DM2 Arcade Button Mod Wiring Help

[Patch]

Mate! You are the fucking MAN!!! Great work. I've got 2 DM2's sat here gathering dust - looks like I've got me a nice winter project!!!

Great work!

(Have you checked that the connections for the radial buttons are the same as the connections for the play/stop/pause buttons? It'd be a shame if they are not...)

For anyone that doesn't know - the DM2 is an AWESOME piece of kit when paired up with pDooms DM2MIDI. There is gonna be a HUGE rush now for arcade modded DM2's - get yourselves onto eBay and snap 'em up while you still can!!!

(Just had a quick check on the bay - looks like there are plenty in the US..)

This is gonna be huge - I just checked dmtwo.dk - some of the guys over there are putting REAL crossfaders int into their DM2s! This is gonna be big...

[jason zenso]

Patch is right get on ebay and buy em up, this is gonna be great!
yes you can install real crossfader into your dm2.

[faeruithir]

Yep the radial buttons are the same kind, i've checked that. All the buttons are the same kind.

My current concerns are:
- Keeping LED functionality - can djtt arcade buttons be modded to add LEDs? Does anyone know?
- does adding more wiring/different buttons draw more power than the USB can provide? I have no idea about this...i guess theres only one way to find out!

Being at an industrial design student i have a lot of access to shops and machinery. I am currently designing a custom casing to put all this in and plan on having it laser cut!

[Patch]

Keep us posted, faeruithir.

My biggest concern is what happens when you start adding extra lengths of wires in there. With a custom case, all the buttons can be spread out - but ONLY if extra lengths of wire can be connected.

The LED question is a good one, too. It'd be nice to have an LED indicator next to each arcade button. AND the DM2midi software also allows for the LEDS to work when the button is held (push down, LED ON, let go, LED off) or as a switch (press down, led on, release, led stays on, press down again, led off).

No doubt about it - a modded, re-housed DM2 is DEFINITELY a MidiFighter beater!

[Just thought - could the joystick be modded so that it can be replaced with 2 line faders?!? Don't forget - the joystick has THREE banks of it's own, and the DM2 has FOUR banks... Wait - does that mean... Possibly TWELVE faders?!?]

Good times!

[faeruithir]

I use the DM2 with my mac the mac driver is much less customizable than DM2midi unfortunately...and the developer seems to have stopped developing it....damnit. So i don't actually use the joystick as i can't really get it to do much..

As for the LEDs i was wondering if something like this: http://hacknmod.com/hack/make-your-o...tton-switches/
is possible with DJTT arcade buttons cause the kind they use in that tutorial is a different kind...

[faeruithir]

So heres what i was thinking of making:



The two row of 4 buttons below each jog wheel would be the light up radial buttons. I plan to also jam an x-session pro between the two jog wheels in my custom casing so i can have an all in 1 custom DJ controller with lots of arcade buttons!

[Archies'bald]

Since I've never heard of a DM2, can anyone give me a synopsis of what could be achieved by modding one?

You've pricked up my Spidey Senses.

[Patch]

Watch this space. faeruithir is blazin' a trail - big tings a g'wan!

[faeruithir]

This is what a DM2 is:



It is in essence, a toy that uses some crappy software for kids to feel like they're mixing music. However, people have written drivers for you to use it as a midi device on Mac and on PC (Joe Mattiello's DM2 OS X driver and DM2midi respectively). The PC drivers are much more in depth and customizable.

the controller itself features:
2 large jog wheels
4 banks of buttons
16 LED lit radial buttons in each bank
11 other buttons
a joystick (i haven't found a use for this really..)

this gives you 75 possible buttons to use, which is great!
The DM2 has been proven to work quite well with traktor and my current setup involves an X-session Pro and a DM2.

However, the buttons on this thing are rather low quality, as is the overall build quality. So using the underlying electronics as a base i hope to build a much sturdier, better looking, more functional controller.

[Archies'bald]

I've done a bit of digging on this and noticed lots of people having real problem trying to get this working on Windows Vista. Am I missing something or does it have to be plugged in to XP to get it to work correctly? If it works with Vista (or even Windows 7), then I definitely think that this might be worth the hassle.