Pop'N Music Home-Made ASC Controller

POP'N NOTES


August 29th 2007	Had a bit of a chore getting all the soldering on the PCB, but we finally did and I got everything taken apart today to sand and make pretty. RAZMA suggested we paint it this weekend and I'm more than happy to oblige. So, we'll see what goes on.
August 28th 2007	The buttons came in last night. So tonight I drill the holes and start work on soldering the controller. RAZMA will probably be coming over tonight so I can get some good pictures of our work. I ALSO finally re-uploaded some lost images of my work on the original controller. Day 13 was missing several pictures when I accidentally uploaded pictured that had the same name and they were overwritten. So now it's all good again.
August 23rd 2007	Got the top cut out and ready to measure and drill. The buttons have shipped and (as of this morning) are already in Commerce City (CHECK TRACKING HERE)... so they should arrive tomorrow so I can drill, measure, and create the box this weekend. With any luck I can have it done and ready for RAZMA to try it out this coming Tuesday (Aug. 28th)! I am getting more and more excited to do some woodworking on this. I am still a little shaky on how I'm going to make the bottom so it opens without too much difficulty.
August 20th 2007	Getting the table saw from my friend Forrest tonight so I can cut the top panel out and get it ready to fashion when the buttons come in. Speaking of which, the buttons will ship either tonight or tomorrow and that makes me a happy panda. Anyways, when both the buttons come in and I find out the height of the buttons I can determine how to cut the side panels. Everything should be good and put together by the weekend.
August 15th 2007	Started the first page and I'm scanning in the template tonight so you all can see what I have in mind. I also ordered the buttons which came to ~$70 shipping not included. It may take a while to ship as they need to make the buttons. Sounds odd that they wouldn't have some already made and ready to ship... but there you are. Their website says that the buttons should be ready to ship on the 20th. Blech.
July 27th 2007	Ok. Spoke to RAZMA last night and we worked out the kinks to the Pop'n Mania controller. We're going to go with coloured buttons so it looks like a Pop'n Music controller. So I will need one red, 2 blue, 2 green, 2 yellow, and 2 white. I also sketched a few pages with information on the positioning, length, etc. of this controller. We also looked at sites to get the buttons and I think I will go with HAPP this go around (since WICO seems to be out of business). We found a good set of buttons here and they are reasonably priced as well. I can get all 9 for $70.20. I'll make an order next Tuesday (the 31st) . Some of them are on back-order until August 3rd, so it may take some time to get them in. I'll hold off working on the case TOO MUCH until they come in.
July 26th 2007	I have a new Pop'n Music controller project coming up to thank my friend RAZMA for things he has done for my wife and I. The project is to make a smaller Pop'n Music controller using Beatmania buttons. RAZMA is a wizard at playing Beatmania and for quite some time he has been playing Pop'n Music with the Beatmania modification (which makes the Pop-Kuns look like Beatmania lines)... so the side-project will be to make him a controller for Pop'n Music which I call a "Pop'n Mania" controller.
November 5th 2005	Completed the bottom part of the controller and finished the top edging part with Da'. It was a cold day and so the glue took forever to dry. I have the first part of the 'NUTSHELL' FAQ up.
November 1st 2005	So, the initial leg of my project is over. I have completed the controller (save a bottom and an edge). Did I stay within the $100 limit I placed upon myself? Well, yes and no... kinda' and very much no. Yes in that I personally spent less than $100 to make the controller. No... kinda' in that if I had purchased the wood myself (thanks again, Da') I would have spent $102 on the project. Had one of my old controllers worked then I would have saved $4.00 and would be under budget. Had I bought more quick-disconnects I would be juuust under budget. Very much no in that if I had bought everything other people supplied for me (1" hole saw, 3.5" hole saw, 3.5" hole saw drill attachment, soldering iron, solder) then I would be in the $160 range. So it is very possible to make an ASC controller for less than $100 if you have woodworking friends and/or relatives. It is also possible to make a nicer controller for about $125 if you want to splurge on nicer things like quick disconnects, nice wood, etc. If you have no woodworking connections and have a Home Depot around you then you can definately make a good controller for around $175. All in all I think that the people who make these for a living are charging a good price for their skills and for their time. I'm not very accomplished at woodworking and would have slaughtered my controller had I not had friends "in the know". So if you just cannot afford a controller from RANSAI or DESKTOP ARCADE, then you can make one yourself... but be prepared for a challenge.
October 28th 2005	Been sketching on my lunch hour and I came up with a great image for 'FEVER WIN' for my Noriaki character. Remember that I said that it had to be 2" in most areas? Well, I have a brilliant image that does just that. I'll post it tonight.
October 27th 2005 FOUND Home Quick Disconnects x13 TOTAL = $0.00 PURCHASE Radio Shack Pack of Switches - $3.29 per pack TOTAL = $3.51 (with tax) AVAILABLE BUDGET = $11.58	RADIO SHACK has the quick disconnects that I was thinking of using. More and more I like the idea of these things so i'll be buying two packs today. I know it'll dip into my funds (which are growing steadilly lower) but in the long run it will help. If I ever need to do repairs... or if I solder the wrong thing to the switch... this will be IMMENSELY helpful. Now I was wondering if there would be any way around using rubber stand-offs. These would be used to not only keep the PCB cable (the one that goes from the PCB to the PlayStation 2) straight but would take the stress should it accidentally jerk by either the controller being tugged, the cable being tugged, the PS2 being tugged. This cable ripping from the PCB would be disaterous! Do I need something to keep the cable from ripping away? Yes. Do I need to buy something? No. I think I can come up with something different. Perhaps make my own from stuff around the house, perhaps modify part of the controller box to act as a tug-proof bit. We'll see. RAZMA is supplying the solder, soldering iron, and wire. I can write that off! It's good to have friends. Lastly, I found a guy who tells a quick explanation on how to make a homemade ASC.
October 26th 2005	Found some additional information that RANDOM posted on the RANSAI site about installing a lighting system. It has a lot of technical drawings, but with the help of Joel's site and RAZMA I think I can muddle through it. I have decided to use quick-connects after all. I know it will bring up my costs, but it just makes good sense if I need to make repairs later on. But for now I think I will take the bulbs out of the switches and just make the controller normally. Then, later on either that week or next paycheque, I will append this FAQ and show step by step how to install and wire the lights. Also found the SOUND MOD for the ASC controller. This makes it a bit quieter when thumping on the buttons... and trust me those suckers are loud (my wife Jennifer kept commenting "YES! I CAN HEAR IT! STOP CLICKING IT! IT WORKS!") (laughs)... yes dear. It actually seems to be a combination of the button hitting the bottom of its plactic carriage as well as the obnoxiously loud click of the microswitch that makes it so loud. I will probably not do this but I might show images of how to do it later on. RANDOM talks about it in the post. *Gotta keep focused on one thing: construction!* DumpsterKeeper on the Desktop Arcade message board told me that they use a 'hole saw' for the 3.5" holes they drill. I didn't know they were so inexpensive. This would work perfectly. UPDATE: Home Depot does not offer the inexpensive ones I see on google. $15 + the saw-to-drill connector is a bit much for my tastes. Perhaps my father in law has one already. And finally I found a site where a guy goes step by step soldering the PCB HERE. It has good instruction and details. I'm still a bit concerned about drilling holes in the contact points... and it would make more sense to use either the left down or right control directions as a ground (since they will touch it)... but other than that it's a good instructional site.
October 25th 2005	Notice the fuzzy area on the left-hand side of my blue Pop-N Navy image? Yup... that's me posting my mad skillz on the 9-button mini controller I have. It's much different from the analog controller and I can only estimate that songs will actually be easier with an ASC since the buttons will be further from each other and easier to find. I can do 13's... trying to get better to hit 14's.
October 24th 2005	Ok. It would help if I looked closely at the things I post! On the Animefringe article I posted in the links they show pictures of the RANSAI workshoppe. The image right after the dirty hands picture is of RANSAI controllers being assembled. I see that they drill a big hole and then place a piece of wood underneath it! That helps in my decision to possibly use a 1/2" piece of MDF and glue a 1/4" piece underneath it. I'll wait to hear from Desktop Arcade and see what method they use.
October 23rd 2005 PURCHASE Video Game Exchange Playstation 1 controller - $4 even TOTAL = $4.00 AVAILABLE BUDGET = $15.09	Found a $4 PS1 controller that has large areas to solder to at "VIDEO GAME EXCHANGE" on Platte. The owner of the store said "Why don't we just call it $4 even and not worry about pennies?". HAIL 2 U!
October 22nd 2005	Got the mini controller from CONTROLLICA and it's pretty good. It's nowhere NEAR as sensitive as the Dreamcast one I have, but at least now I can learn 9 button with it. I think i'll do a quick-once-through the 5 button songs and get used to it (since i'm so used to the analog controller) and then start 9-button songs.
October 21st 2005	Tonight I created the template for the button placement. It looks groovy. I'm surprised at its length. Wow. That's just wrong to say...
October 20th 2005	Groovy-ness begets groovy-ness. I posted about my website on the Desktop Arcade board (as I posted yesterday) and who should offer their assistance but the head-man himself, the Bob Villa of Bemani: DumpsterKeeper! He wrote: *"If you need any assistance or advice, feel free to post or email me."* Thank you. Trust me... I will, and thanks again for your help. HAIL 2 U! Button spacing is on my mind as is making a template overlay to get everything JUUUUST right! 'DumpsterKeeper' said that the buttons are spaced 5.5" from button to button. My friend RAZMA asks via email:"What are you doing to the box. What kind of finish are you going to use? Controllers like the Ransai use a metal (!!!) box and the Konami Official is made of nice hard plastic. If you're making it out of wood, are you going to paint it? Another option (that will be a little more expensive, but last longer) will be to inset a piece of plexiglass in between the top layer of wood and the buttons. That way, if you paint it, there won't be a sticky/grainy feeling and you could also add graphics to the underside of the controller. Just a thought. :D". I am going to make it out of wood. RANSAI and DESKTOP ARCADE both make theirs out of wood, it's actually CONTROLLICA that makes theirs from metal. I do plan on painting the box in the end, but the "less than $100" part is JUST to make the controller. The plexiglass would be cool (and the swapping images when you wanted would be groovy) but that would be another mod-project for another time. A nice clear enamel coating on the paint part works just fine to make the paint job more durable and non-sticky. The nice thing about an enamel outer coat is that you can put anything you want underneath it. I did a project in college design class that used cut-outs and an enamel coating to protect it. Several layers will get you a great hard shell that you can even fine-sand to be smooth with no bumps from the details. Cool stuff. When I do paint it, I'll probably do it that evening so I can play the controller the afternoon I make it and then paint it and let it dry that evening... so I can play it again the next day! I'M COO-COO FOR COCO-Pu... I mean POP'N MUSIC!! Called WICO back this afternoon and they said that they had all 9 buttons and the package will ship today. Good news. After yesterday's bad day (long story) I need all the good news I can get.
October 19th 2005 PURCHASE WICO 9 Jumbo Buttons - $7.81 each S&H - $10.00 TOTAL = $80.91 AVAILABLE BUDGET = $19.09	Well, I got an email from my friend RAZMA who says that he has made controllers for himself in the past and would be willing to help me on this one. YES! Poifect! I getting a bit nervous about the whole soldering bit, but this might help me with expenses more. He did say that I should try to find a MAD-CATZ controller as the PCB connections are bigger, but I've got a pretty steady/precise hand. I'll look at the controller tonight and take some pictures and see if they're too small for me to attempt. I have a few other controllers I can look at as well (3rd Party ones). I was going to avoid using them since they're SOOOO tacky and I was afraid of shoddy craftsmanship, but we'll see what we have to work with tonight. I also posted this site on the Desktop Arcade and Pop'n Navy message boards in hopes of helping some of those that wish to make their own controllers. Once again I wish to emphasize that I am not trying to take any business from these companies. They make really great products and I would encourage those of you who have the cash to buy one. Also, I am not an expert. This is a journey for me too. It's just that I know how I best learn and i'm putting it out into the 'ether' so you can learn from my experience. Ordered the buttons today from WICO. I mentioned that the other company had a better price and asked if they could match it... and they gave me an even better deal. Just goes to show it never hurts to ask.
October 18th 2005 AVAILABLE BUDGET = $100.00	WEBSITE IS BUILT! To start with I looked on the web for "how-to" sites, but found only one. Wayne's site gave a good amount of information, but he wasn't able to take some pictures of certain things and I got a bit confused. I learn through detailed step-by-step instructions so I'll be taking LOTS of pictures for those of you who know absolutely NOTHING about sodering, electronics, and what in the world to do. Wayne and 'Shaper MC' were nice enough to let me link to his site so all kudos to them. Shaper MC wrote: "Hey, sure. A JoJo fan is always welcome to link". It pays to be a Jojo freak! HAIL 2 U! Next, I went back to places that make them as a business and looked to see what equipment I will need: RANSAI - an American company made by Pop'n enthusiasts ~$275 (shipping included) DESKTOP ARCADE - another American company ~$225 (shipping included) and CONTROLLICA - a Canadian metallic controller maker ~$339 (shipping included). In the meantime I purchased the mini controller from Controllica off of ebay to use until my lights come in and I actually start my project on October 31st. So it seems I will need to make a sturdy wooden box 12" x 30" x 3", I will need a Playstation controller (non analog) to act as the brains of the controller, i'll need 9 jumbo roundish buttons (1 red, 2 blue, 2 green, 2 yellow, and 2 white), soder/a sodering iron/and wires, drill bits (1" and 3.5"... yes, those are inches), and paint to make it pretty. Hopefully I can do this for less than $100. The Desktop Arcade controllers have handles for carrying and while I may add one later, I do not wish to make it part of my $100 expense. Also, there are two buttons I will not be adding initially (the start and select buttons) as you can do most everything with the normal buttons. I will add them in the future but, once again, they aren't needed for game start/play/finish. I found an extra PS1 controller at my house (wow... I have an extra one that isn't an analog controller!) so I will use that for the "brains" of my controller known as the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). That saves at least $5-$10 on the cost. YAY! I like how RANSAI and Desktop Arcade puts images on their controllers and how RANSAI sketched the two ASC builders as Pop'N characters... so I drew my own Pop'n Noriaki character for the console (image here). On one of the message boards, someone told me that the guys at RANSAI were interested in putting up a "how-to" for their economical 'KAGURA' ASC controller so people who couldn't afford theirs could make a cheaper one. I sent an email to RANSAI to suggest that they sell the parts seperately (so I could buy from them). If I don't get a reply soon I'll be buying the lights from either: WICO($80.91 for 9 buttons + $10.00 UPS Ground) or HAPP ($73.35 for 9 buttons + $5.50 handling fee + $10 UPS Ground) I'll be ordering this Thursday October 20th to insure that they will make it by the time i'm ready to start building on the 31st, so I hope RANSAI replies. I'd rather buy from them... even if it might be a bit more.

POP'N MUSIC LINKS
POP'N MUSIC Best Hits
American Pop'n Music Forum
Another GREAT Pop'n Music ASC Homebuild
POP'N MUSIC 11
POP'N MUSIC WALLPAPERS
DESKTOP ARCADE - ASC Maker
RANSAI - ASC Maker
Wayne's Home-Made ASC Controller
Joel's RANSAI Controller - On page 2 he put in lights himself
Swap Magic - Play imports on your US PS2 (imports like Pop'N Music!)
POP'N NAVY - A community to record your progress and interact with other players
GPRIME video - No, the video's not sped up. No, I will never be this good (laughs)
GPRIME video - One handed. This guy is using the official KONAMI ASC Controller
Animefringe Article - An article about Pop'N music and ASC controllers