Arcade Button MIDI Controller

Step 9 MIDI Mapping

Fire up your favourite audio / DJ / video software and begin mapping the controller's pots and buttons to one or more actions. This step is obviously software specific so you may need to refer the software's documentation. In general I've found that an action to perform is first selected, and then the corresponding pot or button is pressed on the controller to map the two together.

There is no limitation on what you map to where, so just experiment and play around with things until you feel comfortable. My initial controller mapping for Traktor is below. All inputs act on the selected deck, except for the two sliders.

Deck A Volume - Slider 1
Deck B Volume - Slider 2
Chained Effect 1 Amount - Pot 1
Chained Effect 2 Amount - Pot 2
Chained Effect 3 Amount - Pot 3
Effect 1 On - Button 1
Effect 2 On - Button 2
Effect 3 On - Button 3
Play/Pause - Button 4
Cue points 1-8 - Buttons 5-12

Comments

[djkrugger]

Will the data be sent over the arduino tx-rx ports in midi as well? or just serial?

[pgiuliani]

no the tx-rx ports are not working.. But i need them, because i finished the case and now i saw it =/... Somebody know how i can make that work?

[fraganator]

The simplest way would be to add a shift register. It requires 3 pins to operate, but you'll gain 8 pins. There'll also need to be some code changes where the shift register is polled for input.

[ChillieGrub]

Hi. Ive built the controller with the add ons of 4 LEDs on the rotary poteniometers and it works brilliantly! Thanks for the instructable!

However when triggering the midi with either the arcade buttons or the poteniometers it triggers a sound... this also happens when triggering the buttons etc when testing in serial midi converter.

Any ideas as to why and how i can prevent this?

[fraganator]

What sort of sound is it triggering? Is it an OS sound? If so, trying disabling any sound themes. Apart from that I can't think what could cause sounds to play outside of software receiving the MIDI input. I'm interested to find out what the source is.

Have you been able to test the controller on another PC?

[ChillieGrub]

Hello! I launched and quit Logic and re-booted the arduino and programs and the problem fixed its self! I think it was the OS themes as there individual buttons released their own note. Howeer after a re-launch everythig thing was gold.

I did run into another problem however. I spent a good couple of hours sorting out a map on Traktor and i started to get pin 13 conflictions (or so i think). the resitor in the button for pin 13 got quite hot, and when triggered, triggered the midi but two conflicting notes.. resuting in that button not responding. To solve this should i just change the resistor?

Thanks again! Ive had serious fun using modifier keys to make some sick mapping :).

[ChillieGrub]

Ive just tried changing the resitor twice. When pressed it flashes ad triggers a variation of different midi notes... If i hold down button 12 the resistor starts to smoke after only a couple of seconds and gets very hot... any ideas?

[fraganator]

Given the resistor is heating up and smoking, the power flowing through it must be exceeding the resistor's rating. What size and rating resistor are you using?

There's also a chance the wiring is short circuiting somewhere. Double check the wiring around pin 13 (button 12) and ensure it matches the wiring schematic.

[ChillieGrub]

Its a 4.7k resistor. I'm not sure on the tolerance, however its from Maplins to i cant imagine it being amazing. I will double check the wiring again, however if this isn't the case should i try using a bigger resistor?

[fraganator]

The resistor on pin 13 is acting as a pull-up resistor so it can be anywhere from 1k to 100k, just so long as its resistance exceeds the button's resistance. I don't think a bigger resistor would help in this case.

If we calculate the power dissipation required of the resistor (using P = V^2 / R), we get 5*5 / 4700, or 0.005W. The resistor I used is rated at 0.25W which I think is pretty standard, though 0.1W resistors also exist. Both of these values are well over the necessary power dissipation so we shouldn't see the resistor overheat.

If you have a multi-meter, check the voltage across the resistor when the button is and is not being pushed and ensure its at 5V. Also check the current through the resistor when pushing the button. It should be around 1-2mA. If it exceeds 50mA (for a 0.25W resistor) or 20mA (for a 0.1W resistor), the resistor will start heating up.

[galapagos88]

any idea how to make this work in virtual dj pro? I've got it working controlling random keys in garageband, but i can't figure out virtual dj's mapping for the life of me.

[fraganator]

I haven't used VDJ beyond version 3.4, so the settings have likely changed since then. Check out the Mappers section on pages 43-45 of the manual (pdf) for the latest VDJ config.

[SS001]

Does it work with FL studio (or reason 5, cubase)??

I'm new to midi stuff

[fraganator]

It should work with any software that supports MIDI. I've tested it with Traktor and Virtual DJ. I could grab the demo of FL Studio and test it out if you'd like, but I'm confident it'll work.