cheers this is great…

As you say you had to ditch the MIDI and go with HID.

What are some of the disadvantages with using HID > MIDI? More overhead on the system?

Maybe you know how to wire stereo pots with six pins instead of three?

Hi Ean, great project. Will there be a followup on how to set everything up in the software?

The only Midi package that fit my criteria was the USB micro dig by IcubeX.

Unfortunately, after 2 weeks- I just could not get it to work. Their third party drivers, faulty editors, poor directions and lack of documentation was a very frustrating experience. In the end I could not possibly recommend going that route and instead fell back on plan B- HID. Using a DIY MIDI interface like Doepfer has would be just as good but its more expensive and not usb powered.

The software setup request is a good one but it would be hard as their are so many different options. This tutorial was more of a hardware one.

Hi Ean! The project sounds interesting, even if it costes waaay too much.

I made a MIDI 1.0 controller for less than €200, with support for 32 knobs (12-bits ADC truncated to 7-bits for MIDI translation) and up to 128 normally-open buttons. The bad thing is that it was purely MIDI, so you had to buy a MIDI->USB translator (I found ESI Midi Mate for €35) to make it work as "Plug & Play".

The project documentation (unfortunately for you is in Italian) can be downloaded from:
http://www.geocities.com/gnegno88/gpmc.zip

I've developed it more than one year ago, so there are some things which could be made better.

I'm trying to move to HID, but I haven't much time because of University. I just need a HID->MIDI translator…

Give also a look to MIDIBox, it's the most professional "open-source" modular MIDI project I've ever seen.

Okay, presuming we're up and running with midi-cc messages being generated somehow by our Dj-101, how would you use the functions you outlined in this video – beat juggling, loop activation, loop length etc? I guess what I'm after is a beat juggling 101 :)

having trouble deciding which HID board to use….

to joel, you may want to try and look at this post for beat juggling basics
http://www.djtechtools.com/2008/01/03/controlleri…

Ean, what is the link to the HID that you used, i think i would like to get that one since you used it already…. Thanks!

Thanks for the link Ean, that's perfect! Only found the site recently, didn't look back far enough through the archives, sorry!

If you want to look how HID works, just take a game pad. Here is a vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9f-rM7mXC0

@Justas

When using stereo pots just wire one of the groups of three pins as if it was a 'mono' pot. Generally speaking that is VCC to one of the outside pins, GND to the other outside pin, and the ADC to the middle pin.

100 USD to build something like this (that anybody can put together ina couple of hours) is very cheap.

When building a homebrew controller the real cost is in you own spare time.

200 Euro however to recreate the mighty BCR 2000 (which costs a little over 100 euro) ….

Midifidler is right, I need to re-calculate the totals but with old school knobs and a inexpensive HID device like U-HID then it could be as little as 60-$80. Thats a steal!

OR….for the 101controller number of controls, you really can scavange a joystick that has enough analogue inputs and buttons.

It is easier, only difference I cant support it with a nice steb-by-step video. Good job Ean.

Thats a good point Tos

Must be plenty of those lying aroung waiting to be recycled

wow, never thought of that… will any USB joystick work? I have an old USB joystick here that i can take apart. I only want to put 6 knobs on this thing anyhow….

I think you probably can only put 2 analogue knobs on a standard joystick, most would just use a pot on each axis (x/y)

great Idea TOS-

that should work well depending on which device you scavange.

so u don't think I can use an old USB joystick to incorporate knobs cause the connections won't be there? Well not enough for 6 your tellin me.

So I am still stuck not knowing what HID piece to get. I took apart my old vestax mixed and the knobs etc will come off the board very easily. I am gonna try that tomorrow. I would like to get an HID soon. Any help of guidance would be great. Thanks.

I like the idea of recycling parts from dead electronics, it gives home midi making a green edge.

Peace K

Well I have been thinking about HID controller since I found that video I posted before. Now I am doing a little experiment. I Dissamsembled my saitek p580 game pad and an old gemeni mixer for knobs and faders. The only thing you should know is that the gamepad must have an analog inputs to connect a fader or pot. Here is a little tutorial http://www.cycling74.com/story/2007/3/12/113645/1… PS2 type gamepads have only 4 analog inputs, while windows supports 8 as maximum. I think it is not very much, so Im planning to mod a game pad into a cdj style controller only with 4 buttons, 2 pitch faders and two jog wheels, and for other controls I am thinking to buy Evoliution uc33. Of course it depends on how I will manage to wire stereo faders. Midifidler, thanks for a help. I will post my results here :)

@ TacoPimp

Yes- you can use an old usb joystick. They are just saying that there will need to be a lot more controls on the joystick so you can have multiple input. Just a single joystick with no extra sliders or buttons will only offer 2 inputs (x and Y) but some may have rotation as well.

http://www.cycling74.com/story/2007/3/12/113645/1…

Thats a great guide. If you decide to use the guts from an old play station type controller then you have 4 analogue controls (knobs and sliders) and 14 buttons.

ok… So what part of the pc playstation style controller let's me add knobs to the guts? I went to target today and found one controller for $9 but it did not have the dual thumb knobs things, hope that makes sense. Thanx for being patient with all my questions guys. I bought a soldring iron today and I am going to take the knobs off of my old mixer. I couldn't find a soldering pump though… So hopefully I will be able to remove the knobs. I found some tutorials on how to remove stuff off of a board.

@tacopimp

You need the type with the analogue thumbsticks. Once you pull it apart you will see each stick has two rows of three pins each. Each of these rows are the three connections of the pots used for x and y. So once you have pulled the joy sticks out you can just wire your pots to these pads.

If you get really stuck start a thread on the forum….

I ended up going with the Doepfer PE cause I just wanted straight forward midi. The whole thing is going to cost upwards of around $200 (shipping kills me) but the point is that I making it my self. I have no problem paying a bit more for diy it the end result is awesome.

[...] DJtechtools shares this helpful tutorial for building your own basic MIDI controller using a BU0836X joystick controller board. It explains all the hardware basics from a newcomer-friendly perspective – handy! – Dj-101 Guide [...]

[...] DJtechtools shares this helpful tutorial for building your own basic MIDI controller using a BU0836X joystick controller board. It explains all the hardware basics from a newcomer-friendly perspective – handy! – Dj-101 Guide [...]

[...] board. It explains all the hardware basics from a newcomer-friendly perspective – handy! – Dj-101 Guide MidiTron kit Read more | Permalink | Comments [...]

[...] There’s really heaps of information, but mostly a tad too intense and time consuming. With this guide though, it’s really quite simple, seems like a perfect starter midi project. So, get [...]

http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/howto/min…

I too want buttons and knobs and for little or no money down. The above device allows 6 analogue inputs (knobs/sliders/etc etc) and 24 (i think) buttons, and is recognised on win/mac/linux as an HID joystick.

I'm still making mine (adding more buttons/knobs/enclosure), but have built the guts and seen it working on all platforms.

The other exciting possibility is hooking up old ball-mouse rotary encoders to some of button inputs, so as to have rotary (endless) knobs as well, great for pitch nudging and softsynth tweaking.

Anyway the ATMega16 microcontroller can be persuaded to do USB-HID and is very cheap compared to the prebuilt solutions.

(note this was my first electronics project)

Thanks for sharing that info haszari

[...] DJtechtools shares this helpful tutorial for building your own basic MIDI controller using a BU0836X joystick controller board. It explains all the hardware basics from a newcomer-friendly perspective – handy! – Dj-101 Guide [...]

[...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...]

"In the end I could not possibly recommend going that route and instead fell back on plan B- HID."

do the midi controls function? ,or do i have to control traktor or whatever with the Hid-commands?

greetings

is it possible to use a on/off switch as a midi control with the BU0836X?

[quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote]
this can be done with a arduino usb board, and you can add easily six faders and use like twelve buttons too

oh, and direct usb cable output

[quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote]

…

Hi community,

this is my first post.

If you check at leobodnar forum you will found my works to do more useful before versions (which are more cheap).

Also could check Controllerism.com, sparkfun and Machinecollective forums to enjoy a Biggest comunmunity involving little communities.

Please search my post around internet… you will found a lot of info about this an other DIY projects.

For the video tuto a big THANKS men, my electronic skills are truly bad…

;)

…

Hi Ean and readers!

I'm planning making myself a costum midi controller since I'm soon going to swich to ableton live.

I've already got some analogue and digital dj gear, but I think that having something custom would be nice.

You're mentioning that you use some extern software wich convert your HID signal to MIDI. Well I can¨t help wondering: Does that mean that I can simply purchase a standard pc keybord, rip it apart add some new knob and LEDs, a then change the HID signal to MIDI?

And then I got myself a custom MIDI controller?

Best regards

Frederik Olufsen

[quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote]

Thanks Ean, this has been really helpful. i have made the midi controller and use it a lot. i DJ and i have used this midi controller at my last 7 events.

[quote comment="16833"][quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote]

Thanks Ean, this has been really helpful. i have made the midi controller and use it a lot. i DJ and i have used this midi controller at my last 7 events.[/quote]

post some pictures- I would love to see other "dj-101's" out there :)

[quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote]

hai Ean ,i just joined in ur site,itz pretty interesting for me,,i am using abelton and traktor,i have a Axiom 61 but i need more information on how to plug things with Axiom and traktor,i also use Sound flower for Ableton and Traktor..so if u have more info on how to set up traktor with Axiom and Ableton pls let me know..

here's a board w/8 analog ins, etc. $27.50

check it:

Seeeduino is an Arduino compatible board. It's design is based on the Diecimila scheme, 100% compatible to its existing program, shield and IDEs. On the hardware part, remarkable changes have been made to improve the flexibility and user experience. From Seeed_Studios.

http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?Produ…

[quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote] is there a hid board anywhere with 40 analogue inputs plus space for about the same number of buttons?

im making a full boar mouseless project for live 8, its 4 channel with hi and lo pass, 3 band eq, fader, clip launch and stop and fx routing all per channel.

[quote comment=""][...] Dj-101 DIY Guide at djtechtools.com – by Ean [...][/quote]

…

You could check U-hid but HID protocol has some limitations:

8 axis

32 buttons

1 hat switch.

This make it show as "native" without driver more than this by HID device must need a translator like glovepie.

…

did anyone else notice that his mustache grew?

[...] check out http://www.djtechtools.com [...]

[quote comment=""][...] check out http://www.djtechtools.com [...][/quote]
Im gonna sound like a total noob but i kinda am when it comes to building things that is, but here goes. What is that board with the Phoenix connector bars on it? (Those green things with all the holes in them) and also theres an easier way to mount the leds for almost nothing and its very simple just check out the link

http://vcclite.com/SMB200
Thank you you for the help. -Josey

Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.

Hey guys..!

How’s it going !?

I really loved this post but i still have two questions… :P
Do the Slide Potentiometers use the same logic as Rotary Potentiometers !?

Well, do they both have “+5 / GND / Input Value” ?

I think i understood preety quick how to do this but.. yet i still have this question…

The other question is… can i use 2 rotary encoders to simulate a turntable? ( to scrath and stuff like that… )(or to navigate through the playlist of let’s say traktor or something like that?)

Cheers!
Rick

[quote comment=""][...] check out http://www.djtechtools.com [...][/quote]
Hey Ean, why do you recommend the U-HID over the board you used in the video?

hey there!!
i was wondering about making my own MIDI mixer, but i really can’t understand wich HID interface to buy.
i’d love to build it with 16 channels each none with:

- 1 fader
- 7 knobs
- 3 buttons

to be used with Ableton Live and some other experiments.
any chance you can drive me trough this process?

peace,
k.

also, the piano keys on a MIDI keyboard could be used as potentiometer inputs?

if so it would be way amazing for me, just because i’ll have a fucking amount of chances!

basically, this should be done since MIDI keyboards allows Velocity control in a range between 1-127 (isn’t it?), so i think they have some kind of potentiometer working on the pression instead of a knob/fader.

btw i’ll wait for an your answer before destroying a keyboard!! :)

peace

does it matter what the value is of the potentiometers used for this project are?

hi ean, you didnt mentioned which hid device is that and where did you get it.

i dont know where to look for it and what to look for. hid circuit? hid device? no idea

thanks

Hi! grettings! just a questions: what kind of hid board u used? where i can find that? I actually used a 4axis joystick with “Rejoice” software (joystick signal to midi converter) that gave me 4 knobs and 16 buttons but i would like to have more knobs as i see in the video… Well, I’ll wait for an 8 axis joystick… or your answer haha! Thanks for the idea!

wold be great to make rel Controller for DJ sofware with a lot of buttons an knobs and fsders)

Updating the link above:

OLD LINK:
http://www.cycling74.com/story/2007/3/12/113645/135

NEW LINK:
http://cycling74.com/2007/03/12/making-connections-connecting-a-joystick-to-maxmspjitter/

[...] check out http://www.djtechtools.com [...]

Great video Ean! I really want to build one now!:)

Hey Ean,

I was wondering if I could open a old USB keyboard and use the board from this to create my custom DJ controller. Please let me know if this would be in any way possible.

hi.i am from romania,and i am building my own midi controller using a Mjoy joystick http://www.flightsim.com/main/howto/mind.htm with 6 pots and 28 buttons(from an old Denon dn2000f)i use rejoice to transform from hid to midi and its work great on traktor an virtual dj.i started this because i`ve seen Ean`s video on youtube….so..thanks man

How much more would it cost to use midi instead? I’m kinda incompetent with this kind of stuff….

Good job!!

Wondering if this PICrouter for OS X would work at as an HID>MIDI converter?
Any idea?

In the video he used the BU0836X from Leo Bodnar. It’s solder-less and has a crap ton of inputs. The downside is that it costs almost $90 US, and shipping takes 2 weeks at best. I’ll post about how well it works when I get it.

Here’s the link to it.
http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836X/

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[...] looking for a convenient way to add a little functionality to your existing dj controller? Building your own is easy and low cost but at $60 its hard to pass up the nifty Korg Nano series for a quick controller [...]

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[...] Read part 2 of this tutorial here [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQpr3W-YmcQ&feature=related

Thanks for posting this, because he totally fails to mention what the name of that board is…

This is not a good solution at all.Its better to do it with midibox and not with Hid if you want to spend so much.Or buy a cheap Hid pcb from Ebay.