Friday, February 27, 2009

the bling matrix



Finally got around to finishing the 64 button clip matrix...giddy up! The whole process has taken me like 2-3 months to finish, mostly because I have developed some kind of RSI in my neck and back and cannot solder or do much work, and have been seeking massages and therapy from an Osteo so I don't become a cripple (all a result of both this project and sitting down coding all day for work). Anyways I achieved the end result and are totally stoked with the fruits of these labours....would I do it again....no. To recap what I did for the clip matrix;



  • Ordered 128 cheap tactile APLS momentary switches for the buttons.
  • Had 128 15mm opaque perspex cubes laser cut by Plastix.
  • Made a drilling jig up and drilled about a 1/4" hole in each cube for the LED.
  • Ordered 128 cheap RBG LED's direct from manufacturer in Hong Kong.
  • Sanded the ends of each one on an angle so I could mount it diagonally upwards in the cube.
  • Stuck blank electrical tape to the sides of each cube to prevent light from spilling in/out.
  • Glued each LED in eachcube using Araldyte.
  • Glued each resulting cube to the top of each button switch.
  • Soldered all the common cathodes (rows).
  • Soldered all the red annodes (columns).
  • Soldered all the green annodes (columns).
  • Soldered all the blue annodes (columns).
  • Soldered together the DOUT module with the darlington modification.
  • Connected it all up to the MB core.
  • Designed a system for communication between LiveAPI and Midibox app.
  • Wrote the software driver for the Midibox app in C (download and download).
  • Wrote the software for the LiveAPI in Python (download).
  • Debugged all the problems, swearing and cursing.
  • Sat back with a satisfied grin as I finally got everything working.















Sunday, February 15, 2009

update

Well it's been a while and I've mostly been working on the software (LiveAPI driver and MidiBox firmware) - also been working on the LED matrix and all the buttons, which has turned out to be a nasty biatch of a job. To be honest I'm over it and just wanna get the thing finished now. That aside, I've also been working on the Live sets and nutting out how the sets will work musically so there's been some creative work in there too which is making it all worth it. Next wekend once I get things more complete I'll post update pics and all that crap - I'll also be sharing my Live sets and all the software too. 

So here's a couple of short vids I took tonight after I got half of the LED matrix going (red and green only at the mo) and still no face plate yet. Sorry for the poor wuality but at least it shows what I'm trying to achieve with the whole damn thing.

Download the 2 movies (10mb zip) here if you want.