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My Midibox has its first outing tomorrow night !


Jakes Daddy
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My Midibox project - a Traktor controller built out of a Denon DN1800F CD Controller - gets its first outing tomorrow night  :o

Technically, what I have built is still a prototype, in that the cabling inside is pretty messy, not all the buttons are mapped to Traktor functions yet, and the software could do with a couple of minor tweaks - but for the most part it does all work ! (My original plan was to build it as I have done, then re-build it nice and neat)

But unfortunately, I am soooooo fed up with the dodgy equipment at the venue that I play at (cheap Numark CD players which have been used and abused !), that I have no choice but to take my PC and MB project !  :o

And not only is it the first outing for my Midibox, but also for me using Traktor (I've only ever played with vinyl and CDs). I play a 5 hour set, so the PC, Traktor and the MB need to stay up and running for at least that long ! - I think this weekend could be a baptism of fire  :o :o :o - wish me luck !!!

JD

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I'd take a set of decks and some records with me just in case ;)

I'd love to, but the venue I play at has the worlds smallest DJ booth, and there really isn't room for a pair of 1210's. I occaisonally take 1 deck out with me, and play from CD to vinyl to CD - but the CD decks have absolutely had it now (on 1 CD deck, the drawer mechanism is bust so you have to 'help' it close and then it doesn't always read the CD !, and both CD decks have dodgy play buttons which mean that they never ever play when you hit play - if you are lucky you might get a half second delay, if you are unlucky, it wont play at all !!)

I will of course post an update to let you know how I get on ....

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Just to let you guys know; my MB, PC and Traktor performed amazingly well on Saturday night  :D :D :D

I got in a little bit early to set everything up, and it all worked faultlessly; and I even got comments on the 'quality' of the sound - looks like my nice new M-Audio Audiophile Firewire has better D-A convertors than the Numark CD players  ;D

The only slight issue was that I dropped my MB at the end of the night when I was packing everything away  ::), but it still works (phew !)

So, having lugged around a desktop PC, TFT flat screen, external sound card, MB & cables galore; it now looks like I'm looking for a laptop and that my MB and Traktor will make a regular outing ;D

JD

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Would you share some pics of your controller?

Most certainly  ;D - Here are some images I took last night when playing out with it. Sorry some of the images are slightly blurred - maybe I need a tripod and less beer  ;D

The first pic shows the unit installed in place of where the normal CD control unit goes, and you can also see my monitor with Traktor on the left - you can see why I call it the smallest DJ booth in the world  >:(

DSCN7452.jpg

Next is a close up of the unit - all looks pretty much as Denon intended except for the blue LCDs

DSCN7451.jpg

And lastly a rather blurred close up of one of the blue LCDs

DSCN7453.jpg

I'll try to find time to get a full build description and pics onto my user pages on the wiki

Enjoy !

JD

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Have you got both LCD working?

Yes, both LCDs work perfectly - I wired them as described in the LCD Module section of the main site, with E for the 2nd LCD going to RC on J10 (I think)

I can then address the 2nd LCD by setting the cursor position to 0x80 (1st char or 1st line of 2nd LCD) and write to it as normal  :)

So far I am only writing a limited number of messages to the LCDs - I have the pitch displayed roughly in line with where the original was displayed (so it lines up with the label printed on the unit). Unfortunately I cannot get Traktor to send the pitch value back as a MIDI signal, so I have to calculate and maintain it within my C app  :( - I'd much rather just read it as a MIDI signal

And then I have 'Playing' , 'Cue' , and 'Reverse'. These are much better - Traktor sends these status messages as MIDI signals, so I can simply read for them and display the appropriate message  ;D

JD

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So midi out from traktor works for you in some cases?

Yes, Traktor sends midi out signals, BUT only from Traktor 3.2.2 onwards. Also, there is only a limited amount of stuff it will send - basically for every MIDI IN signal you define (like when you make it 'learn' your play/cue/pitch midi signals etc), you can make it 'echo' them back as MIDI OUT. Therefore, you can press a button (eg. play), Traktor will read the MIDI IN signal, act accordingly, and will send the same MIDI signal back as MIDI OUT - its like its saying 'yes, I heard the signal, and I am now playing'. Your midibox can read that MIDI IN signal, and do something - eg. message on LCD or light an LED etc

I'd love for it to send more detailed info - track name, time remaining to play, etc etc, but it doesn't do it yet  ::)

Hope this helps.

JD

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