Light Touch Momentary Button?

Parts Questions
1

Hello All,

First post and still in the planning stage but have a question for the assembled genii..

I’ve been looking at buttons for my upcoming MidiBox and every sample I’ve been sent from suppliers feel very heavy to engage.  (Mec and Diptronics Tact switches)

I’m looking for a lighter touch button (ideally with an LED but am not fussed if the right button appears) that is more in line with the feel of a laptop keyboard in terms of how hard it has to be pressed to engage the switch to enable faster and more musical timings (16ths at 130bpm kinda fast)

Taking an old keyboard apart isn’t an option as the membrane would be pretty impossible to layout in a new way so I live in hope of a stand alone PDB mount switch that requires less that 1N to engage.

Is there such a thing that anyone has heard of?

Rgds, Stef

2

Hi

I’m, using a button with “rubber feeling” for my midibox. It’s from Fujisoku and has 100g of force to engage. I like it, maybe it’s something like that you are looking for. Buildlog, pictures etc at: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=6550.msg41535#msg41535

/Wise

3

Hi

I’m, using a button with “rubber feeling” for my midibox. It’s from Fujisoku and has 100g of force to engage. I like it, maybe it’s something like that you are looking for. Buildlog, pictures etc at: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=6550.msg41535#msg41535

/Wise

That is a lovely looking box mate..  Very nice.

100g is about the same a 1N I think which is ideal as that’s about the level of a light fingertip tap I reckon,  having tried them would you agree?  I’m using an MPD24 (Akai Control Thingy) and the force required to get a note on out of those pads is what I’m used to.

Having searched around it looks like they do illuminated versions with the same operating force (I think the LTR/LTM range which are also silent which is great)..    Where did you get yours from? I can’t find a supplier that will sell less than thousands of them at a time!

Rgds, Stef

4

Wise’s switches would likely be fine, but I thought it worth mentioning something you haven’t yet considered is throw length… No point having a soft touch button if it takes too long for it to throw the switch, know what I mean?

5

Wise’s switches would likely be fine, but I thought it worth mentioning something you haven’t yet considered is throw length… No point having a soft touch button if it takes too long for it to throw the switch, know what I mean?

I know exactly what you mean :slight_smile:

I have some soft buttons here that require something like 5mm of throw before they engage!  Useless.

Wise’s suggestion have a 1mm throw which if the 1N force is light enough would be fine.

Rgds, Stef

6

Yeh and they’re nice to look at too :slight_smile: Good luck with the box!

7

That is a lovely looking box mate..  Very nice.

100g is about the same a 1N I think which is ideal as that’s about the level of a light fingertip tap I reckon,  having tried them would you agree?  I’m using an MPD24 (Akai Control Thingy) and the force required to get a note on out of those pads is what I’m used to.

Having searched around it looks like they do illuminated versions with the same operating force (I think the LTR/LTM range which are also silent which is great)..    Where did you get yours from? I can’t find a supplier that will sell less than thousands of them at a time!

Rgds, Stef

Thanks, but it’s long way from finished.. I would say that the 100g of force is a little bit more than a light fingertip tap. But it’s the best button I could find for my box. I was also out after light force, primary for the transport buttons, to get fast reactions. I bought the buttons and caps from the company www.elfa.se , not cheap, but fast. You can hit the english flag in the top right corner. Search for 35-621-13 , thats the button with conductive rubber membrane that I use.

/Wise

8

I’ve Found Some!!!

Expensive - £2.20 each  :o - But got sent a sample and they feel absolutely lovely..  illuminated in either Red Green or Yellow

They have a tact like feel but with no “pop” and mounted they can be actuated with a solid tap, rather than a heavy press..

http://www.rjselectronics.com/pages/detail-product.php?parentID=21&pageNo=8

Minimum order of 50 but thats fine for my project.

They are pretty tiny but big enough and having tried the sample I’m now leaning towards setting up a monome style grid with additional knobs and some additional buttons for navigation…

All I have to do now is save up the money!  ;D

Thanks for all your advice on the swtiches..  What a great forum..  I’m looking forward to building my box but also becoming part of this friendly community.

Rgds, Stef

9

Stef,

I’ve Found Some!!!

Expensive - £2.20 each  :o - But got sent a sample and they feel absolutely lovely..  illuminated in either Red Green or Yellow

I’m interested too by those. I’ve sent them an email asking them my questions…

however could you tell me if you got a sample with white of color filter ?

In fact, i find the colors on the pictures they provide a little dull. Would you mind taking a picture of maybe better quality ?

Thanks. Didier.

10

Stef: also i asked price for more units as i need 150 ones. maybe we could think about making a bulk order…

11

I’m interested too by those. I’ve sent them an email asking them my questions…

however could you tell me if you got a sample with white of color filter ?

In fact, i find the colors on the pictures they provide a little dull. Would you mind taking a picture of maybe better quality ?

Thanks. Didier.

Didier,

I think they only come in Red, Green and Yellow..  I got the red and the green through as samples.  I’ll try to set something up and post it here next week.  White would be lovely though..

Have you been sent samples yourself?  They sent me five different button types and these just stood out a mile as the best feel for this purpose.

In terms of discount they drop the price at 150 and at 250 units but can’t remember (i’m on a different computer) what that discount was.

I’m going to get some with green LEDs I think to go with the monome vibe :slight_smile:

And yep, a midibox group buy would be a great idea.  I have a friend doing a box as well so that’s at least three of us.

Stef

12

I think they only come in Red, Green and Yellow..  I got the red and the green through as samples.  I’ll try to set something up and post it here next week.  White would be lovely though..

In fact, they have the following models:

[table]

[tr][td]Ref[/td][td]LED[/td][td]Filter[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TP2161-R[/td][td]Red[/td][td]White[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TP2161-G[/td][td]Green[/td][td]White[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TP2161-Y[/td][td]Yellow[/td][td]White[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TP2162-R[/td][td]Red[/td][td]Red[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TP2162-G[/td][td]Green[/td][td]Green[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TP2162-Y[/td][td]Yellow[/td][td]Yellow[/td][/tr]

[/table]

I think the filter is the color of the diffuser. This is why i asked you if you had seen the difference between one with white filter and one with color filter.

Have you been sent samples yourself?  They sent me five different button types and these just stood out a mile as the best feel for this purpose.

In terms of discount they drop the price at 150 and at 250 units but can’t remember (i’m on a different computer) what that discount was.

I just mailed them today to request their prices and samples. So i don’t know how much time they will take…

I’m going to get some with green LEDs I think to go with the monome vibe :slight_smile:

And yep, a midibox group buy would be a great idea.  I have a friend doing a box as well so that’s at least three of us.

Good! I just build two boxes (one quad core and one single core) but maybe i will have to make a third box for a friend. So i think we can easily go more than 250 all together.

The question is if they do discounts if we have different color needs… For now, I think i need something like 130 yellow and 20 red. (But the red on their photo is not enough red… :()

Greets, Didier.

13

Ahh,

I’ve been sent the red and green LEDs with the white diffuser..  I’ll try and photograph them next week for you.

Stef

14

Cool! Thank you stef.

15

Hi stefstabilizer,

They told me 2.95€ each for 150. (Delivery to Paris 29€) This makes £2.01 each.

They did not tell me for 250. But i think it could go down to 2.70€…

It is a bit expensive for me. I have to think about it deeply. Let me know what you think.

Didier.

16

I’ve decided to go for much cheaper buttons…  These are heavier to press (2N instead of the 1N of the pricey small ones from RJS) but much cheaper…  Also about twice the size (15mmx15mm) so the heavy press shouldn’t be too much bother once it’s mounted in something heavy.  Quite clicky but very positive and in a club I doubt you’d hear anything :slight_smile:

Rapid Online

They sent me a sample of the blue LED ones and they light up really nice and the cap of item 77-3130 comes apart so you can put legends printed on acetate in there which is handy.

Oh..  And they are 49p each!  ;D

17

hallo

i have a bunch of rjs backlit buttons and they will NOT last that long if you use them for wild triggering.I used them on a box for djing, they activated fxs so i tapped sometime hard to find the beat, no way i had to change already those ones i used most, after a couple of months of use.

Let us know about these other buttons.

Simone

18

Having to replace buttons after a month or two is pretty rubbish..  I’ll keep you updated…

I’ve added a post to my blog about them with a photo of one lit up…  I’ll be adding Midibox news as and when there if anyone is interested which I hope to tidy up and wiki it once the box is complete.

http://www.stefangoodchild.com

Later, Stef