[Wherecombinator]

I’d love to make a midi controller for my alpha juno and tx81z with a screen for the envelopes. Like a generic controller with say 12 pots and some switches to change operators/pages. I come from a software background not an electronics background so I find it difficult to find info about where to go with this idea. Would building this be a good stepping stone? Does anyone know any good sites for info on this?

Ultimately I’d love to put that dx7 that’s on a raspberry pi but put it in the format of the digitone. I loved everything about the digitone but the sound.

[elihu]

I also have a software background and have been learning hardware design recently for a midi controller project of my own.

For the project you describe, you probably don't need more than a basic understanding of electricity. You'll want a microcontroller. I like the Teensy, as it has good libraries and many people have used it for midi-related projects.

You'll probably also want to design a proper PCB. You wouldn't have to, but once you know how to do it, it opens up a lot of possibilities. Kicad is great, once you get the hang of it. The learning curve is steep. There are a lot of good videos on youtube though.

I've been using JLCPCB for boards, and mostly Tayda for through-hole parts. JLCPCB's minimum order is five boards, and if you aren't doing anything fancy it's usually super cheap.

Boards can be either be all through-hole or you could have some surface mount. Surface mount is great for mass production, as you can order the boards with the surface mount components already placed, and it's cheap.

[gero_]

As much as I'd like more people to build it, I don't think it's a good match for your situation. Both things that make the ottopot special (and thus a bit more involved and expensive) won't work with hardware synthesizers as far as I'm aware; 14bit CCs and MIDI feedback for updating the LEDs. I think your best way forward would be to buy something like an Arduino starter kit with a handful of components and a breadboard and just start following some examples from arduino.cc — probably using USB MIDI at first because it doesn't require any additional components with modern microcontrollers. From there it's easy to go to DIN MIDI. Overall I've found MIDI projects a very good entry into the world of electronics and microcontrollers because it's really simple and even the smallest projects can have immediate, motivating results.

[fantasybroker]

You might be able to combine a small physical MIDI controller with a cheap phone/tablet for controlling more advanced features like envelopes.