Hi everyone i am very new to this and would really appreciate any help or hints i can get. I am trying to make a USB controller to use with FL Studio, Cubase etc. I have a picture of what i would like to create here : ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs i have a Korg nanopad which i would use for the drum pads and xy controller and a nanokeys i would like to use as the keyboard. My first goal is to assemble the front plate with all the necessary potentiometers etc so i guess to start i would like to know what should i use for example 10k or 100k linear potentiometers and slide potentiometers. What LEDs and resistors would be best to use.
Any help would be great.
Many Thanks
Wayne
You probably should start by writing a sketch to flash an LED. Try a red one with a 470 ohm series resistor.
Don
Rotary and slider pots are best at 10K.
Thanks for the tips.
I would lie to know now would i be better using logarithmic or linear potentiometers I'm not sure why but i feel that linear would make more sense. Also if wireing the LED to the potentiometer to dim or brighten as the knob is turned would i still need to put a resistor in between.
Many Thanks
Wayne
Use linear pots as they will match the linear analog to digital conversion.
You can always log the end result in your program.
analogRead(0);
Will give you a value between 0 and 1023 for the position of the slider. The rest is down to your software.
Again thank you for the help would the following be sufficient 24mm Potentiometer Linear 10K
- Resistance: 10K
- Tolerance: 20%
- Power Rating: 0.5W
- Max Voltage: 500V
- Total Rotational Angle: 300°
- Body Diameter: 24mm
- Body Height: 11.5mm
- Shaft Diameter: 6mm
- Shaft Length: 50mm
Slide Potentiometer Linear 10K
- Resistance: 10K
- Tolerance: 20%
- Max Voltage: 500V
- Power Rating: 0.5W
- Sliding Life: 15,000 cycles
- Overall Length: 88mm
- Overall Width: 12.5mm
- Overall Height (excluding legs): 11mm
- Lead Pitch: 80mm
- Slider Travel: 60mm
and for the LEDs
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 10K
- Resistance: 10K
- Power Rating: 0.25W
- Resistance Tolerance: 1%
- Max Working Voltage: 250V
- Temperature Coefficient: 50ppm/°C
- Operating Temperature Range: -25°C to +70°C
- Body Diameter: 2.3mm
- Body Length: 6mm
All fine appart from the 10K in the LED that is way too high values from 150R to 330R are the norm here.
Also if wireing the LED to the potentiometer to dim or brighten as the knob is turned would i still need to put a resistor in between.
You really wouldn't or shouldn't wire the pots directly to the leds, as the resistance requirements are vastly different. The pots would wire to the arduino analog input pins. The leds with their proper sized series current limiting resistors would wire to Arduino PWM output pins. Your software program (sketch) would read the pots value, scale the readings appropriately and send the value out to the leds, along with whatever other things your program needs to do.
Lefty
Thanks to both of you two very useful pieces of information there. I have check back with my order they have
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 130R
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 150R
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 160R
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 200R
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 270R
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 300R
and
0.25W Metal Film Resistor 330R
Available which would be the best choice and if you have the time to explain a little on why that would be great.
Many Thanks
Wayne
ok i think i have got the idea now the LEDs i am using are
- Forward Current: 20mA
- Forward Voltage: 3.4V
with a 12 v supply
so i should need a 0.25W 430R Resistor
is that correct ?
Usb is only 5v? would i need to add a 12v supply for this project or is 5v enough
No the 12V supply gets regulated down to 5V. The arduino always runs at 5V and that is what you should use to calculate yout resistor.
Ok i think i am moving forward with this and learning on the way. Could someone take a look at this if they have Livewire and tell me if it is ok please
If not where am i going wrong and any suggestions.
Thanks Everyone