pad fix update - pics of new sensors

i've received tons of pms recently about the pad solution, various questions n such

so here's an update on what's up.



these are the new sensors.



the bits n pieces.

why are these better than this setup?





you can see the same thing going on here as in the old pads - conductive rubber against a copper spiral. issue was that the conductive rubber square comes of the active area. simple problem, really tricky solution - not such an easy thing to do. the options were limited since space is such a huge issue in there - and i didn't want to do any adhesion since that seems to inevitably comes loose.

enter these sensors. nice little things - durable and tiny. the active area is about 1/2 or so the size of the original sensor - but that doesn't matter since area is not a factor in this type of resistive sensor - it's all about the pressure-conductive rubber.

so these sensors don't use adhesion - the conductive rubber is held in place by the rubber dome, which is held in place by the metal clip.

this means they won't fall apart or break. the life of these things is greater than 100,000 actuations - and i do mean a LOT greater.

in testing these, i had less than optimum conditions - but i could feel the range. these things are nice, especially after tuning them using the mpc's pad sensitivity settings (which i hope to lobby for a more specific "tuning" feature in future os's). the rubber is the same as the rubber in the akai sensors - this stuff called inastoemr.

much of the sensors' sensitivity depends on their environment - what type of rubber is hitting it? how thick is the rubber? what is shape of the surface of the rubber?

luckily, the actuation point of these sensors are DOMED, which saves a ton of trouble with the mold for the rubber pads.

moldmaking is really tricky. negative space n very specific measurements. i am hand making the molds for these pads. the rubber pads will come in 2 by 2 pad sheets - not one 4 by 4 pad sheet. this is all current projection and may change when i get the rubber/start trying molds.

to everyone who has shown interest - hang on, i'll keep you all as updated as possible. hopefully this teaser satisfies you a bit.

nym

could you possibly make an insert so the mpc pads look identical to what they are now? one that effectively transfers your strike to the active pad area...

since the entire makeup is changing, the pads are not going to look identical to what they are now.

i mean, they're gonna be grey and rectangular
but they're going to sit higher off the mpc by a couple millimeters
the edges will be rounded differently and the rubber will be softer.

is there any way to replace the conductive rubber square in the current pad design with a higher quality item? am i missing something?

hey its cool that youre checkin out stuff like this.

the problem isn't the quality of the conductive rubber, it's the durability of the original system. the conductive rubber works great, in fact i'm going to be offering discounts for folks who send me their conductive rubber in a stamped envelope.

there's just nothing for the rubber to grab onto in the original pad setup - it's just kind of hanging there until it one day breaks. the variety of ways to hold the conductive rubber to the active area either takes too much vertical room or eventually breaks/causes ghost notes. these sensors won't have that problem.

hmm. ok at the risk of sounding patronizing, which i dont mean to be, are you sure you have exhausted all possibilities to hold the conductive rubber in place? and youre saying the actual bond between the conductive rubber and the silicone wafer with the leads in a spiral is not holding?

alien_brain wrote:hmm. ok at the risk of sounding patronizing, which i dont mean to be, are you sure you have exhausted all possibilities to hold the conductive rubber in place? and youre saying the actual bond between the conductive rubber and the silicone wafer with the leads in a spiral is not holding?

the options are to hold it to the spiral, or hold it to the pad.

problem with the first method is that the pad comes down/hits the CR/bends it down to hit the active area/mushes it so it's appropriately conductive.

lots of moving parts - something (the CR) is bound to give

2nd method - adhering the rubber the pad.
rubber and rubber doesn't bond too well. adhesive peels off the rubber pad underside/CR. UNLESS you use something like superglue, in which case your CR no longer compresses, and loses its conductivity.

for solutions using the existing hardware check out the "fix your pad" thread.

i spent waaaaaay longer than i should have spent trying to get the akai hardware to work the way it should. it's just not going to last in the current individual pad setting. if there was more room you could make some kind of pressure sensitive button but currently it's jsut not self contained/durable enough.

i ought to have just started looking for a replacement first - these units i found work much better than i could have hoped from the akai sensors. it's all a matter of how its triggered now.

looks ****' sweet man. is this something that you created yourself or did you have someone manufacture it from the specifications you came up with after doing all your research.

either way, great job - keep up the good work. i'm really looking forward to seeing the finish product in action

found this after all the google searching. they're from japan, hard to get in the us. they work wonderfully but now it's all about how the rubber works with the sensor. the company makes a couple different ones and these work the best. amazing how perfectly sized they are for this application.

"it's all about actuation"

and that's the next step. the very tricky part is molding the rubber to best fit the sensor - and i've had a couple very good ideas. i bet i can get it right on my 2nd or 3rd try.

just letting yall know how things are going. i'm really pleased with these things.

so do you have a set hooked up to your mpc? any chance of a picture?

btw will we be able to use the side of the pad with these?

yes good work & thanks for handling this!

btw will we be able to use the side of the pad with these?

yes! that has been a factor of great importance in the design - corner strikes.

as per the old mpc1000 pads i've been trying for corner strikes to be more delicate. i liked that.

i dont have a set hooked up yet. soon, though. the second i get em in i'll scan it.

Antonym wrote:

nym, the one on the right, is that the under side of a sensor?

yes indeed

ta, couldn't work out if those bits were all from the same sensor or not.

these are extremely nice to have aruond. when my midisense comes they'll be compatible with that, too. love em.