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Dirt Star
Director , Music Producer , Musician
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Built my own midi controller. Solid buttons to rock out on Ableton Live

Dirt Star Studio Instruments - DIY hoemade Midi Controller 20 buttons and a USB cable - simple as that.Buttons for rock stars to pound out sweet beats.

Everyone always asks me how I make my music, so I'm uploading some photos of the music instrument I use.

Today it's my industrial-strength homemade midi controller.###How Colin and I made the world's most basic midi controller I've always liked to experiment, taking my instruments apart and making new ones. I came up with the idea for this midi controller a while back - I've always wanted to pound away on big big buttons. Big Big Buttons! Just like on a subway train - those big emergency buttons. Got to talking with Colin about the idea, and we made it come to life. I gave him a few schematic concept sketches, and he put the wiring under the hood together. We made it specifically for use with Ableton. So instead of messing around with full-on midi programming, we actually did the circuitry by disassembling a normal keyboard and reassigning the keystrokes to the buttons.In a sense its not a full-on midi controller, but for all intensive purposes it works as one.

The casing body is now is now a 2.0 version. For our beta version we uses an attache case, with an acrylic plate that the buttons were attached to. After the wiring was all tested and completed, I wanted to give it a solid casing. So I went out and got the shiny black casing made down the street in Dongmen. ###How it works - triggering beats, samples and effects Use it basically for two things - triggering samples and beats, and controlling effects. Each button is a trigger for an event in Ableton, so playing live I can trigger effects and sounds. I like to set up the samples and effects I use in a show in advance, then I can drop in stuff on the fly without ever having to look at a computer screen. With a guitar, mic, or turntable hooked up thru the soundcard to Ableton, I can switch up between effects settings, using it as my effects pedal.

about 15 years ago 0 likes  9 comments  0 shares
Ghoststyle
damn mang! that's crazy--nice one!
about 15 years ago
Photo 376392
DUDE YOU ARE THE MAN! Most awesome
about 15 years ago
Photo 54026
Hey thanks for the feedback everyone, really appreciate it
about 15 years ago
Photo 210487
u gotta teach me how to build it too lol
about 15 years ago
Doryuk 63 doryuk
excellent !
about 15 years ago
Photo 49156
ableton live is just so damn cool !
about 15 years ago

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Languages Spoken
english, mandarin
Location (City, Country)
Guangdong, China
Gender
male
Member Since
January 18, 2008