Dancing Tofu Gaming - GIGANAUT Dance Pad Beta (upd. 8/9)

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

Trexxen, not sure about the shipping (somewhere around $50? I want to find a shipper that's not as widely used as UPS or FedEx, because they don't care about their packages at all), but for the rest, no problemo. =)

Cleverest, devout's actually pretty correct. The concrete absorbs vibrations that would go into your floor, if it's not something really solid. You'd be fine without though, just make sure you're playing in a place with a foundation. (those are pretty much standard make; as long as your place was built before 1850)

Also, if figure this should be obvious, but don't play on a second story, unless your place is build like a parking garage and has 12" concrete floors between each level.

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devout · Trick Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Location: the atl

just messin with you, cleverest

as for the 2nd floor thing, that probably will depend a lot more on how your building is built, like tofu said. I live on the 2nd floor and ive never gotten any complaints from below. On the other hand, my old apartment building was made out of like popsicle sticks, and I can imagine if I tried to use it there it would have been a problem.
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the world's most refined homepad: devout stealth

Almost-finished non-Stealth homepad for sale, just add sensors! see here: http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8921579#8921579

Trexxen · Trick Member Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Location: Knoxville, TN

Eh, nobody actually LIVES down there, but my sister sleeps there and father works there...so the noise won't be a problem. =P
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Huh, I didnt know Oasis had freezes.

cleverest · Basic Member Joined: 31 Mar 2007

daikenkai =[ · Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 3:35 pm Post subject:

hey, can u get on msn

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

Hey guys, I just got back from a terrible boring weekend at the beach.

So, if I added some incentive to finish the Prototype. If I don't finish it by tuesday, I have 5 people who will kill me and a C in Health.

So don't expect me to get on tomorrow.
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cleverest · Basic Member Joined: 31 Mar 2007

Hey Mr. D_Tofu....question for you

is my panel going to be as loud as this panel is? (blueshark)

Watch this video for a perfect illustration of the loudness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD1w0o9h-78

If so it's really going to limit when I can use this thing...a lot....the blueshark is REALLY LOUD....check it out...

granted I'm pretty new to all of this, so maybe I'm wanting something that isn't possible? (a fairly quiet hard pad)

Thanks!

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

Well, if you're really concerned with volume, the source of the noise is actually the shoe hitting the Lexan. Since the DT500's are expensive, highly customised pads, I can probably work out using rubber panels, instead of Lexan, but they will probably have to be opaque if so. Another solution would be to line the soles of your shoes with felt. That would significantly muffle the sound made when hitting the panels. However, the sound is significantly exaggerated when recorded on videos. Video camera microphones pick up the sharp sound much better than the smooth vibrations of the music, making the steps seem much louder than they really are. Try it out unmodified first; the sound will actually help your play a LOT. My MA improves by a ton when I can hear my steps.

Do you plan on using LED's? If not, why don't you just try it with standard lexan panels, and if that doesn't work for you, just let me know, and I'll send you some rubbery ones if I can.
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pooface · Trick Member Joined: 27 Sep 2004

Wow, these mats sound great. I was thinking about getting a BlueShark, but I may get a 500 instead if they turn out to be as awesome as they sound.
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Trying to build a mat...

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

So, I'd like to give you all some good new and some displeasing but not really bad news.

I'll start with the latter.
The prototype looks like poopy.
The reason this isn't bad news is because I practically destroyed most of my materials while figuring out exactly how I was going to put everything together, so the actual product will look much better.

Now, good news!

1. I got a soldering iron; works great. It also has a variety of interchangeable wood-scorching tips, so I'll eventually be able to make fancy designs in wood.

2. I spent an hour soldering scrap wires and wasting solder and now I think I can go back and do a half decent job.

3. I have determined that one should not solder with only one light source, and that one should always have a good pair of needle-nose pliers when doing so. I will not overlook these prerequisites again when the results actually matter.

4. 12 Lexan panels arrived on Wednesday. (I have an ebay seller who I order in bulk from.)
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idConstruct · Trick Member Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Location: Green Bay, WI

Sweet... those wood scorching tips could probably make some sweet-looking arrows on pads with wooden panels.
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ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

Yup, that's what I was thinking.

I'll probably look more into wood finishings and stuff after I've got the ball rollin' a bit more. For the prototype, I'm not bothering with cosmetics at all.

Still working on getting the whole art of soldering down. I managed to get one prong of one plug poorly soldered to a contact. I'll probably redo it tomorrow.

btw, the prototype will almost definitely be up tomorrow. Matt and Steve will be over, and Matt actually knows how to solder. We'll head to the arcade, get back to my house, finish the prototype, plug it in, test it, make some music if it works, then probably finish building my other pad which I haven't touched in weeks.

No doubles action, because the two pads will have a 1.25" difference in thickness, but whatever.
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Ghettobarney · Trick Member Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Location: Failing Pandy

Tofu give us some pics!!!
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OMG I BEETS MACKS 300!

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

Trust me; the prototype is ugly (and currently, covered in junk); you don't want pics.

You want vids, to show that yes, something that ugly can still provide a AAA or man it out through Max 300.

So, I'll be heading off to meet my buddies shortly, and we'll be back in a few hours. If we're lucky, we'll get two finished pads out of this ordeal. If we're unlucky, we'll all die in a tragic bus accident. I'm hoping that we're more on the lucky side of the spectrum.

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pooface · Trick Member Joined: 27 Sep 2004

Where's the vids then?
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Trying to build a mat...

ChilliumBromide · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR

Well, we were about in the middle.

Matt didn't show up; I was depending on him to go through soldering with me.

So, I spent about 100 minutes today working on it after school today, and I'm getting the hang of soldering. I got the chip wired up proper and a couple of the new panel plugs made. I just have to install the plugs for 3 more panels, attach some copper contacts, screw in all the screws, take all the crap off of it (I use it as a table while working on it), carry it downstairs, and it's ready for action. Let's cross our fingers and hope it doesn't need to be modified any more. xP

Sorry to disappoint once again, but look on the bright side: at least it's not vapourware. xP

I was keeping quiet and hoping I'd finish the pad before anyone asked. Dx
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jpoppyz · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:25 am Post subject:

hey.

i went to this party, and i met this guy there who is gonna start building pads and selling them this summer. anyhow, what he does for control boxes is uses the TX-4000 ones. he says if you just wire it right, you dont have to do any soldering, plus it looks more proffessional. i can ask him how he does it the next time i see him, because it would be a better way to go since they're universal.
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xddragonx · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:12 am Post subject:

Hey Tofu! I honestly don't care how crappy it looks like as a prototype cause well it is a prototype! If you feel that you don't want to release then to the forums then can you send a pic to me to take a look at it?
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I LOVE DDR.

idConstruct · Trick Member Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Location: Green Bay, WI

GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My pad just broke on me while i was playing a bit ago... i must've knocked the control box because the start button started strobing. (i checked to make sure the contacts were clear and they were, eventually i cut the traces for the start button but it still was strobing...)

It was an ignition 3 for reference.

So now I need to get my butt started on building my pad since i have nothing atm

You get your g-ma's scanner working tofu? Those prints would be handy right about now

I was gonna order my lexan panels soon... plus i need to return one of my cathodes that was defective... and i need to find out where to get shiny sheet metal for cheap so my pad will look secksy like stoli's
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Ghettobarney · Trick Member Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Location: Failing Pandy