Build log

Three revisions to get one controller right.

Addressable LEDs that failed in whole chains. SMD parts you couldn't see through the panel. Light pipes, thru-hole LEDs, an LCD, and finally shift keys. Here's every board, panel and mistake along the way to GrooviXBox.

V3.0 — Light pipes & shift keys V2.0 — LCD & thru-hole LEDs V1.0 — SMD & addressable LEDs

Hardware · V 3.0

Light pipes and shift keys

In our third version we fixed the keyboard LED issue with a light pipe, and added shift keys to increase the functionality.

Here we used rectangular light pipes for the keyboard lights and added three shift keys.

What changed: 2 mm clear acrylic light pipes cut to fit the front panel holes and glued in place, a reworked encoder/LED-ring stack, the LCD mounted properly, and three shift keys to multiply what every other key can do.

Hardware · V 2.0

An LCD, more keys, and no more light-pipe guesswork

In our second version we added an LCD display and another set of keys. We also wanted to make it more serviceable and easy to assemble for DIYers.

Here we used rectangular thru-hole LEDs, so we did not have to worry about light pipes and reliability issues.

What changed: 2×5 mm thru-hole LEDs in the encoder rings, 3 mm status LEDs in different colours, a keys board with its own RGB LED board underneath — and a mask to stop the key lights bleeding into each other.

Hardware · V 1.0

Where it started: SMD and addressable LEDs

In our first version we used SMD components with WS2302 addressable LEDs for the dials.

The addressable LEDs had reliability issues — if one LED failed, every one after it in the chain failed too. The second issue was making the SMD LEDs visible on the panel: we needed light pipes.

What changed: an 8-encoder board with a shift register reporting to the MCU, an addressable RGB LED board stacked on top, laser-cut acrylic top and bottom, and Teensy wiring — the two problems here set the agenda for V2 and V3.