I have a very simple home DJ setup consisting of a Numark Mix Track Pro 3 and my MacBook. I really dig this simple DJ controller because it occupies much less space than turntables, is very portable and offers most of the bells-and-whistles an amature like me needs for boping around in my bedroom for a few hours.
The one thing that this controller doesn’t have on-board is gain control. This is a big problem since managing levels is one key aspect to mixing tracks together so they blend well together–few things feel (and sound) worse than cutting in a drop at 50% the volume of the previous track. It just falls flat, sounds empty, and feels embarassing. To get hardware gain control, I could remap existing knobs on the MTP3, but there really aren’t many extra controls–everything already has a job! And using the mouse in Traktor while DJing is less than ideal.
I built this mini controller rather quickly from parts I had lying around from other incomplete/unstarted projects.
Component list:
- 1 x TeensyUSB LC device
- 2 x 10K potentiometers
- 2 x momentary push buttons
- 1 x Yellow LED
- An enclosure – I used an old plastic business card box.
Code:
The code could be written better, but I will post the first version here. Please forgive the mess!
