Setting up a Turntable

Wiring

Supplies

  • A microcontroller

    • Raspberry Pi Pico users: this legacy release does not support Pico boards. Use the currently supported Santroller tooling at santroller.com.

  • SparkFun Pro Micro (5V or 3.3V)

    • The 3.3V version is easier to use with Wii and PS2 controllers. The 5V version requires voltage conversion for 3.3V peripherals.

  • Arduino Micro

  • Arduino Leonardo

  • Arduino Uno R1, R2, or R3

    • The board must have the ATmega16U2 USB controller. Uno clones that use a CH340 USB chip are not supported.

  • Arduino Mega 1280, Mega 2560, or Mega ADK

  • Some Wire

  • Soldering Iron

  • Multimeter (it will be used mainly in continuity mode, where it beeps when the two contacts are shorted together)

  • Wire Strippers

  • Wire Cutters

  • Heatshrink

Wiring Steps

Electronics basics

This guide assumes that you know how to solder. If you do not, stop now and go practice soldering.

If you have no idea what a microcontroller is, start here. If you are familiar with microcontrollers and PCBs skip to choosing a microcontroller.

A microcontroller is a small board that can be programmed to perform various functions. In this guide, you will be using the microcontroller to replace the main board of the guitar. Around the edge of the microcontroller, you will see various solder through-holes called pins. These are labelled with a pinout (which you can find by searching for your {your microcontroller} pinout) and sometimes on the microcontroller itself. The pins have various functions, but for this controller mod, you will need to be familiar with all 4 types of pins:

  • GND (ground) - the common connection that all electrical components must connect to in one way or another in order to complete the circuit. Every set of functions for the guitar will feature a GND pin.
  • VCC (common collector voltage) - this is where you would connect to provide power to a circuit. Sometimes this pin is labelled as 5V, 3.3V or 3v3 on the microcontroller or pinout.
  • Digital Pins - These pins are the "basic" pins. They can essentially only show if a button is pressed or not pressed. You will use these for strum, start/select and frets. The are the most common pin on your microcontroller and are usually labelled with just a number.
  • Analogue Pins - These pins provide a range of values rather than just on and off. These are the pins you will need to use for whammy, tilt (when using an accelerometer), or your joystick. Analogue pins are labeled on the pinout with A followed by a number.
Note

Analogue pins can be used as a digital pin, but digital pins CANNOT be used as an analogue pin. So if it the instructions say connect to a digital pin, you can use an analogue pin.

>Analogue pins can be used as a digital pin, but digital pins CANNOT be used as an analogue pin. So if it the instructions say connect to a digital pin, you can use an analogue pin.
Note

V<sub>CC</sub> and GND can have more than one wire soldered to them. For example, if you want tilt and whammy but only have one V<sub>CC</sub> you can solder them both to the single V<sub>CC</sub> pin on the microcontroller.

>V<sub>CC</sub> and GND can have more than one wire soldered to them. For example, if you want tilt and whammy but only have one V<sub>CC</sub> you can solder them both to the single V<sub>CC</sub> pin on the microcontroller.
Danger

Avoid pins 0 and 1 on the Arduino Uno, as these get used for sending controller information over USB.

If you are unfamiliar with microcontrollers, you may also be unfamiliar with PCBs in general and figuring out which pins correlate to which function. Here are some terms you will need to know.

  • PCB (printed circuit board) - the often green or brown boards containing traces and electronic components
  • Traces - the copper conductors on a board. They look flat and are often metalic. Think of them as "wires" on the board itself connecting components. If you are still confused, a quick google search can help you understand traces.

To keep the relevant information in this guide easy to find, information is sorted by function.

Effects Knob
  1. Wire one of the outer pins to VCC
  2. Wire the other outer pin to GND
  3. Wire the middle pin to an analog pin on your microcontroller.
Crossfader
  1. Follow the pins going to the Crossfader. There should be three pins.
  2. Wire one of the outer pins to VCC
  3. Wire the other outer pin to GND
  4. Wire the middle pin to an analog pin on your microcontroller.
Euphoria Button and LED

  1. Connect V to VCC on your microcontroller.

  2. Connect V0 to ground on your microcontroller.

  3. Connect AT to one of the following pins

    Microcontroller PWM Pins
    Pro Micro, Leonardo, Micro 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13
    Uno 3, 5, 6, 9, 10
    Mega 2 - 13, 44 - 46
Face buttons
  1. Remove the face button PCB from the turntable
  2. There is a smaller PCB attached to the main button PCB with headers, which contains the main micro controller. Disconnect this in some way, either by cutting it away, desoldering it or cutting traces going to the microcontroller on it. Be careful though, as the traces on these PCBs are very cheap and can break very very easily.
  3. Follow the traces from each pad. You will find that there will be common traces going to multiple pads, which you can connect to ground. Connect the other trace going to each pad to a digital pin on your microcontroller. In effect, you should end up with one side of every pad going to ground, and the other side going to a digital pin. Some tables may even have the pins labeled for you, which can make things easier.
Platter (Standard)
  1. The platters connect to the same PCB that the crossfader is on. There will be some labelled pads, V, C, D and G.
  2. Hook up V to VCC and G to GND. For safety I would recommend hooking V to 3.3v on a 5v microcontroller, as most I2C devices I have come across don't like being powered by 5v.
  3. Hook up C to SCL and D to SDA using the pins below.
Microcontroller SDA (D) SCL (C)
Pro Micro, Leonardo, Micro 2 3
Uno A4 A5
Mega 20 21

Programming

  1. Start Santroller with your microcontroller plugged in.

  2. Set the Input Type to Directly Wired

  3. Hit Configure

  4. Click on Controller Settings

  5. Set Emulation Type to Controller

  6. Set the Controller Type to DJ Hero Turntable.

  7. Windows controller mode can be set based on your preferences. Note that this only affects windows, a controller in XInput mode will use the correct mode on a console, and will automatically use HID mode on Linux and macOS.

    1. XInput - This works more natively on windows, and most games will automatically bind controls.
    2. HID - This uses HID on windows, which means games won't automatically bind controls, but HID is polled a bit more efficiently in games like Clone Hero.

  8. If you would like to adjust settings related to polling, click on Controller Poll Settings

  9. If you would like to use Queue Based Inputs you can turn that on here. This puts any buttons you press into a queue, and sends them out to the PC as fast as USB allows. This means that the controller will process your inputs at a faster poll rate than 1ms (the fastest rate USB allows) and then the PC will be sent your inputs at a 1ms rate.

  10. Set the Poll Rate to your preferred setting. 0 sends data as fast as possible, any other number polls inputs at that speed.

  11. Debounce can be adjusted here. Debounce is necessary as button inputs are noisy. When you hit a button, it will often bounce and send multiple presses, which some games may percieve as you hitting the button multiple times, which can result in dropped sustains. When you set debounce to a value, the signal ignores any release inputs for that time frame, so if you for example set it to 1ms, then the button input will be on for a minimum of 1ms, and only after that will the release be processed. This has the effect of stretching out the button press to at least 1ms, which ignores any bouncing in that timeframe.

  12. Now you can start setting up your inputs. To keep this information relevant, it is grouped by function.

    The Platter
    1. Click on Dj Turntable Inputs.
    2. Set the SCL and SDA pins that you have wired the platter to.
    3. Leave the turntable poll rate at 10ms. If you poll it any quicker than this, the platter velocity will be less accurate due to how it is polled.
    Buttons or Dpad
    1. Click on the button you want to configure, and make sure the Input Type is set to Digital Pin Input.
    2. Make sure Pin Mode is set to Pull Up.
    3. Click on the Find Pin button, and then press the button on the guitar. If you have wired everything correctly, the tool should detect the pin and the icon for that button should now light up whenever the button is pressed.
    Joystick
    1. Click on D-pad Left, and set the Input Type to Analog Pin Input.
    2. Set Type to Joystick Negative
    3. Click on find pin and move the joystick left or right
    4. Adjust the threshold so that the D-pad Left icon lights up when you have pushed the Joystick far enough to the left. This means you can adjust how sensitive you want your joystick to be.
    5. You can do the same for D-pad right, however, set the Type to Joystick Positive instead.
    6. If you wish to also map joystick up and down, click Add Setting and add another Strup Up and Strum Down input. Then you can follow the above instructions again, only using negative for up and positive for down, and when detecting the pin, move the joystick up and down instead.
    Crossfader
    1. Click on the crossfader, and make sure the Input Type is set to Analog Pin Input.
    2. Click on the Find Pin button, and then press on the whammy. If you have wired everything correctly, the tool should detect the pin and the Original Value value should change when you push on the whammy.
    3. Click on Calibrate.
    4. Move the crossfader all the way left and hit Next.
    5. Move the crossfader all the way right, and hit Next
    6. Move the crossfader to the center, and hit Next.
    Effects Knob
    1. Click on the Effects Knob, and make sure the Input Type is set to Analog Pin Input.
    2. Click on the Find Pin button, and then press on the whammy. If you have wired everything correctly, the tool should detect the pin and the Original Value value should change when you rotate the effects knob.

  13. If you do not want to hook an input up, hit the Remove button to the right on that input.

  14. Once everything is configured correctly, the Save Settings button should be clickable and you can hit that button to write your config to the guitar. It is now ready.