Last month we ran a Show and Tell contest for a chance to win one of our new Brain Jr. microcontrollers. We had some really interesting entries, from music controllers, to mind controlled visuals, and here are the results.

mindMIDI – Mind driven visuals

mindMIDI was definitely the most unique project entered into the contest. It was created to control visuals with the Brain Jr. using photocells, a Star Wars Force Trainer, and Module8.

 

MD-1A3 Program Controller

Sometimes DIY is inspired by design, and the MD-1A3 is a perfect example of that. Brain Jr. user Jared Hunter, wanted a simple software controller to match the look of his Pultech EQP-1A3, so he created one of his own.

 

Scully Moldover

Inspired by controllerism founder Moldover, (who I interviewed last month) Chip Crell’s controller is housed in a plastic medical skull with arcade buttons, faders, rotary pots, and light sensitive diodes for eyes. This project is also completely powered by the Brain Jr., and is perhaps the best use of taking the name literally. It also shows that an Ableton controller doesn’t have to be a box with just faders and knobs!

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Our friends over at Vidvox have created a really nice two channel video mixer template for controlling visuals with the OhmRGB. Vidvox was originally founded by digital video mixing pioneer Johnny Dekam ,who we featured a few years ago in this post. VDMX still very much has the spirit of pushing the envelope for live video performance.

Looking at this template, it’s a really nice layout for two channel video mixing with the OhmRGB, and provides LED color feedback support. Here’s a description straight from Vidvox.

“This first basic example template turns your Mac into a simple two channel HD video mixer VJ setup controlled by the OhmRGM Slim controller. It makes use of MIDI talk-back to light up the buttons along with the media bin and is set up FX chains and 6 different composition modes. This starting point leaves all of the knobs on the controller available for further customization with your own video clips, FX and LFOs.”

I am really glad to see this Ohm template for VDMX and excited to see what they come up with next.

You can download and try the template for yourself right at vidvox.net

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Recently one of our Brain V2 customers Emile Chauvin shared his DIY lighting console project with us. This is a really nice portable lighting solution,and he did a great job with the build quality. We caught up with Emile to get the details on how and why he decided to build his own controller.

What made you create your own controller?

I have been a user of Martin Light Jockey for years now, it’s a powerful and yet simple software.

The problem with Martin Light Jockey, compared to MA or Avolites PC solution, it never had a specific controller for it. You have to have a standard console to have some controls along side of your pc,but those consoles where not really made for this and aren’t very comfortable to use.

Since no one has made a controller dedicated to LJ, well, I just started my own.

Did you have any previous experience that helped along the way?

It’s my first try with DIY MIDI and I have to say that the Builder tools made it quite easy.

Why did you design your controller the way you did?

There aren’t may alternative layouts that I find very practical. If you look at any lighting console, things are always generally laid out the same, my controller has a similar design with a few twists.

http://www.grandspares.de/assets/images/grandMA_micro_top_view.jpg
http://www.creativestaging.co.uk/images/products/lighting/Avo_Tiger_Touch.jpeg

I tried to keep the same bottom layout as the martin light jockey, for easy access to the controls I need.

I put it all in a 19″ rack format so I didn’t have to build a separate flight case

What made you choose Livid’s builder series for your project?

I had a lot of ideas how to build this, from an Arduino base system to a cheap dmx
light desk, hacking the electronics of it and wiring everything to it.

The points that made me choose Livid’s Brain v2 are:

• It’s really flexible. You can just plug so many things into it. I have total freedom on the number of buttons or faders I wanted for my project.
• It has great documentation and an excellent wiki. I didn’t need a driver and the testing software is great.
• Since most of the connections are on ribbon cables, I could also reuse the Brain in another project if it didn’t work has planned.

In the end, I really did good making that choice.

Were there any surprises along the way?

Yes … When I got my front plate, it fit perfectly ! I designed it all in CAD, from the screen to the faders, and it all fit perfectly. It’s always a nice feeling when first try turns out perfect.

What was the hardest part?

Finding all the parts at a reasonable price. The Alps faders I use are listed at 30e / 1pc almost everywhere…

Otherwise, it was quite an easy build!

What would you say to other people thinking about making their own
controller?

Go for it! It’s not that hard, and at the end, where ever you go you’ll impress everyone

Just my little tips : before you start anything, make a proper list of all you think you need and add some bottoms/faders/pad to it. You don’t want to run out of these!

How are you planning to use your controller?

It’s going to be a daily work tool: I do light show in clubs, concert ect… I am planning to use it quite often for gigs where a large DMX console is not available, since they are quite expensive to rent.

It will also follow me to bigger events, in case I need a backup.

Do you have any plans for future projects?

Of course I do! Next It’s a laser show controller I want to build.

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During SXSW this year here in Austin, TX, we had a lot of great discussions and visits from artists all around the world. I had the chance to sit down with longtime friend and controllerism extraordinaire Moldover. He’s notorious for his work as a controller hacker, producer, electronic musician, inventor, DIY enthusiast, and performer. You may be familiar with Moldover from his first commercially available instruments the Mojo (made with the Brain v1), to his more recent work with Native Instrument F1.

Moldover is one of the leading champions of “coloring outside of the lines” to perform and create electronic music. I’m always excited to see what he’s working on and hear his thoughts on the state of modern performance instruments. I am especially excited for his new collaboration with Visionary Instruments on the Robocaster, and look forward making it the first guitar I’ve purchase in over 10 years.

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Quite often we hear from the DIY community that they wish we would make our encoder LED rings available for purchase. While the answer ” there is no LED ring” might seem simple to us, it can be confusing for the receipient. On our Code and CNTRL:R products with encoders, you will see LED feedback that follows the motion of the encoder turn. Similarly our BASE controller has LED feedback on the touch strips. This kind of visual feedback can be really useful for switching between presets, effects, and tracks, and act as virtual motorized faders.

The fact is, there isn’t any kind of magic to an LED ring, it’s just an array of LEDs that respond to the movement of the control. The circuit itself it stupid simple, and lucky for you we’ve incorporated what we call LED grouping  into our Brain v2. We’ve made it very simple for you to create your own LED groups by simply linking them to an analog (or encoder) control.

Our very own Mark sat down and made a step-by-step walk through explaining how to make your own LED rings. In the first example he uses a Brain v2 with our rotary pots and single through hole LEDs. In the second part of the video he uses one of our faders with a pre-made LED graph from Sparkfun.

While we are on the subject of Brain v2, one of our users Stephen Noreyko who did some similar LED grouping videos, also made a very nice 8×8 RGB grid using our Omni RGB boards and a Brain V2. He didn’t even need to wire or solder anything, totally plug and play!

 

Happy building!

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