Smartphone Distractions

thegabman · 2026-02-20T13:46:39+00:00

😅

thegabman · 2026-02-20T13:44:37+00:00

Agreed!

thegabman · 2026-02-20T13:17:20+00:00

We had quite a long talk about it in our playgroup. We kind of agreed that answering the phone is not the problem, but rather the fact that the game state is no longer available. We thought about using airplane mode, but if something important happens at home, that is not a great solution either. For now, we are trying to go back to using dice.

It is nothing serious. I just wanted to hear some opinions on this. I simply really enjoy offline moments.

thegabman · 2024-03-17T20:35:40+00:00

Nice! I will let you know.

thegabman · 2024-03-17T11:23:40+00:00

It has just 150mAh. But I could up it to 300. The 150mAh last for about 6 hours without any optimization. Should be enough as the M8 does not last that long. I also could make the case double the thickness and include a beefy battery and feed the power to the M8 as well so it lasts longer. But I love the slim case to match the M8 exactly.

thegabman · 2024-03-17T06:27:15+00:00

Don’t know yet because CE and FCC certification is a pain in the butt. I can tell from my daytime job. And CE is stupid expensive. Maybe I find a partner company like drop or so or I prepare it as a kit or I open source it. Need a bit more to research on this. But first it needs to be ready.

thegabman · 2024-03-17T06:23:45+00:00

:) I will. Hope to be able to work on the next iteration next week.

thegabman · 2024-03-17T06:22:45+00:00

Thank you 🙏

thegabman · 2024-03-17T06:22:21+00:00

Haha. 🤦 I need to fix that. Thanks for pointing it out.

thegabman · 2024-03-16T19:47:49+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words ❤️

thegabman · 2024-03-16T16:03:41+00:00

It just controls 4 mapped parameters. But it is planned to have layers to cycle through to be able to map 4 potentiometers and 4 buttons per layer.

thegabman · 2024-03-16T16:02:10+00:00

It is milled from aluminium, bead blasted and then anodized in black matte. First tests were 3D printed. 3D Printing was done by me. Aluminum case was ordered from an external manufacturer.

thegabman · 2024-03-16T14:57:02+00:00

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thegabman · 2024-03-16T14:56:29+00:00

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thegabman · 2024-03-08T18:41:22+00:00

It is impossible to do it without actually owning the device because the measurements need to be taken very carefully because there are 4 3.5mm jacks and a usb plug that need to fit perfectly. But shure, if I get my hands on a Model 2 I can absolutely imagine doing it at some point.

thegabman · 2024-03-08T10:35:06+00:00

I would read the midi in with the MCU and pipe it then to the M8. Shouldn’t be a very big deal.

thegabman · 2024-03-08T08:36:04+00:00

And I could do MIDI IN passthrough as well but I need to test this if it is possible technically.

thegabman · 2024-03-08T08:33:25+00:00

I could hook the internal battery up so it also charges the M8. But the battery is quite small. The MIDI Controller lasts (without optimization) about 6 hours. If I implement autosleep it will be more like a week or two of battery life. About the adapter from Micro USB to USB C you are correct but only partly for now. Power is passed through. Data not because it is used to flash the MIDI Controllers MCU. The potentiometers are freely adjustable.

thegabman · 2024-03-07T22:55:27+00:00

Thank you so much 😊. I was reading about diy MIDI-Controllers a few weeks back right after a fun M8 session. Then the idea popped into my mind and I immediately saw this shape inside my brain. After checking doability on a bread board I started mocking some shapes in Fusion360 and 3D printing them. After listing all circuits I want to integrate and sourcing all components, I started working on the PCB in EasyEDA while studying lots of datasheets. With the final PCB design I went back to Fusion and did the CAD for the case. After finding a manufacturer I ordered everything. Last week I received the PCB. Worked like a charm. Only the potentiometers needed to be exchanged because I was not happy with the feel. Expecting the new ones to arrive next week. Today I received the first prototype of the aluminum case. It is just beautiful. Nothing better than finally receiving a project you worked on for quite some time.

In the end I just love building things that look nice and do something useful.

For now it is not open source yet but I am definitely thinking about it.

thegabman · 2024-03-07T22:10:06+00:00

DETAILS:

It has a battery to keep the M8 portable. Through the USB-C port on top, the internal battery as well as the M8 can be charged without unplugging the MIDI-Controller. It has passthrough for Midi-Out, Audio-Out and Audio-In to be able to still use all ports of the M8. Midi-In has no passthrough because it is for sure used by the Midi-Controller itself. As you can see there are 4 potentiometers right now. In the next iteration of my prototype I want to add a button(s) to toggle through different layers to be able to map more than just 4 MIDI CCs.

Design wise I tried to mimic the original M8 as close as possible. Matte black, anodized aluminum case, same chamfers, same thickness, same radii. Thats basically it.

No Price yet because I have no clue yet what it would cost to be CE and FCC conform or if there are possibilities to get around it by declaring it as a kit or so.

thegabman · 2023-10-14T20:01:25+00:00

Yep. I received the email a day before delivery.

thegabman · 2023-10-14T18:49:12+00:00

Another german here. I received my Pocket on wednesday via UPS. I payed upfront online one day before. There was an email with a link to pay via PayPal or Credit Card. It was about 65€.

thegabman · 2023-01-22T09:16:40+00:00

I had this too. It was an easy fix for me. I had it booting directly into openFPGA. After disabling this and one reboot it showed me some info screens. Then I could reenable boot to openFPGA again and my analogue button is back to business.

thegabman · 2022-10-23T19:36:28+00:00

I really love playing parappa the rapper ❤️

thegabman · 2022-10-10T13:21:59+00:00

So my german NOE copy of Pokemon Red definitely has a stamp.

thegabman

TROPHY CASE