DIY Voodoo Lab Control Switcher??

[awkme]

i'm new to the midi thing, i have never needed it till now. lol. so I have made my own boxes in the past and was thinking it couldn't be that hard to make a control switcher for my tube amp so i can trigger it through my fx board. am i wrong and do any of you have any idea what the schematics would look like. i really only need two isolated relay controls(1 stereo or 2 mono). the Voodoo Lab Control Switcher has 4 and cost $150... its not worth it if i can make it smaller.

[awkme]

so, does anyone have an idea where i could get some info on how to build this project?? 

[potul]

first of all, what's exactly what you need? I understand that you basically want a MIDI switcher, is this it? (so, a device that receives midi messages and activates/deactivates some relays)

On the other hand, what's your background? Do you have experience programming any PIC, AVR or similar? Do you have any programmer you can use?

You need on one hand a microcontroller to control everything, and on the other hand some relays and drivers for them.

If I would need to do such a thing, I would evaluate 2 options:

-Use a PIC, like the 16f88. It has UART included, and it makes MIDI really easy.
-If you don't have any programming device, you could take a look at the TI Launchpad. It costs only around 4$ and includes a couple of microprocessors and a development board to program and debug it. IT doesn't have UART, so you will need to program a software UART, but it is a 16 bits uC and you can program it in C with the included tools.

For the relay part, go to GEofex, there's plenty of information about relays and how to control them digitally.

Mat

[awkme]

ty, i'm so in over my head its not funny, lol. I thought it was much more like a effects pedal.....  thanks for your time

[jimbeaux]

This might be the solution to your problem - it's a programmable MIDI controller  - you can program it for keyboards, foot controllers, and  retrofit organ/accordions, etc,....

You can change the pin uses by changing the firmware - with a sysex dump (through the midi connections) (all described in the on-line instructions & forums)

You can also "chain" them together using the MIDI "thru" connectors (probably not an issue for what you're wanting to do - but neat anyway)

http://highlyliquid.com/midi-controllers/

Look through the forum pages & I think you'll see if it's a solution for what you're wanting to do or not. (I think there are about 7 pages & I have seen foot controller solutions there.)

http://forum.highlyliquid.com/forumdisplay.php?s=d8a630d0c9957a197c51de04ca823c01&f=17

There are no connectors attached - soldering to wire terminals would be the best solution - keeping it flexible for later idea changes.

They  also sell "decoder" boards - which might work (I haven't looked into this myself -)

http://highlyliquid.com/midi-decoders/

The owners are very helpful - if you don't see your application in the forum - they will help you customize to your needs with advice, links & code.

That being said - the Voodoo Lab price could be the "right price".

My two cents anyway.