Hardcore Eks XP5 modding

[MiL0]

cheers for that

"I'd love to know who makes that big black rotary encoder in the middle. Are there any identifying marks on it?"

no sorry

[Archies'bald]

Can I just issue a warning. I've had the xp10 in bits for some time now and desoldering the buttons is an absolute nightmare. They seem to have put excess solder on the pins and it has filled through the pin holes. With the four pins on each button I've found it very difficult to get the buttons off.

When I eventually got one of the buttons off and soldered the cables on, I found that none of the buttons were showing up in EKS mapper. I've not had a chance to rectify this as it was only the other night I got the buttons off.

I will post more the next time I get the chance to look at it.

[MiL0]

so what about just leaving the buttons on instead? so you could run two wires from the bottom of the circuit board to an arcade button... would that still work?

[Archies'bald]

so what about just leaving the buttons on instead? so you could run two wires from the bottom of the circuit board to an arcade button... would that still work?

That's what I'm planning to do. I've soldered a fair few things before (I'm an electrician), but the XP10 buttons are giving me problems. Make sure you've tested the correct pins for the switch and solder on to them. I think I may have knackered one of my old units because I tried to take the buttons off, but like I say that was on Tuesday night and I've not got back to look at it.

[Archies'bald]

Got a little bit done tonight. I've marked out my layout on to the boxes I've bought. I'm hoping to make 2 of these things....



The bottom two rows will have 4 all black arcade buttons for cue points and a red and green button for play/load.

Above that, will be the jog wheel and pitch control with the guts of the XP10 hidden underneath. The 2 rows of smaller buttons (where the blue button is) will be for sync/key/toggle display etc.

The top row of 4 buttons (where the red button is) will be LED lit and will latch on, this will indicate what deck I'm playing on. Basically you could control all four decks on one unit with this layout, if you have quick enough fingers.

I'm hoping to add this to the midi mixer I made with the same box and it should all look a little like this when it's finished (A long time from now)

[charo]

the eks xp5 and xp10 are just begging for a mod like this, the jogwheel is really smooth and nice to use, but the buttons are clunky and not nice to use at all.

some questions

1) what are you using to control the leds? i'm assuming maybe the midi brains of the mixer since the xp10 doesn't have leds.

2) on the software side of midi, are you using bomes translator or anything like that or just the midi stuff in traktor?

3)you still using the audiocard in the xp10s?

[Archies'bald]

1. I've bought these led latching buttons (link) before and the work a treat for what I'm needing them for. They are hard wired so when the button is pressed it stays on until you turn it of again.

2. I'll just be using the units in Traktor. All the buttons will be mapped through that. I don't think there is any need to use Bomes etc.

3. If these units work well I will be using them as my main decks next to a behringer ddm4000. That way I can use the soundcards on the XP10's for decks A&B, but map C&D to the faders on the ddm400. I've got an old scratchamp in the house that needs to be used for something.

The midi mixer I've built in the photo is just for taking out to house parties/barbecues. Thinking about it, I could easily map that out for more effects etc in my main set up.

[hoxoboxo]

What about replacing two buttons for a rotary encoder? I think you can then convert note on/off commands into cc singnal via a translator program. That would be cool for something like track search or effect parameters, since the controller has enough buttons.

[MiL0]

hehe you're planning on almost exactly the same mod as me!

glad to see you're gonna essentially create a new front panel for the XP10's - will make the mod look a lot better than just sticking an unmodded XP10 into the hole in a DIY case (which I'm probably gonna do, unfortunately).

i'm planning on picking up a soldering iron and arcade buttons at the weekend so I won't be far behind you... looking forward to how yours turns out!

This is my planned mod btw (very rough):

[MiL0]

btw - those Verbatim vinyl cdr's work really well with the touch sensitive platters... even though they're made of plastic, the touch sensitive'ness still works through them.