientOne]

<evil whisper mode>

Hey we got what you want . . . .

http://www.traxsys.com/staticProductListing.asp

</evil whisper mode>

A bit pricey, but work just like a pair of encoders, and they even do versions with switch panels,  an illuminated one, and they panel mount.

I've used them in industrial control systems where mice last about 2 hours. One is claimed to work even if it's full of sand.

Hope this is useful

Mike

[stryd_one]

They are tasty huh. Some dude was selling something very much like one of those on ebay a while ago and I'm still bummed that I missed the last auction :\ Never did find a retailer... don't suppose you know one?

[TheAncientOne]

I'd try their Australian agents - you might even manage sample price if you make a the right approach.

Control Devices Australia Pty Ltd

Level 6, Westfield Towers, 100 William Street , Sydney . NSW 2000

T: 0061 2 9368 7100

F: 00 61 2 9368 7199

E: sales@controldevices.net

Hope this helps

Mike

[The III Man]

Yep these look exactly like what I was looking for - I had found some other companies that list prices but they were well into 3 figures for the cheapest one and some were almost a grand! Any idea how much these tracksys ones might be - just a ball park figure?

I have pretty much ruled out the possibility of buying one and as said above I looked at a mouse and the mechanism takes gravity into account so its not flippable. I think a simple trackball mouse might be the most cost efficient way.

cheers

[DrBunsen]

All you need is a trackball - they're commonly available from computer shops and Ebay.  I have two for old ADB bus Macs, so they're not that rare.  My post office has one on the office supply shelf for $50.  Then de-case it and mount it in your MIDIBox, running the USB or PS/2 cable out the back. 

Trackballs on ebay.au