Apollo 13: Faceplate Design and Acquiring Parts

Apollo 13, attempting to be cool and not succeeding at it picture.

With the two big questions out of the way, the next most popular one is "If you had to pick one part of the project, which one was the hardest?" My answer thus far hasn't changed, "As a guy who has never done something like this? All of it."

The parts list, like many parts of this project was crucial in helping recreate the experience and look of the fabled controller in question. The problem is they were based on the unknown dimensions of a oddly shaped box. But the following picture changed all of that for me.

In the above picture, we see the Maven pictured between an Apple laptop and Pioneer DJM800 mixer. What's more, a front facing pic helped reveal an onboard analog sound output, there are headphones plugged into this thing! More importantly, the jack is tilted downwards. All in all this was great, because I knew a quick google search would yield http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/DJ/Mixers/DJM-800 and the exact WxDxH dimensions of 12.6 x 15.0 x 4.3 - perfect. I now have a relative size to begin basing this off of, judging by the first photo it was clear the device was larger, and accounting for the tilt I estimated the faceplate of the Maven to be 13.1 x 17 inches (width x height). But let's be honest, not everything is perfect the first time around...

So in the week I gave myself to learn AutoCad with my 30 day trial, I managed to produce 3 different versions within 4 days. The very first drawing is the furthest one on the right (hence the v1.0 mark beneath it). You can see that i originally drew a very wide looking mixer and approximate sizes of all the various functions on it. Version 2 i got a bit better with my measurements, and realized i could tighten things up significantly. Additionally there is a significant design change that occured, between version 1 and 2 you'll notice the majority of the potionmeters (knobs) shift their positioning so the pins beneath the board are facing different directions. This was done to avoid any wires bumping into the side of the eventual box, other inputs, and make wiring slightly easier. But I could probably could go tighter, version 3 introduces even more accurate measurements on my behalf and a more compressed design. But you know what helps? Calipers.

Which i have no problem admitting, didn't know what they were until this project. For those equally unaware, its just a measuring instrument that lets you make very insanely fine measurements - perfect for taking the width of a knob, button, or length of a fader.

Version 4 introduced two things - layering and Mitch. Mitch for all intents and purposes helped me refine version 3 into version 4. He showed me layering and the importance of it. Now I am personally a huge Photoshop person, so the value of layering instantly clicked with me, more than anything I just didn't know how to do it in AutoCad. But that was solved relatively fast with him. For the sake of explaining the color coding, all RED lines represent what you see on the faceplate, the holes, the slits, etc. The BLUE lines represent the actual size of the object resting behind the board. The YELLOW lines are merely notation for the sake of alignment and seeing individual channels clearly AND also show a relative size of the knob/fader. This is the first version where I realized these dimensions of 13.1 x 17 were going to be the final dimensions I was going with. This version was cut on 1/8" plastic, the following are ALL the pictures of that process.

Hurray!!! It exists! Kind of! But i felt a minor success none the less. However the second I started mounting parts I realized one thing (go look at version 4 cad again)....go ahead I'll wait.

Doo da dooo....

Find it? Well if you didn't thats ok, the 8 knobs and 8 buttons featured along the right side of the mixer had the knobs oriented in such a way that the pins for them were pointing towards the box edge. I knew this was a wiring issue not worth going through. Version 5 (The Final Design) was created, and last minute changes were made.

This is the final faceplate. Holes for mounting, and turned the knobs to face away from the edges.

If you notice anything about this design and the final product I have is that I left ample space for text. I haven't given up yet! Also some of you may notice a tiny red notch on all the knobs, that's the place for what's known as the "key" of a knob. If you scroll down and look at the photo of the knob, you'll see a very tiny peice of metal jutting up from the side of the knob. Apart from screwing the washer/nut to attach these knobs to the board, the key ensures the knob doesn't turn in place.

Some of you may also be wondering (as did I when this started) - how the hell do I drill holes for the faders? How do you make that measurement - calipers! You can measure the distance! Or you could look up the physical parts schematic sheets as they offer the measurements for you, but I found more satisfaction in doing this myself.

Now I didn't return to make the final cut for another month, I just need to order some kind of metal and I still hadn't decided on it at that point in time. I figured I'll worry about it later, I was more concerned with the the next challege - acquiring parts and wiring it all together.

The Parts List

Now some of you maybe asking "You designed the faceplate without parts?" No the parts were done in tandem with the above steps (it was a really rough week learning CAD and speccing out parts!) as I kept looking for parts I kept refining the design. So I had the relative dimensions based of off another mixer in that above photo. The question was how could I determine the relative size of the inputs on the board? Fortunately I discovered this photo.

This was the photo that sealed the deal. Seeing Sasha's arm positioned next to the device said a LOT about the size of the mixer, it's components, and it clearly showed off the extreme tilt of this box! Sure his arm is bent at the elbow, but that was easy to accommodate for. Which helped me arrive at the following...

Large Faders - http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/PS100-2B1AR10K/987-1407-ND/2620676?cur=USD (i wanted linear, but i could only get them in logarithmic). These are mounted directly to the faceplate.

Short Faders - http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/SPA-20K/20K-OHM-SLIDE-POTENTIOMETER/1.html (these are mounted to perf board from Radio Shack, I didn't use copper perf board. Just the simple stuff.)

Knobs - These can be found anywhere, it is a 10kOhm Linear potentiometer. It also goes by b10k. Common short hand for "linear" is a preceding B before the resistance value. If you see A it implies the fader is "logarithmic" - I suggest ebay. They are uber cheap. Outside of the resistance value, the two dimensions below help contribute the a very minimal fader. (these are mounted directly to the faceplate)

For anyone who doesn't know what it means to have a linear or logarithmic fader - let me save you the technical verbiage, research, and some time. 

If you have a linear fader, you have a 1 to 1 mapping. If the physical fader is positioned in the middle, you will see it positioned in the middle in software. In fact wherever you see the physical fader lies you will see it identically placed in software. 

If you have a logarithmic fader, you don't have a 1 to 1 mapping. You have an implicit curve hard defined within the fader. Better yet, let's imagine it as a crossfader with two hard defined curves. Bottom to middle is a very wide/long/open curve - it takes a huge push to get even a little volume. But the middle to top? A very sharp/fast curve. The tiniest push is a huge shift in the volume.

I somehow had some no name faders laying around (after 2 months of research I discovered there were knockoff Alps faders and thus aren't manufactured anywhere), and just so happened to find faders that were the exact specification of those. Why was this important? I forgot to tell you, I designed the CAD file around those original no name faders! Faders I thought I could purchase again! I was wrong. Talk about 4 days of hell racing to find a fader with nearly identical dimensions. Ugh, never again. BUT! The large faders I found were the ones that are listed above. The Apollo 13 features 7 logarithmic channel faders (channels 1-6, plus master volume) and 2 linear faders (master BPM and the crossfader). Doing this you can quickly slap a fader to kill volume to a channel, and you don't have to do it all the way down. Just hit about the middle and it'll be dead. But the master BPM and crossfaders absolutely had to have a linear fader. Just a bit of a personal preference.

Sweet! But, wait...the buttons. The Buttons! THE FREAKING BUTTONS THAT LIGHT UP! TELL ME ABOUT THOSE!

I spent an absolute stupid amount of time trying to find the identical buttons used in the Maven. My only conclusion is they are custom made, because I can't find this kind of design anywhere...

This is one of the most close up shots I've ever found of the device, and it really highlights the size and design of those LED push buttons. That and the font that was custom designed, which you'll notice I recreated...

I digress.

The buttons! Ok, so after a lot of searching. A lot of phone calls. Hundreds of quotes. Using a bunch of musical gear and contacting major manufactures of dj equipment, I purchased these...

The LP15R1 by E-Switch

These little beauties are FAN.FREAKING.TASTIC. They are insanely bright and the best part? Come in all the colors you need to build a Maven. Green. Red. Blue.

LP15R1WHTGRN-N

LP15R1WHTRED-N

LP15R1WHTBLU-N

Now I made the purchase from Newark/Element14, however I absolutely must emphasize these things vary wildly in price and I completely lucked out of purchasing them when they were selling these things for $2.66 a piece. The price has changed since then and I advise everyone to absolutely search the hell out of these things before buying. But they snap into perf board ever so nicely with those 4 gold...fangs? I'm going to call them that. Fangs. There I said it. Fangs.

I had to build 6 of these little boards (obviously) as these are all the green buttons that represent the clips that will be launched in the 6x6 matrix. Emphasis on matrix. These are wired in matrix. But i'll get to that in later posts.

I'm sighing all over again just looking at this photo.

So there you have it everyone, those four parts make up this entire board. This entire MIDI Board. They are either mounted directly to the faceplate or perfboard that then mounts to the faceplate via Nylon Standoffs. If you are wondering what the white pegs jutting out from the perf board are called, they are nylon standoffs that...well do just that, help something stand off from the surface. Here's a link! http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10462. I used 3/4" nylon stand offs in this project for all perf mounted inputs. Which to summarize, all perf board requiring standoffs were any LED Pushbutton or any short fader used.

Alright so maybe it's five parts because of the standoffs.

Wait, six I forgot about the perf board.

Until next time!

This wraps the first of many more posts to come outlining the design, my thought process, and all things Apollo 13 so you can build your very own. I encourage comments, questions, emails, skype phone calls, you name it - i want to make this fun and easy for everyone. I also hope these posts are living up to what the people who are following this project expect these posts to be.

I think I'm going to shoot for Tuesdays and Thursdays 7-8pm central time to post new articles. I'll try to step it up if i can, but I'm confident I can at least keep that promise of twice a week. More importantly this post introduces another thing people are itching for - downloads. So, let the downloads begin.

1. Obsession

Continue the story at...

http://adamdzak.blogspot.com/2012/07/apollo-13-case.html

Apollo 13: First Thing's First...

$487

See that? That's the chase and me cutting to it.

I've been getting a lot of tweets, emails, facebook messages and all sorts of comments on various blogs about my replica of Sasha's Maven controller for Ableton Live. I'm thrilled, flattered, and genuinely surprised at the interest in this project for something my friend reminded me I said sometime ago is "...just another midi controller but...ya know in the shape of a maven." Because let's be honest, it is.

That's cool and all...but what about the parts?
Oh, you mean these?

$200 - pushbutton leds
$180 - the actual MIDI interface*
$20 - all faders (big and small)
$20 - a sheet of 6061 aluminum
$20 - a sheet of 16ga steel
$11 - knobs
$10 - nylon stand offs and matching screws
$10 - all resistors
$8 - various wire
$5 - perf board
$3 - all diodes

Sweet, but...uhh...what about that * business?
Arduino?
Midibox?
Custom thingy by me?
Builder Brain?
Doepfer?
Highly Liquid?
These are all brands you may know, and some you may not. The truth is, all of them were used towards constructing this thing. In fact I either own, have owned, taught, learned, intentionally blew up, or in some way shape or form interacted with every single one of these things. Including building my own from scratch. I taught myself MIDI sysex and already knew some basic programming, so originally when this thing was at its inception was a 100% built by hand MIDI interface with 30 inputs. But after various ups and downs and learning a great deal of information about all things MIDI and all these little devices I settled on one to progress forward.

The Builder Brain by Livid Instruments.
http://shop.lividinstruments.com/builder/builder-brainv2.html


Why?!
I'm sure someone is wondering why i picked that thing. The price?! The why?! The horror...or something! 
The truth is after completing major portions of this project (acquiring parts and doing CAD) I was wasting a lot of time outside of the project. It's one thing to learn things for the sake of this project, it was another when they took me off in entirely different directions and I lost focus on this thing. The biggest one was building a midi interface myself from scratch. This was easily a good 3 weeks of tinkering, soldering, programming, etc that ultimately I started realizing was becoming a very not feasible timeframe if I intended on sharing the plans with others. I certainly learned a lot but again, just wasn't feasible for everyone else. When I held the first plastic cut of the faceplate in my hand I could see the end of the project even though it was only the beginning. But entirely DIY midi for 127 inputs...it wouldn't be feasible to make this a casual DIY project for anyone. If my goal (and it is) is to empower djs, musicians, producers, random hobbyists and the sort this had to be easy and allow anyone of any skill level the ability to produce this otherwise fantastic device that only Sasha holds.

But again, that beginning struggle was worth it. I came out more knowledgeable because of it and I truthfully am beyond thrilled to share the results with you. As I said in the end of the original post quoting Adam Savage, reaching the end of this exercise was never the point of the exercise to begin with.

The builder brain for $180 while may seem like a high price tag offers the following right out of the box - 
64 analog inputs
128 Buttons
192 LEDs


and it powers it all over a single USB jack that performs send and receive. In addition it offers dedicated physical MIDI IN and MIDI OUT jacks.




I don't think I deserve the credit on this project, it should really go to Livid Instruments.


So What Happens Next?
I viewed these two points as possibly the most important questions of the entire project and thus am answering them immediately, upfront, and in the most candid fashion possible here. Had I posted any answers in forums, or comments or anywhere else...The point is I'm trying to avoid rumors/guesswork about my project and want an authoritative place for people to go about this project. As far as the upcoming posts? The nitty gritty. The build photos. The details. The part numbers. The tools needed. More...stuff. I welcome and encourage comments, emails, hell I'll take your skype phone calls email me and we can arrange something.

I'm shooting for Thursday evening (7.19) to discuss the parts list. Unless the community at large prefer I do something else? Leave your response in the comments!

Seriously, if it isn't clear by now - I'm going to show everyone how to build these. 

Just...gimme some time to write this stuff! Please!

Bright eh?

Continue the story at...

http://adamdzak.blogspot.com/2012/07/apollo-13-faceplate-design-and.html

Introducing...Apollo 13.

I love Sasha. Well his music really. I've never met the guy. I shook his hand at Spybar Chicago, but that was about it.

Do i really need to explain who this is?

His music is fantastic, the way this guy mixes music is on an entirely different level. But it helps when you have Ableton Live (DAW award winner 8 years running) and can hire a super secret team to build a custom controller for said software. What's more, a controller so unique and so Ableton specific that it lets him wield this software on a whole new level. A level in which all hardware manufacturers have thus far failed (in my opinion.) Sure generic MIDI controllers have been made but something specifically built around the Ableton Live software? The APC40 certainly counts, hell Ableton and AKAI partnered to build this thing. It's a fantastic little $300 device. But Sasha? What do you do when you are superstar DJ extraordinaire? You get a mystery team together, you chat, you plot, you develop, and then birth what has become known as The Maven.

The Maven is a one of a kind, unique, controller that you'll never be able to personally see or touch (or much less have access too). It's the one off controller that you only wish could play with. It's the kind of device you know there is absolutely no way you'll ever get to use. If you know what Ableton is and you see this controller, you should rightfully flip out over it.

I thought that way too, so I built one.


What's worth saying before I really get into this, is that I think the thought process that went into building this device can't and shouldn't be overlooked. It's really well thought out...i mean REALLY well thought out. Just look at the thing! Well let's look at each channel and what makes this board so special and tailored to Ableton.

Sasha's "Maven" controller

Looking at any one of the 6 channels we can see (starting from the bottom) A/B crossfader selection, then a volume slider accompanied by 6 LED pushbuttons each designated itself to the first 6 clips of audio within the Ableton Live software. Already, this thing is off to a great start you can launch clips in real time in a physical location that makes the most sense I've ever seen on a controller - right NEXT TO THE VOLUME. Now moving up there are two LED pushbuttons designated as Record and Cue for each channel. Above those are two FX Send sliders (A/B knobs for FX Send in Ableton). Then above that 4 stage EQ - lo, mid, hi, and gain (I'm assuming it's gain, but it's a MIDI controller. He could just as easily assign these knobs to anything he wants in Ableton (such as effects) - but he's gone for a pseudo-traditional mixer interface so it's a fair estimate. Finally, a single LED pushbutton for Channel On/Off at the very top.

Now to the right of these six channels is some added genius (again bottom to top). Dedicated knob for headphone volume, and a master/monitor selection. Above this is the standard master volume but incredibly overlooked on most controllers master BPM. Go ahead and let this thought just detonate in your brain for a second. A dedicated slider assigned to BPM within Ableton Live. I can only assume Sasha must have 5 bodyguards protecting this fader during sets. Either that or he sets the range of the slider from 125-130 BPM or he pulls an Apollo 13 and writes "No" on some tape. I digress. Above these two faders are 8 (what I assume to be) random effects knobs each with their own respective on/off function. Finally on the very top of this is master Play, Stop, and Record. 

It's a brilliant controller isn't it?

Again, I have to give credit where credit is due - absolutely the best and most straight forward layout for a MIDI (albeit Ableton specific) controller ever.


So what's a nerd to do?
Apart from ponder the various problems of constructing something like this when your background/degree is  network engineering/system administration (I'm an IT guy if these titles mean nothing to you)...I wasn't sure. But I'm a technical person, I just have to break this thing down into its respective parts. I'm sure I can figure it out. Ignore the fact no one knows how much this thing cost even though it's rumored at thousands upon thousands of dollars...It doesn't matter. It can't matter. These are just some buttons, lights, and faders. I'll build it from scratch. By myself. With zero help. and go only off whatever pictures I can find online. Simple.

Maybe, not that simple. But...
So I studied pictures - how big was the other stuff around it? The iMac? The Pioneer DJM 800 mixer? His arm from fingertip to elbow adjusting a knob on the board. The Pioneer CDJ's? other random mixers? The table it rested on. The external hard drives. These questions had answers that could be obtained in dimensions online, proportional estimates, and hands on manipulation of these objects that I could get a hold of at select music gear stores.

And there it is. What I've affectionately dubbed Apollo 13. It operates on a single USB jack and is just as worthy as its original counterpart in terms of functionality. For the sake of argument, here is a comparison shot.

 

Did I mention my buttons light up too? Cmahhn, I wasn't going to stop short on this project. Note here, there are no caps on the faders/knobs (in case you didn't already notice that). Just trying to show off the lights.

Needless to say, I'm rather pleased with how this turned out and I'm anxious in future posts to really dig into the step by step process as well as show off more photos. There is a dedicated OneNote notebook for this outlining every step and my entire thought process for this that I look forward to publishing shortly.

And truthfully, when I was drawing to a close on this project a few weeks ago I realized there was some left over jealousy but it wasn't aimed at the Maven's existance. It was instead aimed at what Ableton parterned with AKAI for a few years ago.

The Hunt for Red...
There is a feature I became particularly envious of Ableton/AKAI's APC40 and it's the infamous red box pictured below.

Sometime ago I came upon a photo observing Sasha's laptop, while he had music queued up into his set. He was hard set on the first six clips of audio in each row - either that or he was constantly re-assigning what button do what in a set. I can only deduce either I'm either looking at picture well before this software trick existed or he really didn't have it.

Over the should view of Sasha's laptop.

If he has 36 buttons (6 per channel) to trigger the first six clips of audio in each channel, those buttons are hard defined. By that I mean, he's assigned physical button to some space on his board. Whatever song he puts in that space, the button will trigger. But it seems massively inefficient. Either you are constantly swapping songs or constantly reassigning buttons. The whole "No keyboard no mouse" mantra slipped instantly.

The APC40 introduced a new trick for Ableton and that was "Bank Select." I'm not sure how much it overlaps with MIDI Bank Select, but it's seen in it's above form as the red rectangle. The advantage now being, you have a box that has buttons assigned within it, and as you move that box up and down...whatever should so happen to be "behind" the red box immediately assumes that button. Just push play on the following Ableton youtube video and it will all make sense.

Skip to 1:50 to see "Bank Select" in action.

Now, the problem is - I thought this feature was reserved for Ableton/AKAI and other partners. Or whoever. Like you need access to the source code in order to make this trick happen. Fortunately, in about 5 hours time I found that was not the case and taught myself some basic Python (that's a programming language in case you don't know). Because referencing several of my friends and their installations, there is a directory that stores scripts that execute on load to pre-assign information to the connected controller. After pursuing this directory and studying it's contents one Saturday afternoon I copied them to a flash drive and went about my re-engineering of them. The end result? If you plug in Apollo13, there is a script file you can associate to it and have the red-rectangle yourself (or any color really). This is really the only thing I think I can say one-upped on the original Maven.

forgot about this photo! updated on 7.12.12, 11:50pm central

Now, if you decided to just watch the entire video you may see additional tricks the APC40 can perform. I chose not to pursue them. The 2nd most attractive feature that I'm still pondering copying is as the bank select moves up and down the launch pads change color and designation. Unfortunately, I have single colored LED's rendering this potential idea incompatible. At the very least, I spose I could just have everything off but only light what is playing. Meh. Food for thought. The focus is the Maven.

So that's my story of the past 4 months and there is only one way to close this post of mine.

A brief thanks...
First - I want to sincerely thank Rukes photography, you not only do fantastic photography of DJ events but you helped make a lot of my estimates possible. I can only hope push button dj's don't start hiding their custom gear in fear someone is going to replicate it. Just don't do it. Someone will figure it out anyway.

Secondly - I absolutely must thank the following companies and people: Newark/element14, Radio Shack, Zeno, eBay, allelectronics, Pumping Station: One, my musically inclined friends who let me borrow their computers for hours testing and tweaking this, future electronics, Mitch, the tileworker I met for and the guy who wanted to fire up an angle grinder and in turn made me strive for a better box, Colin, but above all else there is one person I have to thank immensely for this...

A crazy awesome sincere THANK YOU to Alexander Coe (a.k.a Sasha) and whatever super secret team you paid to put yours together. Your music has been and is a pleasure to listen to and you have been nothing short of an inspiration towards constructing this.


Questions.
Can I buy this?
This one specifically? No.

How much did this cost?
I'm still adding those numbers up. I think the thing overlooked in these kind of projects is "Crap, i don't have those tools. I need to buy those, suddenly I'm spending more than I thought on this project." So I'm going to create a few, insanely thorough breakdowns as soon is as humanly possible. My estimates right now put it on par with high-end market mixers. I just don't want to announce a number until I have something more concrete.

How long did this take to build?
It took me less than 4 months. I've been talking about it for close 5 years because I'm obsessed as all hell with this custom freaking build for one of my favorite musicians. But for some reason about 4 months ago I actually decided to seriously commit to this project and I went from 3 knobs to a full board in that period of time. If I had to do this again, I could do it in less than one month. Let's say two just to be safe.

Would you build me one? You did say "This one specifically..." I'm certainly open to the idea, but this is not what I do for a living so I'm not sure how it fits into my life just yet. For right now, I am interested in at least hearing numbers of what people would pay for this. So please, email me.

What's your box/case made out of?
The box is 16 gauge steel. I went with 16ga for the sake of intentionally adding weight to this mixer. The faceplate is 6061 aluminum and it's found in space shuttles and other types of aircraft. It's incredibly rigid/sturdy but weighs almost nothing. You probably have seen it because Apple uses it on all their products.

What about those fancy side things on his? Where are they?
They are purely aesthetic (but really good looking none the less) and as a result I didn't feel the need to put them into this build. The highest concern was function (which I've achieved). Second, which I hope to achieve relatively soon is some labeling and the side thingys. Maybe another month, I'm just in a mad rush to say "IT WORKS!" I'll leave it at this - I shot for the moon and fell short. But I did it on less than 5 volts of power.

So this is a replica? Isn't it just a midi controller?
Yes, it's a replica of Sasha's Maven controller which is more or less just another MIDI controller. Analyzing whatever shots I've seen on the back of his mixer it looks like some additional functionality was added (e.g analog output, thus suggesting an onboard soundcard for booth out, master out, and headphone out). One of the obvious glaring differences is that instead of a solid black faceplate with white lettering, I have a brushed aluminum faceplate with no lettering. Truthfully, I'm still plotting the best way to achieve this - screen printing, decals, laser cutting...I have a lot of options but am still wading these waters. Not to mention, I built the thing for myself, I know exactly what does what. Additionally, I removed three controls - knobs flanking the crossfader and a master/channel cue button. They can easily be added or just be assigned to something on the board.



I have more questions!
Awesome, I'm glad you do! I want to make contact with myself as simple as can be (and protect myself from as much generic spam as possible). So take my name and do one of the following - find me on facebook, or remove the space between "adam dzak" and then add a @gmail.com to it. I'll try my best to respond relatively fast, and you can most likely expect an answer in the evening after I get home from work. While I intend on being very thorough in some upcoming posts, I'm ok seeing if I get an overwhelming number of similar questions that would merit just a mass response via post.




Pictures.
I couldn't think of where else to put these.

This is (I kid you not) the starting point of the entire project.

Version 5 of my drawing cut from 1/8" plastic on a ShopBot Desktop. Version 5 you ask? I don't own Autocad and more importantly have no idea how to use CAD. I gave myself a week to learn on a 30 day trial. Versions 1-4 went from square to more rectangular as well as compressing items down. Once I started seeing the physical parts that were going to occupy this thing the math became more clear as to how much space I had to put things together. Learning + version 1-5 took 8 days total.

Testing out the cuts/mounts from the cut. Fits perfectly.

Looks like the buttons fit! I only ordered 8 initially, I didn't order the rest until about 3 weeks ago!

I wired 33 of these freaking things. Thats another thing. The number of inputs? Allow me to share the insanity...33 knobs, 8 big sliders, 12 mini faders, 71 LED pushbuttons.

Blue/Red LED test. These things are crazy freaking bright.

Bending the box and yes, I used Mountain Dew to do it. For all inquiring minds, this device is known as a "bending brake" and...well shove some metal in, clamp it down, grab the handle, and bend. Machine bends would have been far more perfect but I wanted the smooth corners/edges and I don't have access to a machine.

Initial box assembly. Poked two holes in the back for anything I'd initially need to test with. The box is intentionally angled, one because it makes sense and two because I'm trying to replicate the Maven which has a slight tilt to it. Initially I thought about cutting the sheet so as to "fold" a box together, but given the angles I knew it wasn't going to happen with a hand-bending-brake. As you can see the sides were separately cut and mounted to the main box. As the project neared an end, final bends were made and tiny gaps were closed. Additionally, given I didn't know how the board was getting mounted yet at this point I've added metal right angles (hammered to 90 degress with a vice) so the board has something to rest on once placed in/on the box.

Priming the sides and yes - i do own that knife set. I used two coats of regular flat gray primer. Nothing special.

This is a combination of a flat black coat, and then clear crystal glossy coat.

Panel is cut on 6061 aluminum. Glad i decided to hack off all that excess. Would have been a HUGE faceplate otherwise.

Some printing came with on the sheet of aluminum as you may be able to see above. Goof Off...so strong you can use tissue paper to clean graffiti (i'm guessing).

Top down shot of the blank faceplate resting on top of/in the box.

Neccesary items have now been mounted

Lighting.

Knobs arrived 7.10...

BUT! WAIT! The one physical object missing in the video and currently are the fader caps.

Delay in shipping! Weak sauce! Lame! Seriously. Even still, once I receive them either today or tomorrow, the fader caps are getting repainted (black cap, white line). But I am not going to delay the release of this thing, instead I'm delivering it about 6 hours early. The knobs are clearly different than the ones on the original Maven, but the caps...identical (scroll up and look, i dare you!)

Never the less I hope you enjoy the following video.

Q: Hey wait, those black knobs aren't in the video what gives?!
A: Filmed, edited, and finished sunday. Tight schedule this week.

Also! The series continues at...

http://adamdzak.blogspot.com/2012/07/apollo-13-first-things-first.html

"...maybe then I'll achieve the end of this exercise, but really if we're all going to 

be honest with ourselves I have to admit that achieving the end of the exercise 

was never the point of the exercise to begin with was it?"

- Adam Savage

Diabetes: Just a software glitch.

I became involved with technology when I was 9 after seeing the movie Hackers. Regardless of how many problems exist with the film with my now current knowledge, at the time it was an absolutely brilliant film to me. Not to mention I'm indebted to it for my life pursuits, college, and career. Thanks Johnny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie. Let's move on, that sentence leaves a bad taste in my mouth.


I was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes when I was 12 and remember radically changing my youth, teens, and ultimately my years to come in terms of how I viewed life, economics, and more than anything my priorities. If 7th grade was about wondering why girls weren't icky anymore, drinking mountain dew, playing games with friends then my life had immediately taken a 180 as now the only things I could be concerned with was checking my blood sugar, dosing insulin, remembering to draw one type of insulin before the other so I didn't contaminate, eating correctly, not having too low or too high of a blood sugar, and everything coming second to this. On top of this, continually learning of ways to manage this issue of mine and how the variables of my life contributed to it's control.


Fortunately and luckily enough, I had my parents and brother as support at the time. While the first 24 hours of this knowledge was not necessarily a stroll in the park, the next week of my stay in the hospital certainly led to my otherwise black and white view on the matter. I remember when i was finally ready to come to grips with this at the time I said "So, when it comes down to it. I have to check my blood sugar and take 2-3 shot a day. K. I can do this." Because this was now and had become my new reality, my new state of affairs, and my new level normalcy.


My dad told me that "the area between two disciplines is the most fertile ground for innovation." Now at age 25 with more knowledge and technology than I had at 12, I couldn't agree more. At its best or worst, diabetes is just a software glitch of the (computer that is the human) body.


More importantly why couldn't it be viewed and treated as such? Like any well written software program, it's full of variables, control, and means of preventing mistakes. Who cares that I'm a living thing? Carbohydrates, blood glucoses, and all the crap involved in this disease is data waiting to be manipulated and dare I say - hacked. Besides, Jerome Radcliff at the hacker conference that I somehow miss every year demonstrated this year (2011) that it was possible to break into the insulin pump and deliver a dose wirelessly from his laptop. I've been dying to chat to him and certainly can only hope by some stroke of luck he comes across this post. In an arguably sick way, it's almost disappointing there are not more diabetics who happen to be of the IT disposition. I certainly wouldn't wish this lifetime annoyance upon anyone, but to quote Bill Gates - "I believe most problems can be solved."


In a series of upcoming posts, I'm going to be blogging the results of my diabetic body hacks that I have done or will be doing on a combination/alteration of injections, insulin pump, and CGMS. As an example, running several miles with/without my pump, consuming with/without caffeine, and all sorts of recently discovered information that is worth sharing. There just isn't enough control engineers, IT people, or technical people talking about this disease as their should be. Casual diabetics provide good conversation and good information, but I want more nerds in this field.


For a list of the seemingly endless articles written on Jerome, I've provided a "top hits" list here.
http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/04/excuse-me-while-i-turn-off-your-insulin-pump/
http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/231300312/getting-root-on-the-human-body.html







I'm a system administrator, network engineer, web developer, and as of this past year application developer. Thus far I've managed to improve my quality of life through some incredibly proprietary means (Excel) but my holy grail is hacking the insulin pump (with an Arduino & Xbee), and developing some kind of standard for exchanging data. Diabetes management in the cloud? That doesn't sound like a far off reality at all and while I don't doubt medtronic and other companies are hard at work towards an artificial pancreas, I'm going to be experimenting on myself until then even if this CGMS device isn't 100% accurate - gotta start somewhere.


I am however asking the following of any reader, or passerby of this blog. Read the following article from 2003. Put two and two together, and if Jerome Radcliffe himself should stumble across this - I can only imagine you'll be able to see where I'm going with this. 


Jerome, it works and I need your help.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/newsandevents/news_detail.html?news_id=7673

Diabetes @ the beach.

Will get you stared down, accused of cancer, and make otherwise interesting tan lines that can't be explained by anyone but yourself.

I'm not even kidding about the cancer thing. Apparently when you have something taped to your side and another thing stuck on your side with a tube running out of it to a pager...people really start making all sorts of wild guesses to comfort their children/own curiosity. But i don't mind the stares or the accusations, i'm a diabetic with my shirt off. If it wasn't for the chronic disease i'm annoyed with on a daily basis (don't ever let any diabetic tell you it's anything above annoying, they are liars and just want your sympathy) I would have people at the beach just making jokes at the expense of my rather scrawny frame (or my otherwise "pale" self, what do you want. I'm an IT guy. I sit with computers all days, indoors). Then again, i'd still be fine with that. THANKS TO THAT GENOME THING I DID, i know my body type is not going to change no matter what I do.

But I'll tell you one damn cool thing, that one thing stuck to my side in the picture with no tube running out of it is relaying my blood glucose levels to my pump wirelessly. Which equates to less fingersticks...because apart from how annoying that is several times during a day...the last thing I want to do is do that at a beach. I'm with friends, i'm not at work, and above all else - I just want to relax and do ABSOLUTELY nothing. What's more, disconnecting my insulin pump...leaving it in my backpack going out into the water and this thing still relay glucose levels. I don't even know what the range is of this device but whatever it is - it was enough to capture most of my sugars. So yes, it missed a few readings (does one every five minutes) but for the most part got them. Enough to see a trend and really that's all I care about.

So what's the point/moral of this post? Not much. Just being diabetic with electronic control at the beach...you know...a place with water. Whichever the case, I kept the pump on the beach and the sensor on myself in the water. No problems. So either Medtronic (the company that makes these devices) builds them really damn well or this is just a luck occurance. I'll go with luck as a minor splash on my pump last summer resulted in a free new replacement.

In my next post, I'm already feeling like explaining this disease for what it really is. An annoying, perfectly managable disease that if controlled will not have a single adverse effect on you...and how to do it and eat like you weren't diabetic AND for no healthcare profession to question it. Maybe I should dispell some diabetes myths and also make sure this doesn't turn into a diabetes blog. That'd just be stupid.

Microsoft, you lied to me.

As most of you know, or my friends would tell you. There is no company I pledge greater allegiance to than that of Microsoft. Windows has standardized my world, the Xbox 360 was my media extension out of it and coupled with games was phenomenal, Zune was how I listened to the best music around and never paid for per song for it. My first email address I ever created is still my email address to do and has become my de facto Live ID. My passion further evolved entering college and discovering this incredibly thing known as the .NET Framework. Venturing down the path of an IT guy at Purdue, Windows Server was a pleasure to administer clients with...my life from the start of my IT career at the age of nine to where it's carried me now is one that I've shared with Microsoft the whole time.

And I have nothing but good, fantastic, and wonderful things to say about the truly glorious ecosystem Microsoft has created. Office Live? App Hub? Tech Net? One sign on to rule them all - my Live ID is the only identity on the block and let me tell you I can't imagine my life without it. My Phone? Live Mesh? - Yes, these products helped me make the most of my college life and thrive with real-time collaboration for free. Something competitors could only dream of doing but only one company was capable of. Oh Microsoft, you've done nothing but right as far as I'm concerned.

But let's get serious. Let's be honest. You lied to me about the ZuneHD and more importantly knowingly shot yourself in the foot with it's lifespan.

I remember darting out of a class that November morning and practically racing to Best Buy with a friend. "A 16gb ZuneHD please," i said. Upon which I was returned with this beautiful package. This device that was going to change everything. Microsoft's answer to that iPhone garbage that didn't fit anywhere into my life. The device for people who love music, and finally offering touch and eventual Xbox titles.

But that didn't come. Well it did, just in the worst selection of applications for the device imaginable. This wasn't the answer to the iPhone or iPod Touch, this was just a failed product. But I got over it. I was perfectly fine with my WinMo 6.5 phone and my ZuneHD. Sure my ZuneHD couldn't join hidden wireless networks (still can't, guess you stopped caring) and sure it didn't have a marketplace of any real value. But I put up with it. I had a superior mobile media experience and that was honestly enough for me.

Then s&#t got real. Windows Phone 7 was announced and you decided to completely forget about this other product you had created. At first I was thrilled, I thought "Backwards Apple strategy, device then phone. Nice. Totally behind you company I love like their is no tomorrow." Then came the hardware requirements - "Three buttons are mandatory, back, home, and search."

Get. The. Hell. Out.

ZuneHD was dead, the device i had been so insanely excited for and two of my friends bought because of my push and envy of mine...you had just killed instantly.

Microsoft, all I'm saying is I feel as though you lied to me and your true Zune followers. The ones actually responsible for whatever small percentage of the market you owned. 2%? 5% 10% I didn't care what the number (and still don't) was because I loved that device and still own it. Yet everytime I look at it I not only scoff but realize how TRULY much it pales in comparison to my Windows Phone 7 device. It's a Microsoft device that no longer fits into my life and let me tell you it truly pains me to say that. You have the money. You have the power. You have EVERYTHING you need to drive a certain competitor straight into the ground and I can not begin tell you how bad I want this to happen.

Office 2010. Sharepoint 2010. CRM2011. Visual Studio. ASP.NET. Server 2003 and 2008. Exchange 2010. Need I keep listing all the technologies you have nothing but my complete unwavering support on? I have cast my ballot for Microsoft in EVERY possible way I can...but I can't forgive you for the ZuneHD and my wasted, but your clearly earned, money.

Sincerely,

@adamdzak

Yeah, I'd Go Running...if it Weren't for These Damn Knees!

When people discover I run and by discover, I mean I inform them what a pretentious bastard I am by the about of land I covered the previous night - usually they add in that "Well I'd run, but I just don't have the knees for it" or perhaps "I get sore if I run too long." Go ahead, I'll give you some time to think about this before continuing on.

I'm not really sure how this thought process prevails as a legitimate excuse to one's self, but clearly it must be working as these people continue to simply not exercise (america is rather overweight last time I checked). However, a common trend amongst the physically unfit is being the first point out healthy activities that require no physical exertion.

"Oh you know, tea is so good for you."

"Eating organic food prevents cancer."

"Did you know during your average workday you walk half a mile?"

I need not even be curious as to why these people are so quick to point out a short cut to physical fitness. My only guess is that they believe they've found a loophole in the system and beaten someone like myse...you know what. I'm a bad example. Let's use my brother. The tri-athlete. No wait, still not good enough. Let's use Dean Karnazes, the ultramarathon runner. Here's a guy that ran two marathons back to back (thats 52 some miles) and during which he ordered a pizza, drank two Starbuck's lattes, and an order of baklava. He ate/drank this whilst running. WHILST! THATS MORE SERIOUS THAN "WHILE." He's the same guy who did a marathon everyday for a month.

Secondly, these individuals are rather reluctant to have you point out the holes in their logic and supporting evidence. No doubt, tea probably has some kind of benefit...but I can't imagine the quantities you would have to consume to actually have something of a noticeable benefit. Eating organic foods prevent cancer? That isn't even worth my time, at least in this post.

The next time someone says they wish they could run if it weren't for their damn knees, ask them if they've been on a scale recently.