Building your own MIDI controller: How to get started

[Vercengetorex]

Much interest has been shown in recent days regarding the DIY construction of custom MIDI controllers for Ableton Live. This thread was started with the intention of providing those interested with the resources and knowledge necessary to get started building your own MIDI controller. My project began not too long ago, when I simply got tired of using my QWERTY keyboards to trigger samples, as well as my seperate MIDI controllers for effects controll and software mixer controll. Why should all this not be in one controller?! So after doing some research, I decided building my own would be the only acceptable route. Here is a list of resources you too can use to get started down this fun, and hopefully gratifying path to controller enlightment.

http://www.doepfer.de
These guys alread make some of the better controllers out there, but they are arranged rather genarically... fortunately they are now offering the electronics from thier controllers for sale. My design will employ a CTM-64 (offering 64 buttons to note on messages) and the Dial Electronics (16 rotary encoders with selectable banks). I was having a rather hard time finding a supplier of small quantities of rotary encoders, so I will likely be ordering them from Doepfer with the Dial Electronics... Anyone that has a resource regarding this, please get in touch with me!!

http://www.x-arcade.com/arcade_buttons.shtml
Here are the buttons I have chosen for clip trigger buttons, and effects controll. The size of these things will force you onto building a bigger controller than the average from M-Audio, Novation etc... but thier durability more than speaks for itself. (just think of what your average standup arcade machine goes through everyday!!)

http://www.happcontrols.com/index.html? ... uttons.htm!
Yet another button supplier... They have quite and assortment, including various kinds for arcade and casino use... Many lighted options too, which could be quite cool. Monolake found his lighted buttons in Japan, but I just cant afford the plane ticket!

More to come!! And please post your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and questions!

[Machinate]

and if you want to get really down and dirty with building a controller, like I do, and make a complex 64 knob controller with 2 displays for instance, try this project:

http://www.ucapps.de
It's modular, the software is free, there's diagrams galore, everything is open-source, the gallery is wicked and the site has a bunch of cool links to all kinds of good stuff - even one to a guy who sells kits for building the controller. Here's a few other links:

http://www.reichelt.de
*VERY* cheap electronics store in Germany.

http://www.schaeffer-apparatebau.de/English/index.htm
They cut front panels for racks and all kinds of boxes. You can get very pro looking results from their very nifty design software. It's wonderful to see the project come together on screen. And the software lets you monitor the price of your project, and order the panel directly. Easy.

Oh, and I just finished drawing out my design: Basically it's 8 encoders with 8 bank switches (totals 64 controllers accessable) and four 4x4 button matrixes, also with 8 bank switches (at least virtually) totalling 512 buttons in total, if my calculations are right) plus 4 midi merge inputs, to allow integration of more than 2 controllers into Live - all in a 1 unit rack. No displays, just pure control, very much like a faderfox in a 19"rack, all compact and luverly.
Plus, if I get more controller-hungry I can always cascade them
- btw: the panel for my device will be 36 euros, which is well worth it, 4mm brushed aluminium, yum! And it sure beats drilling and measuring and drawing out 64+24+4+8 holes myself! yikes.

I reckon the whole project is going to cost me less than 150€, the only downside is soldering all those pushbuttons

[cosmosuave]

http://www.ucapps.de
It's modular, the software is free, there's diagrams galore, everything is open-source, the gallery is wicked and the site has a bunch of cool links to all kinds of good stuff - even one to a guy who sells kits for building the controller. Here's a few other links:

I would like to add that this is a link from the above site that sells kits and PCB's for very reasonable prices and also sells kits to build a Sid Station minus the Sid chip....

http://avi.dezines.com/mbhp/

[Vercengetorex]

The skill level required for the uCApps assembly might be a bit over some of the folks on this board... but for anyone with good soldering skills, go for it!! The level of customization there is even yet higher than that of the Doepfer equipment.

I have assembled the entire PCBs from the kits for the uCApps digital and analog boards, as well as the core for a former roomate, it took me two nights of about 6hrs solder work, and I am quite experienced with a soldering pen...

[ethios4]

Yes!! Woohoo!! that is awesome! i only knew of the pre-built Deopfer stuff, but the DIY is the way to go for sure! Very much in the spirit of Live to design your own controller for it. Time to start thinking of how to design it and learning how to solder...thanks for the info!

[Machinate]

http://www.happcontrols.com/index.html? ... uttons.htm!
Yet another button supplier... They have quite and assortment, including various kinds for arcade and casino use... Many lighted options too, which could be quite cool. Monolake found his lighted buttons in Japan, but I just cant afford the plane ticket!

Hi.
IMHO that's quite an expensive shop there, but how cool would it be to have a 3,2 inch button on your controller, that says "SPIN!" ?

On the other hand that other arcade button place is CHEEAP! It might be fun to do a big old button controller with those buttons, maybe in an old keyboard case, suitcase or something.

[Vercengetorex]

I have 40 of those arcade buttons... They are truely marvelous! great feel, and big easy targets, for those 32note drum breaks!!
Anyway, I couldnt be happier with those... You are right though, Happ controlls are a bit expensive! I am currently searching for some smaller (.75in x .75in) square low profile buttons, that are under $1.oo apeice... I just cant find it!! (and dont anybody dare say radioshack!!!).

[Machinate]

The skill level required for the uCApps assembly might be a bit over some of the folks on this board... but for anyone with good soldering skills, go for it!! The level of customization there is even yet higher than that of the Doepfer equipment.

I have assembled the entire PCBs from the kits for the uCApps digital and analog boards, as well as the core for a former roomate, it took me two nights of about 6hrs solder work, and I am quite experienced with a soldering pen...

Mate, weren't you the one talking about the doepfers earlier on? You would actually prefer the more expensive doepfer units over the ucapps? My mate talked me in to getting the ucapps instead of doepfer, so any light you can shed on this issue would be excellent.

andreas..

[cosmosuave]

I 've checked some of the sites and the one thing I'd like to know about is the programming of the PIC... How hard is it to do the programming? I took some C++ programming courses and hated it.... If it is a matter of just typing commands I can handle but if it is about creating lines of code from scratch then forget it...

Building stuff I like programming I don't like...

[rajcoont]

anyone know where to find x-y controllers? that is what i meed as part of my dream midi controller project...and how in the hell does one go calibrating something like that?

[Machinate]

I 've checked some of the sites and the one thing I'd like to know about is the programming of the PIC... How hard is it to do the programming? I took some C++ programming courses and hated it.... If it is a matter of just typing commands I can handle but if it is about creating lines of code from scratch then forget it...

As far as I can tell, the guy that does the kits also sends the pic pre-programmed. There's a computer interface to set it up, and it can be updated via sysex.

Also, I find that my controllers aren't edited at all, the cc#s stay the same, I do all remote-controller setups directly in live instead. So I guess my new controller will be pretty much set-n-forget

[Machinate]

anyone know where to find x-y controllers? that is what i meed as part of my dream midi controller project...and how in the hell does one go calibrating something like that?

If you can "settle" for joystick controls, the trick is to buy cheap "airplane-style" computer joysticks at a hardware or thrift store. The ones with the smooth transitions. (I got some for 1.50$/each)

Rip them open, and inside is a two-potentiometer joystick, like the ones that cost 10-15 bucks to buy separately. It even has buttons, and it should all hook up to controller hardware without problems.

If you're thinking touchpads, well, they'd need a separate pic to convert the input signals to voltages or resistance. That would be *difficult*.

On a related note, I did see some ultrasound transmitter/receiver units with the pic built in. And they were cheap. Might be cool for theremin-style midi....

[Vercengetorex]

I dont beleive the PIC microcontrollers come preprogrammed, but with some simple PC software you can upload the firmware, and program the CC and note numbers (with a GUI, no lines of code). Looks pretty simple on that end of things.

I am reccomending the Doepfer units, as they are a bit better for the beginner. I was saying before that I have assembled the uCApps electronics for my old roomate. He never finished his controller though, mostly because he no longer lived with me. The other reason I am going to use the Doepfer units is because I am interested in using rotary encoders, not analog knobs.

[Machinate]

I dont beleive the PIC microcontrollers come preprogrammed, but with some simple PC software you can upload the firmware, and program the CC and note numbers (with a GUI, no lines of code). Looks pretty simple on that end of things.

yes, but the bootstrap bit is burnt in, which means that everything else can be handled via sysex from the software, from what I gather.

I am reccomending the Doepfer units, as they are a bit better for the beginner. I was saying before that I have assembled the uCApps electronics for my old roomate. He never finished his controller though, mostly because he no longer lived with me. The other reason I am going to use the Doepfer units is because I am interested in using rotary encoders, not analog knobs.

Yeah, me neither. If you haven't already bought the doepfer, you'd want the ucapps midibox64E project. That's the one I'm building. It allows up to 64 (or 32?) encoders, I think. With led-ring support, and all sorts of stuff.
there are other projects with encoders, too.
a.[/quote]

[Vercengetorex]

yes, but the bootstrap bit is burnt in, which means that everything else can be handled via sysex from the software, from what I gather.

This is correct. With thier PC software, you simply upload the firmware and set your channels, CC#s and note offsets. The versatility of the uCApps projects is tempting, but I think that I will likely be using that for a later project, probably desk size with 16 or 24 channels instead of my 8 channel portable project I am working on now.