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.















5 comments:

  1. yeah
    this part is amazing.
    I think I don't do it like that... I put the led at the right side of button...
    it is the thing of this moment... still designing it on the paper!!

    talk soon mike!

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  2. Awsome work!

    I've been scouring through your liveapi code borrowing bits and pieces. Am i right in thinking the bottom right of the midibox is going to be a sequencer? If so any idea how your going to implement that with the api?

    Im building a sequencer for an arduinome at the moment with the liveapi and havnt quite figured out how to deal with time sensitive applications. Any thoughts would be appreciated. My code should be up on an svn soonish.

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  3. I *might* make that part a sequencer down the track - the reason I designed it this way is so it can be versatile. For now those are just system buttons like song select, cut/copy/paste, play/stop/rec, tempo stuff, other stuff etc.

    Yes making timing tight apps is a challenge but if/when i do a sequencer I'mm be sharing it with everyone. :-)

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  4. Wow when I saw those buttons, I thought must have. After reading how much work went into them - wow I still want but maybe not as much.

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  5. Yeah, it almost killed me. Never again.

    You can get those kits button pads from www.Sparkfun.com, heaps easier!

    ReplyDelete