The encoder seems to be some standard piece of hardware but this thing has got an shuttle ring as well and I wonder how it can be attached to the midibox.
I did attach it to my DMM but it seems that there is no current gettin’ through.
So if anybody could please take a look at the data sheet and explain to me how this works.
The original PCB will be used as a template to fabricate the new one and since I want to reuse the buttons the had to be desolder (took me about one hour for all parts)
If you imagine the Denon controller as a left and a right deck only one pcb must be fabricated which fits on both sides. The buttons in the middle of the Denon controller will replaced by
nothing [holes closed by epoxy and filler]
or an LC-Display which shows additional informations. [anybody any ideas how to get infos out of traktor, for example the pitch or the BPM via midi??]
In the page 3 of the datasheet, you’ll find a “truth table” for the “Shuffle Part”.
I decrypted “A type” as:
Pin C.1 (or terminal, as they call it) is Common (the one that gets “shorted” to other pins).
Pin1 is used for direction information.
Pins 2,3,4 form a 3bit (8 step) code that represents the rotation angle.
I hope that helps you to see and test it by yourself?!
Now, some Midibox app. modification is needed, if you want to decode these Shuttle speed settings - and if tractor supports 'em. - Can’t help you with that, I’m afraid.
I copied the mentioned parts out of the datasheet.
This shematics do not mention the ring on the outer side of the encoder which was used to jump back and forward in the track on the cd-deck.
Must be pin J1 and J2 [J for jogwheel I think].
I painted how this thing was connected inside the denon on the shematics. Pin C1 and C2 gave power to this thing.
All output pins used to be connected to a little IC with an “AN” printed on it. This thing did have 3 pins, but only 2 where used [i did paint this as well]
As I mentioned in a earlier post I don’t get any voltage out if I connect my multimeter to the C1/C2 pins and one out pin. I read that encoders give out some kind of rectangle-voltage. So maybe my DMM is to slow to detect this voltage jump !?!?!?
All output pins used to be connected to a little IC with an “AN” printed on it. This thing did have 3 pins, but  only 2 where used [i did paint this as well]
…And these were soldered from the pcb that has silk screening marked with “D201” ect. Those are probably diodes in SOT-23 packages.
As I mentioned in a earlier post I don’t get any voltage out if I connect my multimeter to the C1/C2 pins and one out pin. I read that encoders give out some kind of rectangle-voltage. So maybe my DMM is to slow to detect this voltage jump !?!?!?
Try measuring resistance? Encoders are just electromechanical switches with common input to which 2 outputs are “shorted”.. Voltages involved has to be brought in from the outside..
Seems that the wheel puts out some rectangular voltage as any standard encoder. I tested it with some LEDs attached. See video1 it you ever wondered how encoders work.
The ring seems to be the hardest part. It knows 8 or 9 (depends on rotational direction) different angles. See alps2.mov for video.
Does anbody think that it is possible to modify MIOS that much that it accepts such a ring and puts out usefull midi signal?
Actually those videos are kind of COOL (And my comp even understands QT, unlike some recent M$ “standards”..)
pay attention, boys and girls: The wheel seems to be a perfect example of an encoder. ;D
“Shuttle” seems to output So-called “Grey code”-- BUT I’d still decode it as 8-positions (3-bits) (center+7 different degrees) and a direction bit.
There’s no MIOS modification needed to use this information. It just 4 buttons for MIOS!
But WHAT should these center + 7 different reverse and 7 different forward positions output to midi? I have no clue, what kind of midi messages does Traktor support. (I didn’t even see any controls that would benefit from this??)
Then the midibox application code must be modified, so DIN entries for this shuttle control are decoded as different positions and appropriate midi messages are sent..
But WHAT should these center + 7 different reverse and 7 different forward positions output to midi? I have no clue, what kind of midi messages does Traktor support. (I didn’t even see any controls that would benefit from this??)
I connected my Korg MS2000 to Traktor once and I’m quite positive I used the Pan knob to do exactly what the jog wheel is supposed to do: rewind and fast-forward through the track as it’s playing, at higher speeds the farther you go left or right. I don’t use Traktor anymore so I can’t test it.
But, if I’m right, then the MIDI message should be just a standard CC, assigned to the appropriate control in Traktor. The values transmitted would then be as follows:
Hard left=0; 9; 18; 27; 37; 46; 55; Center=64; 73; 82; 91; 101; 110; 119; Hard right=127
i also spent along time thinking about jog shuttles on a midi box traktor controller but in the end i decided that i can do what i need with buttons and sliders as i also have controlled forward or reverse in the track with a slider
but good look and i look forward to seeing the fineshed box
I still had an old one here which did not work properly so I ordered a new one from this german shop. See PICT0022 und PICT0023 for how this old one looked like. It was built on a bought PCB but with parts salvaged from an old Midibox 16 from 2001. Well, I think the cristal is not suitable, I think it is for RF-applications.
As you can see I attached a heatspreader (had this one in my mighty “old computer parts” box) to the 7805 cause it gets realy hot with the lc- background lighting on.
I have no clue about how to tell mios that there are faders connected (can’t really do anything with this skeleton) - so there will be much more reading required.
PICT0024 shows my current setup, because I do not want to stick my audigy extension bay into my new glossy black tower.
Hooked up a single fader directly to the midibox (I wont need the multioplexers at all because a have only got 2 to 4 potentiometers - more later - depends on how I hook up the Jog/shuttle wheel) and it worked!!! yeah!
Had to try out traktor with this single fader und checked out several functions.
1) pitch (see pictures)
What I noticed: Resolution (128 steps) are not that good. I used to spin with Numark TTX-1 turntables which have got digital read outs of the current pitch and I find myself adjusting the pitch plus or minus 0,1% percent sometimes. The closest I could reach with this setup where 0,2% in traktor, sometimes even 0,3%. Hmmmm. Is there any way to encrease the resolution??
2) transport (deck wind in traktor)
Veeeeery handy feature, when given a cc value above 64, deck will wind forward, if given 64 will do nothing (just spin along if you hit play) and if given a value under 64 will wind backwards.
I thought about connecting this feature to the transport rings on the alps encoders. If have no clue about MIOS or about pic programming, so I thought about a way to get decent values out of the ring.
If using IC-logical chips you could connect a certain resistor value to one AIN input and therefor get an CC value. Problems: I have no clue about logical circuits, not yet.
What I noticed: Resolution (128 steps) are not that good. I used to spin with Numark TTX-1 turntables which have got digital read outs of the current pitch and I find myself adjusting the pitch plus or minus 0,1% percent sometimes. The closest I could reach with this setup where 0,2% in traktor, sometimes even 0,3%. Hmmmm. Is there any way to encrease the resolution??
you can increase the resolution to up to 10bit by modifying the AIN_DeadBand setting, but you also have to change the MIDI sending routine, since CC only supports a 7-bit resolution.
Those are probably diodes in SOT-23 packages.