Monome on the cheap

Just discovered there is a guy hacking a thinkgeek bliptronic to run the arduinome software and be a small/cheap monome clone. I'm seriously considering picking up one of his kits he's offering.

wow.... that plus this plus an external m-audio could be an incredible live setup

pff you are sooooo November '09 CDM.

cool box though, honestly though at that point i'd be more interested in simply picking up all the components myself and building a DIY monome (that is, not monome's kit, but just build my own box kind of thing).

  On 2/21/2010 at 4:24 AM, kaini said:

wow.... that plus this plus an external m-audio could be an incredible live setup

Ya, just the portability will be really nice, although IDK how big a normal 8x8 monome is... Maybe a little bigger than my padkontrol?

  On 2/21/2010 at 6:14 AM, ryanmcallister said:

pff you are sooooo November '09 CDM.

 

cool box though, honestly though at that point i'd be more interested in simply picking up all the components myself and building a DIY monome (that is, not monome's kit, but just build my own box kind of thing).

I feel you on that, do you think you could build a box from scratch for less that about $120 though? The bliptronic is $50, and the kit (pcb, cables and 4 pontentiometers) is like $68.

this is the shittest, worst sounding "synth" i've ever seen.

That's as maybe, but what is it like as a midi controller ?

worse than a potato with a wire sticking out of it

  On 2/22/2010 at 11:13 PM, BCM said:

worse than a potato with a wire sticking out of it

could I use that as a theramin?

  On 2/22/2010 at 6:03 PM, Hautlle said:

  On 2/21/2010 at 6:14 AM, ryanmcallister said:

pff you are sooooo November '09 CDM.

 

cool box though, honestly though at that point i'd be more interested in simply picking up all the components myself and building a DIY monome (that is, not monome's kit, but just build my own box kind of thing).

 

I feel you on that, do you think you could build a box from scratch for less that about $120 though? The bliptronic is $50, and the kit (pcb, cables and 4 pontentiometers) is like $68.

If i were to source out all the parts and buy them individually no problem. The case/finish/buttons/leds etc would all be to taste though, personally i wouldn't mind springing for a little nicer stuff cause i'm all about the design. If you knew what you were doing you could easily get something just as nice as a monome for half the price, though maybe a bit more expensive than the bliptronic (but honestly i think that thing is ugly, and hell it'd just be fun doing it yourself).

  On 2/23/2010 at 3:02 AM, Hautlle said:

  On 2/22/2010 at 11:13 PM, BCM said:

worse than a potato with a wire sticking out of it

 

absolutely, but you might have to make some of the sounds yourself by going "wooo-oooo-aaaaa-uuuuur-ooooo".

 

could I use that as a theramin?

^

wtf?

I reckon all these pretty LED grid triggers like monomes, APC's ect will so obsolete in about a year or so when multi touch LCD screens become the norm.

perhaps, but then in 10-20 yrs everyone will get all nostalgic and it will be all the rave for the young'ns of the day =P

I am going to say that it is not EASY at all, to make a one-off interface like the monome for under 50$, all of the DIY monome stuff quickly gets to be shit when budgeting. (often dropping LEDs, switched the rubber pads with arcade buttons etc.) It's a lot more expensive when you're not buying every part in a huge quantity. I'd be interested in seeing more details about converting that little guy into a monome, could be the shit.

also, Fuck touch screens, they suck, I hate 'em.

  On 2/25/2010 at 3:56 AM, Glass Plate said:

I am going to say that it is not EASY at all, to make a one-off interface like the monome for under 50$, all of the DIY monome stuff quickly gets to be shit when budgeting. (often dropping LEDs, switched the rubber pads with arcade buttons etc.) It's a lot more expensive when you're not buying every part in a huge quantity. I'd be interested in seeing more details about converting that little guy into a monome, could be the shit.

 

also, Fuck touch screens, they suck, I hate 'em.

Well I pre-ordered one of the kits. He is just finishing up the PCB design and getting ready to send it to the manufacturer. He hopes to ship them out by March 19th. I'll keep you updated on the progress. The thing is, for all general purposes this will be a monome, same controllers inside etc, just a different shell, so all the software support is there. As you said, the only way to get something decent at this price point would be to do a mass order with many other people, and even then IDK. I figure I'll build this thing and hopefully use the shit out of it. If not I can always sell it to someone else.

yes please do let me know how that turns out, I've always wanted monome since i was a little kid. :P

Alright, so I finished putting this baby together 2 days ago and it is now up and running after figuring out all the monomeserial and other stuff.

I've got it running SevenUp Live 2.0, it's really nice. I'm digging the ability to make beats and changes on the fly. It really reminds me of my FL days and how I used to make beats. I'm still a total monome nub, but it is freaking awesome, so I'll be enjoying the fruits of my labor for quite some time.

Build quality is good. The buttons are a little "clicky", but over all I'm very pleased.

Here's some pictures:

The add-on controller PCB that holds the arduino and connects the 4 knobs, you can also see the header that connects it to the USB Bub board. Had to populate this PCB myself (glad the soldering skills came back quick , this is my first DIY kit)

The original Bliptronic 64button matrix PCB connected to the controller board through the 18-pin header, and the knobs

Finished! You can see the serial->USB board that sits outside of the box.

wow pretty awesome, might have to do this.

Is it now bus powered with the USB or does it still require batteries? Thinking about building one of these to use as a portable midi controller in Ableton.

  On 5/10/2010 at 2:32 AM, goffer said:

Is it now bus powered with the USB or does it still require batteries? Thinking about building one of these to use as a portable midi controller in Ableton.

Completely powered by the USB bus.

Ended up just grabbing a Novation Launchpad instead... the blip was gonna be about $150 after the kit plus shipping... was able to get the launch pad for $180 out the door after some haggling.

wow thats rad. I'll have to check it out. I have a really good source for electronic components and don't mind getting my hands dirty in some electrical theory if I have to. I'd love to straight build it from parts. Teh PCB is the only tricky thing, and I'm pretty sure this shop near me will cut them for you. :p

  On 5/10/2010 at 6:19 AM, goffer said:

Ended up just grabbing a Novation Launchpad instead... the blip was gonna be about $150 after the kit plus shipping... was able to get the launch pad for $180 out the door after some haggling.

That's a damn good deal man. I noticed he upped the price of the kits. I pre-ordered on the initial run so I got my kit for like $68 + $50 for the bliptronic. I've seen quite a few apps that tun the launchpad into a monome too.

  On 2/23/2010 at 12:02 PM, soundwave said:

I reckon all these pretty LED grid triggers like monomes, APC's ect will so obsolete in about a year or so when multi touch LCD screens become the norm.

couldn't disagree more, touch screens have been around since the early 80s

  On 5/10/2010 at 9:18 PM, Awepittance said:

  On 2/23/2010 at 12:02 PM, soundwave said:

I reckon all these pretty LED grid triggers like monomes, APC's ect will so obsolete in about a year or so when multi touch LCD screens become the norm.

 

couldn't disagree more, touch screens have been around since the early 80s

Yeah.. until touch screens have velocity sensitive rubber pads, i'm not really interested.

  On 5/10/2010 at 9:15 PM, hautlle said:

  On 5/10/2010 at 6:19 AM, goffer said:

Ended up just grabbing a Novation Launchpad instead... the blip was gonna be about $150 after the kit plus shipping... was able to get the launch pad for $180 out the door after some haggling.

 

That's a damn good deal man. I noticed he upped the price of the kits. I pre-ordered on the initial run so I got my kit for like $68 + $50 for the bliptronic. I've seen quite a few apps that tun the launchpad into a monome too.

Mmmhmm... went on a splurge and bought max for live as well... currently trying to setup SevenUp Live.