Just in time for our appearance at the “Homemade Festival” in Glarus, I finished the first version of my new “virtual video mixing console”. Version 1.0 had just some buttons, 8 rotary encoders and 8 faders. It was getting of age and I didn’t like to perform with it anymore. So, months of work and about 2000 solder points later, a dream comes true…
USB Interface, 35 Potentiometers with 35 Ledrings, 8 Faders, 6 Microprocessors, expandable…
Read on for the photos:
I wanted something more like an audio desk, with a LOT of buttons, real potentiometers with center detent – but with led rings, so I can load presets and see where my pots are.
“So why not put in encoders when you go into the hassle of soldering your own ledrings?” – you might ask. Well, I simply don’t like rotary encoders. They’re fine for traveling through a menu of a MP3 player, or maybe in studio work, but not for live performance. I need to know where I am, physically, without looking away from the projection. I need to feel the start, the middle, the end. I want to feel the speed at which I’m turning up the contrast…
And I want every parameter to be accessible, anytime.
That’s three of the 5 channel controller boards, freshly edged:
Then I painted them with soldering paste and put them into an old swiss “Raclette”-Oven:
That will be a ledring (unfortunately the led’s I need are still out of stock…)
Four potentiometer boards with their ledringboards
Then I was too busy soldering and finding bugs, so I forgot to take pictures…
Here it is, tata!
One channel isn’t working, so I left it out for the moment, …
A look from the under side. I know the whole unit should be shielded, but this would be too sad…
A closer look:
And here’s the master processor, getting data from the 5 (4) channels and communicating via USB with my Max patch…
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