Located in Landskrona in the South of Sweden. Working at the moment on some VDJ Plugins and some VDJ dedicated hardware...

Wed 14 Mar 07 @ 1:49 pm

This example is to show how you can convert a cheap USB Joustick to a video controller for VDJ. You also need to use my Joystick/Gamepad to VDJ MIDI mapper for it to work.

This is the Joystick i used, i choosed this since it was the cheapes USB Joystick i could found where i live. It's a Speed-Link SL-6612 Wasp² USB Joystick.



This is how the finished controller looks like. Since this is just an example i choosed to use a very simple box and buttons. You can also use a 19" 1U panel and more expensive buttons if you want.



And this is the functionallity i use. But you can use it however you like.



First you need to remove the stick.



Just cut the wires to the PCB.



Turn it around and open the bottom.



We just need the PCB and the potentiometers so take that out.



The cables on this PCB are clearly marked wich makes everything much easier. Else you have to follow them to the buttons etc and mark them yourself.

S1-S8 = Button 1-8
L,R,UP,DN = Point Of view Buttons. I will not use them in this controller.
LX,LY,RY = The potentiometers
GND = Ground
VA = + Voltage



This is the back of the PCB, Behind The big round black dot is the microcontroller for the Joystick.



Now it's time to add our own buttons. A button in the joystick is connected to one of the S1-S8 wires and to Ground. It's easier to connect a ground wire to all buttons in a row first, then add the S1-S6 wire (I only use 6 buttons here).

The Joystick has 3 rotary potentiometers, one of these is changed to a fader. On the Potentiometer it's written 10K, This means 10 K Ohm (10 000). So you have to buy one, just make sure it's a LIN fader and not a LOG fader. LOG faders are mostly used as volume faders in mixers etc. I have also notices that some Joysticks doesn't detect the full length of the fader, if that's the case just make the travel hole as long as the "active" length of the fader.



Here is everything added to the box.



And the final result again.




This is just one example of what you can use an Joystick for, with my mapper it's a generic MIDI device that can be used for almost anything with VDJ.