Update June 2020
Due to some private events it has been a while since I’ve posted an update. That doesn’t mean that nothing has happened though. On the contrary! The last month there has been quite some progress which I will talk about in this post.
Rotary knobs came in
The quality of the knobs is amazing. They are made of stainless steel, have a knurled grip and have been polished nicely.
The rotary knobs are looking good!
Another mistake also came to light when the knobs came in. The calculated angle used to indicate the min and max value of the knobs is off by a few degrees.
Apart from these two things that need fixing, I’m quite satisfied!
First slider knob test
The slider knobs have turned out to be a real pain in the ass. For some reason it’s hard to find fitting knobs which is why I decided to design them myself. Turned out that what I wanted is too expensive. This has something to do with the fact that I want solid metal knobs without any plastics and that the slit that needs to be cut into the knobs has to be quite deep and narrow. This means a small drill should be used which will break more easily when drilling deep.
Luckily, my girlfriend mentioned this challenge to an uncle of hers who has been super helpful. He came up with a different way of attaching the metal lever into the knob by drilling a hole and then filling it up with a pin with a slit in it.
This pin will be made of metal as well but I tested the principal by 3D-printing it and fitting it in the knobs that my girlfriend’s uncle sent me.
The slit pin is 3D-printed and fits in the knob. The lever will then fit in the slit.
The pricing of this knob is the last thing that is standing in the way of determining the sale price of the controller. So, when this works and the prices of the materials are also known, I will finally be able to publish the price of the KNTRL9!
MIDI controller software
The time waiting for parts I mostly spend on working on the software for the KNTRL9. After getting things work a few weeks ago I made some more improvements in the code. There still were some bugs that I managed to fix in the new version.
In order to be able to test each MIDI controller before it gets shipped, I spent time on making a test program (this was something I was able to do while I unexpectedly had to go to the Netherlands for a few weeks). The program tests each knob and button on giving correct values. Controllers that do not pass this test will not be sold and will be fixed first.