robin303 Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Hi there, everybody. Has it only been one week since I found this website? Well, enthousiast as I am, the last days have seen a lot of hours of designing and thinking for my MIDIbox 64 !! :PMy goal: Controlling Reason, Rebirth and future software synths. I wanted a generic design because I will use multiple applications. As you can see, the panel design was heavily influenced by Steve Thomas' 3030 box which I really like a lot. I also used the 909 font and, by his advise, the Frontpanel Designer program! Thanks Steve!The panel measures 48 by 28 cm. The "Control Sections" all have 16 mm potmeter knobs, the "4x4 freakout" (no proper name yet) features 13,5 mm knobs. The buttons are all the Digitaster type (see http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=parts_q;action=display;num=1051988582 for more info) and most of them have a build-in LED.The idea I have is quite simple. Like I said, the box must be generic in function. But I didn't want a box with only 4 rows of 16 faders as I feel I will soon get lost in it. So I divided the 64 pots in 4 "Control Sections", a "Free" 4x4 grid and 16 volume channels with 16 muting buttons. The LCD is a 4x16 one. I have 6 buttons for the menus and another 4 extra, just in case, for bank selecting and all. The row with the red and green button are for transport purposes (pauze, play, rewind, forward, record).I wanted to be able to select patterns (in the Matrix and ReDrum modules) and so you can find 4 rows of 8 buttons in each "Control Section"!I am very interested in your opinions.. What do you think of this design? Anything I totally forgot? Or did I maybe do things that simply can't be done?Cheers,Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin303 Posted May 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Oh, for all you interested, the current parts price is just over 350 euros for the PCB's, electronic parts, adapter, LCD, knobs, pots and buttons. So I just need a frontpanel plate of aluminium and I will build a wooden case myself. Final price will be around the same as a Doepfer Drehbank (400 euros), which I was originally interested in to buy... ;D Now let's hope I can get this machine to work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pay_c Posted May 7, 2003 Report Share Posted May 7, 2003 Believe me: This thing is way much better than the Drehbank!Nice design, just one thing: Make sure (if you want to), that it does fit into 19" Racks.Meaning: 482mm long (48 cm are very OK) and a multiple of 44,5mm high (for you: 6 HE = 26,7 cm would be better). Only drilling holes into the side and there you go: Desk- and Rack-compatible.For the exact measures just use some rack equipment (for the screw holes and so on).But the rest really does look interesting! Also I prefer the 16 pots in one big row.*Gotta finish my Midibox and post the pictures - If I only had enough money...*/edit: 2 more things I just saw:Perhaps you should consider to put the LCD to the top. So you can reach this 4x4 freak out (nice name!) more easily.The buttons at the LCD are weird. There are only 4 (not 5) system buttons (->,<-,exec,SS) and F1-F4 (which are freely assignable). And additional 8 free buttons (I only see 6 at the sides and one at the system buttons). I would redesign this part perhaps.Also you should use those LED-Buttons also on the F1-F4 and the 8 additional ones, as they act like all the other buttons.Just hope that I helped you out another time robin! Â ;DAlso hoping it wasnt the last time! ;)/last edit (I hope): The system buttons dont need LEDs. To be exact, the SS button will be litted all the time. Just normal ones there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drDRM Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 hi,Nice design! There are a few things:- Just what pay-c said: put the LCD above the 4x4 buttons, that will work much better.- I would concider some faders. If you use the mixer in (for example) cubase it works much better with faders instead of pots- Keep some space between your control buttons (I also don't quite understand your choice of 5, just like Pay-C said). It's very irritating if you constantly push 2 buttons at the same time (i've got experience with that and i can say it's not very good for you temper)I hope that you'll get some good out of it.Good luck! ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pay_c Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 That with the buttons isnt so bad, I think. Did it the same way as robin. Those buttons from Reichelt are very good. You kinda never push two at one time if you dont want to. I built them also next to each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin303 Posted May 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 Thanks for the good feedback guys!Nice design, just one thing: Make sure (if you want to), that it does fit into 19" Racks. I definately will keep this in mind. You never know what you will do with the machine in the feature, and rackmounts are always handy!/Perhaps you should consider to put the LCD to the top. So you can reach this 4x4 freak out (nice name!) more easily.Well in the first stages of design, it actually was that way. Why I turned it around? I don't know  ;D Probably because when the display is central you will always have a top-down view. Also the central position looked cool. I will experiment with the placement before sawing a big square in my aluminium frontplate!The buttons at the LCD are weird. There are only 4 (not 5) system buttons (->,<-,exec,SS) and F1-F4 (which are freely assignable). And additional 8 free buttons (I only see 6 at the sides and one at the system buttons). I would redesign this part perhaps. Also you should use those LED-Buttons also on the F1-F4 and the 8 additional ones, as they act like all the other buttons.Uhm, I thought I read the docs in the right way but this is still a tricky part. Could you please summon for me all buttons needed for menu and bankstick operation/navigation? Thanks!I would concider some faders. If you use the mixer in (for example) cubase it works much better with faders instead of pots I absolutely agree with you! But.. space is an issue here. I wanted to fit the thing in a rack if needed and I also wanted enough space between the knobs for easy turning. Right now, I'm already bigger than 6u in height, so the faders simply weren't an option  :( Maybe an idea for another midibox project? A faderbox!As for the buttons: I saw Thorsten's picture of his orange Reichelt buttons and must say it looked very user friendly. The buggers are quite expensive but you only get one change for a first MIDIbox, right?  ;DCheers for all your feedback, and more suggestions are always welcome!!Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pay_c Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 Here are the buttons:system: ->,<-,exec,SS (without LEDs)function: F1,F2,F3,F4 (freely assignable, with LEDs)rest: 8 more (freely assignable, with LEDs)all other buttons (48) are freely assignable with LEDsYepp, the buttons from Reichelt are great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Hurlock Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 Looks nice ;DSuggestion : only label those buttons which need it. Use pieces of masking tape under the nobs etc so you can label them at will. Just like you would do on an analog mixer...........you know those things you plug mics and guitars into..........am I allowed to talk about guitars and mics :o :o ;)Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin303 Posted May 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 Here are the buttons: system: ->,<-,exec,SS (without LEDs) function: F1,F2,F3,F4 (freely assignable, with LEDs) rest: 8 more (freely assignable, with LEDs) all other buttons (48) are freely assignable with LEDsOk the 4 buttons on the right under the LED are the <-, ->, exec and Snapshot buttons. So I have that covered.Do you know where I can read more about what can be done with the freely assignable buttons F1 to F4 and the other 8 you mentioned? Cos that's 12 buttons, while I only have 6 I must know what I am missing  :Donly label those buttons which need itI was thinking of making A4 sized, deskjet printable overlays templates, with holes for the knobs in it. That way I can change buttons assignments on the fly  8)The idea is that the paper overlays go on the empty front panel, with a plexi-glass plate on top for protection. If I want to switch from using Reason to Rebirth, I just lift the plexi-glass, change the template paper, and voila!CheersRobin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pay_c Posted May 8, 2003 Report Share Posted May 8, 2003 Those 12 buttons are absolutely *freeeeely* assignable. You can do to them whatever you want. They act the same as the other 48 buttons.Note on/off, muting, solo, whatever...Download the Virtual Midibox of Serge. There you will see much more about all that stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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