Squishy Led Buttons on devices. What else could you use?

sabana · 2022-06-29T12:22:53.164Z

Im not a fan. You know the led plastic lights that are seen on the Deluge the Squarp stuff, the Polyend stuff etc etc. But could there be another alternative?. I just dont like the cheapness look of them. . Like Elektron buttons im a fan of and they light up. But i guess are more expensive. But id like companies to steer away from the led squishy plastic buttons. Rant over.

Symian · 2022-06-29T14:56:53.007Z

Thing is would they be very comfortable to finger drum on, I can’t say I’d fancy the idea of a launchpad pro with hard buttons or a push for that matter, especially not the playing surfaces… if it’s just a sequencer we’re talking about then I guess it’s not so bad but again if the sequencer doubles as a playable surface that can be recorded real time we’re back to soft pads again… 🤷

shankiphonic · 2022-06-29T15:42:01.270Z

sabana:

I just dont like the cheapness look of them.

They are cheaper. In many cases, they are rubber sheets.

The Elektron buttons, I suspect, are technically switches and they are NOT cheap.
someone on the forums blacked out their Digitone recently and shared pictures - maybe they have some photos of the DN with the hood open.

I’d have to open a deluge and a digitakt and look at them side by side, but my past life in electronics suggests to me that the hardware designs are fundamentally different.
the rubber buttons usually make direct contact with a PCB. so the layout matters. switches can be wired in and laid out in a different fashion. Agree with @Symian that I prefer the feel of rubber for finger drumming, in-time.

there are some midi controllers that use buttons (also technically switches) like the kinds they used to use on arcade machines - look into that?

trackerjack · 2022-06-29T15:47:36.238Z

Yeah, and Models are the worst, although the quality certainly isn’t cheap, or bad. Well, time will tell. Just don’t like the feel.
Either MPC style or clicky for me.

Edit: also liked the old APC clip buttons…

bodymechanics · 2022-06-29T15:47:39.835Z

Completely agree. The elektron buttons feel fantastic. I don’t like that Roland TR8 style either, or the pioneer stuff.

Symian · 2022-06-29T15:58:05.132Z

Yeah I’ve always fancied a midi fighter 3d to have a mess around with, 16 arcade style buttons with 4 banks, I’ve gotta twister now and it’s quite honestly one of the nicest controllers I’ve had…

darenager · 2022-06-29T16:04:21.631Z

The other main options are tactile dome switches or mechanical key type switches, neither can offer velocity though (although not all silicone do either)

Silicone squishy type (aka dead flesh ) are generally very reliable and last well, they are also the easiest to fix.

Tactile dome are the least reliable, but cheap and easy to replace in most but not all cases.

Other options are capacitive like on say the Volcas, some of which can offer “pressure” sensitivity (really surface area, but fingers tend to squish!) and FSR type resistive pads - which is very similar to how silicon pads work, but they are comprised of layers of film with resistive element sandwiched between. These can be velocity/pressure sensitive but are often not very enjoyable to use, as they are pretty firm/rigid under the finger - a bit like drumming on a table.

For many use cases silicon squishy are the best option I think.

Airyck · 2022-06-29T18:14:38.165Z

I think maybe just not translucent pads with LED’s? That’s probably what makes them look like toys.

Think about the old MPC pads that didn’t light up. They looked fine.

You could add LED’s next to, or around the pads if needed (like Octatrack MK1 for example).

Ooorrrr, little tiny drum skin buttons?

trackerjack · 2022-06-29T19:24:13.713Z

Calf skin! (Sorry vegan friends… )

jb · 2022-06-29T19:31:08.005Z

I don’t think it’s so much the pads as the LED colour choices. I remember looking at maschine at first with disgust. It just looked so tacky and cheap but then the mk3 came out and I snapped and went for it. I’m used to it now. New launchpad pros do it better especially with the custom layouts. Some of those pastel-ish ones are quite nice when you get a full custom set up going. I don’t think anything packed with LEDs is gonna age like wine though

DaveMech · 2022-06-29T19:37:48.874Z

I found the Tempest silicone pads to be perfect. But probably not cheap to use like rubber sheets. Felt great while programming and drumming. It’s still lonely at the top when it comes to pads imho.

1zerozerozero1 · 2022-06-30T06:14:51.356Z

Totally agree. There’s a vast overuse of LEDs on so much gear these days, mainly I imagine because the tech is cheap and they can. But man does it often look tacky and cheap. And, sheesh, my eyes!! Taste, unlike LEDs, is a relatively rare commodity…

darenager · 2022-06-30T08:19:32.014Z

I somewhat agree about the RGB LEDs too, if the colours are too garish it looks horrible and toy like, some of the chosen colours on some gear are pretty nice though, the more muted orange, yellow, cream and greyish seem to be less offensive. Bright blue is the absolute worst, but some of the green can be unpleasant to look at too, especially if it has too much blue, like the early Aira stuff.

The flipside is that with well chosen colours RGB LEDs can show a lot more information at a glance than single colour LEDs.

Touchscreens too are mostly terrible, the only ones I found to be ok are 1010 instruments. Even iPad, thanks to cramming in way too many gestures are becoming worse, the responsiveness is great, but the stupid - and in my case useless - split screen function is way too easy to invoke, and Apple won’t let you disable it, like how at first they would not let you disable auto rotation back when iPad launched.