DIY midi-faderbox for JJOSXL

Nym wrote:that's what the 4051 multiplexer is for, mikolo - it can be used to turn 1 input into 8.
which leads me to ask if the original poster used all 8 faders on the mux, or 3 on the mux and the other 5 on the rest on the free analog inputs?

thanks Nym... cant believe i missed that in the original post!

in theory could you have 48 analogue inputs then?.... or would that atmega chip die in a frazzle of midi cc violence?

props on the album too.. it lives up to the high standard of the tracks i heard at the end of last year. Shame that we didnt get the scratching thing sorted.. maybe next time!

^ yeah that was my issue, really - too much on my plate at one time, i wanted to finish the thing, i had a copy of mixxx and my demands were not too high. i still need to work on my scratching bigtime, but i dawed it together!!

i think you could have 48. i don't know the limit of the atmega. it handles 2 digital distance sensors & very fast changing values without a hiccup.

my piezo drumset will have up to 16 pads.
the pads are sooo cheap and easy to construct. 1 piezo (1.99$ at radioshack) glued to 1 top of a can of tomatos, and 2 part liquid rubber molded overtop. result is an ultrasensitive knock sensor that music companies would have you paying major $$$$$ for in the "pro world."

wait until you guys see my midi theremin video. i am telling you, folks will be peeing their pants when they see this. i can STRUM the air and play only the notes in a defined scale....it's like holding your finger on the highest harp string and strumming to the lowest, except with vsts.

another cool use is chopping a sample into tons and tons of parts (64, 128, etc) and then using the ping sensor + your hand as a timeline + cursor. it's like a very grainy timestretch. if you loop each tiny sample chop, you can make it play as fast/slow as you want.

Nym wrote:wait until you guys see my midi theremin video. i am telling you, folks will be peeing their pants when they see this. i can STRUM the air and play only the notes in a defined scale....it's like holding your finger on the highest harp string and strumming to the lowest, except with vsts.

another cool use is chopping a sample into tons and tons of parts (64, 128, etc) and then using the ping sensor + your hand as a timeline + cursor. it's like a very grainy timestretch. if you loop each tiny sample chop, you can make it play as fast/slow as you want.

this sounds AMAZING! can't wait to see it. definitely let us know here when it is ready!

Nym wrote:^ yeah that was my issue, really - too much on my plate at one time, i wanted to finish the thing, i had a copy of mixxx and my demands were not too high. i still need to work on my scratching bigtime, but i dawed it together!!

yeah man it definintely all sounds on point! I only occasionally get tech with my scratching on my tracks anyway...although there is more scratching on the live versions of 'em.

before my album was finished i was chatting to get a girl I know about doing some vox, but never got round to it... i'll probably do that for the next one though . You can check her stuff out here.. she's got skills: http://stac.bandcamp.com/

thanks for the tips with the multiplexor too.. and the theremin sounds crazy!

mikolo wrote:thats cool man! I've been toying with a miduino on and off for a while, but that can only accept 6 analogue inputs. How do you get it read the other two analogue faders.. kind of hope its something simple... but not so simple that i feel stupid!haha

like Nym already said. The 4051 has 8 analog inputs and 1 out. It uses 3 digital inputs to choose which input to listen to. So from the Atmel chip i'm sending 3 digital outputs for the binary number that defines which input on the 4051 is active.

distortedtekno wrote:but i'd like to add 8 rotary encoders for pan adjustments or effects.

rotaries are digital i believe. its all doable. I've got numerous midi controllers laying around in the studio, but they're all either usb only or complete overkill. The concept behind this box was to keep it extremely simple, inspired by the simple mixer on the TR-707 which brings the box(performance-wise) to life in such a big way imo.

Pastor-of-Muppets wrote:how did you make your case? this will be the first time I've needed to build a case like that

The case is a stock multi-purpose ABS casing. Most places where you can order the electronic components for such projects will also have these kinds of cases. I used an artist friends "dremel" to do the grooves.

Nym wrote:..which leads me to ask if the original poster used all 8 faders on the mux, or 3 on the mux and the other 5 on the rest on the free analog inputs?

hehe..i considered doing 3 and 5, but the scanning works well enough for me so its only 1 analog input on the Atmega. Keeps the code leaner.

Most of the time went into soldering everything to the board. and then the casing. I'm looking into online places for getting a batch of pcb's done, but i'm going to need some advice from someone experienced in the matter..pcb/copper thickness and whatnot. A standard arduino will get you pretty much there and save a lot of headache except you'll need to proto the 4051 onto it.

lagezon wrote:

mikolo wrote:thats cool man! I've been toying with a miduino on and off for a while, but that can only accept 6 analogue inputs. How do you get it read the other two analogue faders.. kind of hope its something simple... but not so simple that i feel stupid!haha

like Nym already said. The 4051 has 8 analog inputs and 1 out. It uses 3 digital inputs to choose which input to listen to. So from the Atmel chip i'm sending 3 digital outputs for the binary number that defines which input on the 4051 is active.

distortedtekno wrote:but i'd like to add 8 rotary encoders for pan adjustments or effects.

rotaries are digital i believe. its all doable. I've got numerous midi controllers laying around in the studio, but they're all either usb only or complete overkill. The concept behind this box was to keep it extremely simple, inspired by the simple mixer on the TR-707 which brings the box(performance-wise) to life in such a big way imo.

Pastor-of-Muppets wrote:how did you make your case? this will be the first time I've needed to build a case like that

The case is a stock multi-purpose ABS casing. Most places where you can order the electronic components for such projects will also have these kinds of cases. I used an artist friends "dremel" to do the grooves.

Nym wrote:..which leads me to ask if the original poster used all 8 faders on the mux, or 3 on the mux and the other 5 on the rest on the free analog inputs?

hehe..i considered doing 3 and 5, but the scanning works well enough for me so its only 1 analog input on the Atmega. Keeps the code leaner.

Most of the time went into soldering everything to the board. and then the casing. I'm looking into online places for getting a batch of pcb's done, but i'm going to need some advice from someone experienced in the matter..pcb/copper thickness and whatnot. A standard arduino will get you pretty much there and save a lot of headache except you'll need to proto the 4051 onto it.

+1

I just communicated a request to JJ for a channelized "non channel mode" in the mixer. i would like to be able to access the pan/volume of pads 1-16 within a program/track. That way you can use a dedicated controller for the pads within a track and still simply mute everything in track mute mode.

This could be hidden within the multi-tibral mode, but wasn't working in 2.08. I'm going to check 2.09 today. In the release notes something was mentioned about multi-timbral mode not working as expected.

really nice project
bravò!