The Simpletron
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Thread: The Simpletron

  1. #1
    Tech Guru Archies'bald's Avatar
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    Default The Simpletron

    Since I have posted a few comments in other threads about my new build, I thought it would be sensible to start a new thread on the subject.
    The premise is to build a complete DJ solution for going round your mates house. For example, you want it to be cheap ... really cheap ... so, if there is an accident you won't spend too long crying about the loss of funds.

    Another part of the idea is to make it as easy as possible to use Traktor in a 'foreign' environment, so I really wanted to be able to take all my gear with me. I came up with the idea of building a PC in an old Technics 1210 flight case and using a home made Traktor controller.

    Since I had built a few PC's over the years, I had a few parts lying around that I was able to utilise. The hard drive (160gb Pata) came free with a piece of OEM equipment I bought some months ago. The DVD drive was taken from an older computer I had built, as were some of the case accessories I needed to install the metalwork which was required to fit out the 1210 case. Ram is relatively cheap to buy these days, but I did have 1 x 1gb of ram in the house, so I used it. Here is an early shot of the computer.



    As far as the controller goes, I wanted to make it as easy to use as possible. I've spent too long at parties looking through vinyl, getting the right pitch, performing the mix and then starting over for the next record, to be bothered with it any more. My friends know I can mix reasonably well, so I don't think they are going to be too bothered if they see me turn up with out my beloved 1210's. In fact some of them may even get the chance to speak to me for a bit.

    I wanted something that would resemble a 3 channel mixer. Something that made it simple to mix with. I came up with this....



    The 10 arcade buttons on the top will be assignable for effects. The blue button will be a second function (Shift key), so you can perform other tricks. The round pots will be bass and treble, depending on whether you have the shift button pressed. The black will be sync. Faders will be volume, red will be load track and green will be play track. The small on-off-on switches will be used for track selection, pitch nudge and pitch select. Remember I only want to carry out the basic functions of tractor at the cheapest possible price. I have set a budget of less than £300 and so far I am on target for doing just that.

    Any thoughts or tips will be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2

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    Awesome, I love stuff that's no frills, all functional. Nicely done.

  3. #3
    Tech Wizard alex.ketch's Avatar
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    Looks great and simple, perfect for lugging around. Just one small question though, what do you have planned for a display/screen?

  4. #4
    Tech Guru Archies'bald's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by alex.ketch View Post
    Looks great and simple, perfect for lugging around. Just one small question though, what do you have planned for a display/screen?
    I will be putting a 15" or 17" monitor in the top half of the flight case (you can pick one up on Ebay for about £40), surrounded by lots of foam. There will be a panel fitted across the top of the PC side, as well as a 4 way - 100w amplifier fitted as well.

    The controller is very lightweight and tough, as it's 3mm aluminium. I also have a Final Scratch Scratchamp that I'm hoping to use for headphone monitoring.

  5. #5
    Tech Wizard alex.ketch's Avatar
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    Sorry, I'm a little confused. Are you putting the screen on the inside? If so how are you then going to use the controls?

    Edit: Wait, I may have misunderstood this thing altogether. Is the PC inside the controller, or are they two separate things altogether? Right now I was under the impression that the PC was inside the controller for some reason

  6. #6
    Tech Guru Archies'bald's Avatar
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    Yeah, the flight case is more or less an over-sized laptop. The controller is a separate thing all together, although when I open the flight case up I'm hoping to be able to put the controller on top of the bottom section of it.

    Does that make any sense?

  7. #7
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    Thought about adding a mouse for some of the other functions of Traktor? Sweet project by the way.

  8. #8
    Tech Guru Archies'bald's Avatar
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    Yeah, I will need a mouse and keyboard just to get the computer to work as normal. I have a mini keyboard that operates from a USB port and a spare 'mouse in the house'.

    I'm also toying with the idea of using a old game pad along with the home made controller, but I'm not sure how or if I would be able to use the two controllers in Traktor at the same time. Anyone got any info on this?
    Last edited by Archies'bald; 08-16-2009 at 03:54 AM.

  9. #9
    Tech Guru Archies'bald's Avatar
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    I've managed to get a little bit more done, but it is time consuming and i'm rushed off my feet with my daughter and work. This could be a long time in getting to completion. I haven't even got any more done on the MIDI controller.

    Anyway, here are a few more photo's.










    Total cost so far £160. The PC part of the project would have been powered up tonight, but I had an oversight on the length of one of the IDE cables. I will have to buy a longer one or some kind of adaptor tomorrow. Then I will be able to start putting Windows on to it. Sometime soon, hopefully...

  10. #10
    Tech Guru Str8upDrew's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Archies'bald View Post
    I'm also toying with the idea of using a old game pad along with the home made controller, but I'm not sure how or if I would be able to use the two controllers in Traktor at the same time. Anyone got any info on this?
    This is really easy actually, you just use a hid to midi converter to convert the gamepad to MIDI, and you can set them up to work fine in Traktor.
    Here's a link to an article full of HID/Midi program options (it's using a touchpad, but it's the same concept) and there are tons more programs out there.
    http://www.djtechtools.com/2008/02/0...ch-pad-for-25/

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