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Korg MIcro Kontrol pads


Sasha

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I opened my micro kontrol first to see what encoders are in, as I found them very low quality. The encoders have no marking at all. Sounds cheap, and feels wobble. (I bought this controller brand new) But what inspired me are those big heavy cubes used as drum pads. I thought it might be good idea to try to order replacement for them and use it for midibx, or better with e-drum. :) At the other side of PCB disapointment... you can see there is only 4 piezos to cover the area of 16 pads, so they don`t feel individual velocity. I think this is kinda froad. Piezos are cheap, and they really could use separated 16 instead of just 4. ???

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thanks Sasa for sharing this info!

I do have a microKONTROL for quite some time now and I never noticed that the velocitiy of the pads is restricted... I never had the need to press two neighboured pads at once with a different pressure (besides that this is a quite complex thing to do :-)

I think it's a nice way to learn about "efficient" constructions ;D

Cheers,

Michael

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hi

i ve started a thread about this, somewhere, also telling about my failure on opening my MicroKontrol (sasha is more patient than me, evetually), i ve also started a thread in the eDrum forum, finding out that that project isn t open source..i didn t know :(

I agree with AC, it would be useless to have more than 4 piezos, even 1 would be enough assuming it was squared and could cover all the piezos area. :-)

Sasha can you tell us the difference between the MK pads and the sparkfun s if you can spot any?

as stated in this thread which i am going to fetch now, i think that 16 velocity sensitive pads matrix could be implemented into the MBHP.. unfortunately i am not as good in coding and hardware designing as i am in posting in this forum..

simone

i didn t start that topic, anyway here it is:

http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9147.msg65057#msg65057

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so wait, you're saying that each 4-pad quadrant cannot have 2 different velocities at the same time? wow.. that's rubbish!  Almost scandal-worthy!

Exactly! 

I never liked how those pads works. OK to wright a beat that is going to be manually fixed later, note by note, but not like you would do using MPC or also Korg`s Pad Kontrol.

I never had the need to press two neighboured pads at once with a different pressure (besides that this is a quite complex thing to do :-)

Imagine you are beating a hh and snare.. hh with constant velocity, and snare with increasing velocity. Vhenever those tvo overlaps you wil have both hh, and snare with same, hihger velocity. Not so complex to do. But, it depends of the way you make a music.

Sasha can you tell us the difference between the MK pads and the sparkfun s if you can spot any?

Well, I see no similarity.  :) Sparkfun pads are small and not intended to be velocity sensitive, even you could glue the piezo like Korg did. As I get they are designed to be used as regular illuminated triggers. Nothing more. I really like those sparkfun buttons, and they becomes cheaper, so maybe I could order some.

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Looking at the wiring of the piezos, I would not think that there is more than one velocity value transmitted. They only need to place four of these because of the size. I would think that the piezo that is hit hardest wins against the other ones. All pads pressed down at this instant will have the same velocity value, not just the four that are located near the most active piezo.

Anyway I really see no disadvantage for about 95% of the users. In fact, I believe that hadn't you opened up the box, you would not have noticed that "limitation"  ;).

Best regards, ilmenator

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Looking at the wiring of the piezos, I would not think that there is more than one velocity value transmitted. They only need to place four of these because of the size. I would think that the piezo that is hit hardest wins against the other ones. All pads pressed down at this instant will have the same velocity value,

Well, that is what I said. :)

they are the same size by my calculations...

I just check the dimensions. Sparkfun pads are 15mm, and MK are 19mm. Not quite the same, but not far away. I judged sparkfun size by eye, and it looked smaller. So, you think sparkfun buttons can be usefull for making a beat? I`m not sure.... I doubt I can make velocity sensitive pads that I`m satisfied with. So If I can`t I can at least make it looks nice. I also thought making pads out of those ZX keys. They have nice soft touch feling. All I need is to take writings away from it.

They look nice...?

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hi sasha

can you make a negative moulding (is this the proper term??) of the MC pads?

and yes you re right they are actually bigger than the sparkfun.

No i am not going to use the sparkfun to trigger sample (velocityt sensitive) just on/off function for plugins.

cheers

kako je maj mune ... no idea what it means ... ;-)

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You butchered a Speccie?

Yes, it wasn`t working, but i would still do it if I need those buttons. For what usefull these days can be use ZX?

I don`t keep my ex girlfriends for sentimental reasons, you know. :)

can you make a negative moulding (is this the proper term??) of the MC pads?

Making a mold is not a problem, but making piece. I cannot find liquid silicone here, except silicone glue, but doubt it can do the job.

kako je maj mune ... no idea what it means ... ;-)

well, it means ... whatsup monkey?, and it is kinda not appropriate to tell somebody who understands Serbian.

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ok i can get the silicone here but still the problem would be to make the bottom of the button to be conductive, can you take a picture of the backside of the button??

Quote

kako je maj mune ... no idea what it means ... ;-)

well, it means ... whatsup monkey?, and it is kinda not appropriate to tell somebody who understands Serbian.

eheh as you may understand Mladen has come to visit me...

simone

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I would like to use those buttons only because of the soft feeling. To be more clear... they will serve just as caps to transfer pleasure to the regular membrane button belove. I don`t believe we can really make button you have in your mind. Anyway, I have no project that can use those buttons right now anyway.

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transfer pleasure to the button belove.. sounds HOT.. but on a more serious note..

ive thought of using membrane buttons for my yet to build tr-style seq.. however after a heart to heart with smash.. ive decided against that.. in 5 years time.. im cleaning out the contacts every so often.. i really dont want that.. also ive found nice non tactile (clickety click) buttons that were originally on a nintendo NES..

so i would suggest searching using more robust ways of doing what you want.. there is a reason your remote doesnt work after 5 years of heavy use..

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.. your opinion on placing silicone rubber pads on top of normal surface mount tactil switches.. of course i am not talking about velocity sensitive buttons in this case..

i don t mind the "clicky" feeling as tactil switches are precise and long lasting... and small enough to be able to place leds around.. i really like the shape of the MC ones

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however after a heart to heart with smash.. ive decided against that.. in 5 years time.. im cleaning out the contacts every so often..
Yeah Denon seems to be the only one who got it anywhere near right, and those still require more maintenance than a real switch.  :(

I would like to use those buttons only because of the soft feeling. To be more clear... they will serve just as caps to transfer pleasure to the regular membrane button belove. I don`t believe we can really make button you have in your mind. Anyway, I have no project that can use those buttons right now anyway.
That statement caused my remaining brain cells to klank together and remember a for pay design I did using 'snaptron' brand switches.  http://www.snaptron.com

These tape down to the PCB, and work great with just about any PCB plating besides sloppy HASL.  Bonus that they outlast the average tact switch.  (last I checked with the kiosk operator I did these for, they had only needed to replace two, due to vandalism after 4-5years continuous operation)

The 'BL' series http://www.snaptron.com/bl_series.cfm has a hole in the center for LED lit buttons.

Best Regards

Smash

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transfer pleasure to the button belove.. sounds HOT.. but on a more serious note..

;D  I just realized what I said... but, it is not so incorrect, we must be transferring some of our pleasure on the buttons we press, and I hope our beloved gear feels it.  ;)

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;D  I just realized what I said... but, it is not so incorrect, we must be transferring some of our pleasure on the buttons we press, and I hope our beloved gear feels it.  ;)

:D we're getting all spiritual here, aren't we? :D:D

i'd rather have my gear pleasure me.. (no not like that)

giving me the good tunes :D

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  • 1 year later...

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