I need help understanding midi a little more.

[Casino-Shanty]

Hey guys, I'm wondering what you think about replacing the buttons on a korg nano-something with arcade buttons. However, I want to have 3x8 button set. Therefore, I would have to take 2 nanopads and hook them up to a usb hub internally or use a nano key. Basically, I want to build a cue-point chord box (http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/05/20/cue-point-chords/#more-1395) but not spend so much money on shipping etc. Plus I want buttonssss!

So, nano pads will obviously cost twice as much (bad) but I need to know that since the nanokey is "velocity sensitive", will this effect the mod? How does the velocity sensor work: do I have to remove the velocity sensors as well?

I'm hoping this should be a simple simple mod:

A)take the keys off and replace them with jumpers to the sanwa arcade buttons.

B)house it in a sweet case so it doesn't look like a plastic piece of crap.

Thanks in advance for the help,

Andrew.

PS: maybe if someone knows of a chart that shows what buttons and switches are swappable, as well as the difference between analog buttons and digital buttons if there's such a thing. (Ie. is using a biased switch the exact same as an unbiased switch in the midi world? Can you replace a pot with a fader since they're both cc?  most importantly, what is the difference between velocity sensitive and "all or nothing(?!?)" switches?

[Casino-Shanty]

OK, so I made some changes in my plans. Instead of a nanokey mod, I'm going to do a nanokontrol mod. 8 sets of chords (3 arcade buttons, a pot and a slider each) + 1 scene button + 1 master volume + 1 extra knob sounds like a pretty rocking midifighter 2.0 to me.

I plan on making it in a solid wooden box with an aluminum faceplate.

Solid wood means take a big log (I live in canada, they're everywhere) and saw it to length. Then I'll take some off each side so it looks like a solid wood rectangle with bark on the skinny long sides. Then I'll whittle the bark off so it looks like a hilarious log cabin. Hollow the sucker out with a band saw and us a router to sink the faceplate in. I think I'll cover it with some sort of plastic coat so the water doesn't get in or out and cause the wood to crack (my main concern). It's like a Canadian version of the livid boxes. I'm still trying to think of a logo that I can wood-burn into the face.

Face plate: Going to a machine shop is expensive, so I'll see if I can do it at home. My dad is a heavy duty mechanic and has all kinds of fun tools. I'm sure I can use a drill press for the arcade buttons, but for the sliders and pots (which I'll just trace off of the original plastic faceplate, no need taking the faders off of the board) I'll have to use a dremel I think. It still shouldn't be too bad, the only thing is wear a full face mask because the dremel disks sometimes break, and they'll put your eye out if they do.

I read somewhere else that the padkontrol buttons are just contact buttons, super easy to solder new leads onto. Other than the new buttons (and maybe new fader grips) it should be a pretty straight forward mod. I'll probably make a smaller box for a nanopad at the same time, I think I'll keep it as a dedicated beat box.

I'm choosing nanos because they apparently don't interfere with using a usb hub too much. For me that's a fairly important thing as I use a wacom pad for theremin-type synths, a usb soundcard, a mouse, an Alesis ControlPad, and I'm looking at getting an APC-40.