One of the users in our rapidly expanding forum has made this wonderfully fun arcade controller and shared some info on how you can do it yourself. Inspired by the Monome and Ean’s original arcade button mod, King Vitamin set upon a journey to create a unique controller for his live ableton sets. The result is a great example in DIY controllerism that you could easily adopt into your own concepts. Lets dive in and take a closer look at his controller, the mappings and how you might also do the same thing.
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Gosh darn those pesky cables
Has your DJ equipment ever stopped working and your left scratching your head wondering why? Did you drop $500 on a midi controller and still get irregular performance? Well, don’t throw in the towel just yet, chances are that it is probably a problem with the cable connecting your equipment to your computer. We have had many reported instances of gear dropping out in the forums and in particular the VCI-100. While Vestax did a great job with the quality of the VCI-100 they skimped on the quality one area, the USB cable.
Lets take a look at what goes into choosing a cable that you can rely on.
Upgrade Your VCI-100 CrossFader
Those who do a lot of heavy scratching and crossfader tricks on their VCI-100′s have some minor complaints about weight of the fader being too light. Luckily however one of the users of our Forum going under the name of PaddyDj has successfully integrated a Pro X Fade into his VCI-100. We were able to get hold of PaddyDj who was kind enough to make a wiring diagram that will make doing this mod just that much easier.
EKS Otus has a little brother? (Updated)
EKS, the creators of the Otus, have told us about their plans for another version called the EKS Otus Raw. While the devices are very similar there are some notable differences you might be interested in. EKS has also released a series of videos that take a closer look at the EKS Otus than the original video Ean shot which introduced this space age controller to the world. Baring any un-foreseen obstacles, you might be able to try one out as soon as September.
The last time we looked at the Otus it was still very much in development and the final controls were still not decided upon. Now everything is in place so lets look at the what the Otus will look like and then how the RAW will differ.
Update: EKS Otus in action Video, the fate of HD-midi for the Otus and production status !
How to Hack a Keyboard
Moldover has made an appearance on MTV’s “How To Show”, showing off you how to turn an oxygen 8 or any other keyboard into your own expressive controllerist musical instrument. With only a handful of items you can easily find around the household and using the similar techniques to that used on his own Novation Remote-25 SL keyboard, Moldover shows in three simple steps how easy it is to become a controllerist armed with just a oxygen8 and a copy Ableton live.
DIY TouchScreens
There are a lot of very pricey touch screens on the market that are out of reach of most musicians, the Lemur for example will set you back around $3000- enough cash to buy several of the best dj controllers on the market. Fortunately, it is very possible to turn your existing screen into a multi touch monitor for under $50. In this article we will be looking at the different DIY methods that turn common, in-expensive equipment into touch screen interfaces.
