Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas

Greetings, chip comrades!

I recently finished an LSDj keyboard, which I posted about in the Nintendo Handhelds "Customized Gear" Thread.

For the sake of convenience, here's the picture of it again:

Due to the nature of the tools and supplies to make them, I have extra paint, along with the extra raw materials to pretty easily make a few more of these – not to mention my now methodical technique. I used a new keyboard, and should be able to get identical ones fairly easily. I prefer making adapters over replacing the PS/2 connection, and I'll be getting supplies to make a batch of those in the next few days.

Upon realizing all of this, I looked around and didn't readily find anyone else selling LSDj keyboards anymore.

That said, if I built more of these, would anyone want an LSDj Keyboard & PS/2 to DMG adapter set? What would that be worth to you?

I remember seeing unpainted PS/2 cable replacement ones go for $50 back in the day, but I am not sure what the market rate is these days.

Last edited by Telerophon (Sep 6, 2012 9:01 pm)

Vex
Offline
Louisiana

Price wise last I saw a guy was selling them for 30-45$ painted and they looked really nice. But really man it depends on you and what you think of yourself and your work. That being said if you a new guy at this custom stuff and painting I'd suggest going more towards the lower end of what I said to get people's attention and make a few sales possibly to get more colors available. Then do a full on custom to people's specifications. I for one love you're keyboard I saw it on the other post you made and was awe struck it really is a beauty. I personally would buy an exact replica of it for around 50$ if I was looking, but others may not be so inclined in not sure. Deciding your strategy for getting your name out there is up to you and is a pain into ass sometimes especially when it comes to an item not many people are looking for. However it does seem lsdj keyboards are back into popularity again as I've seen a few posts about them the past few weeks. I think a lot of the turn off from them though may be pricing people tend to ask for them of someone was do some for a cheaper price people would be willing to pay, they may have better luck selling them than others in the past. Just do the math of what the materials cost you and think of a reasonable amount of profit back you'd like to see back in return. Roughly 75% would be a good place to start maybe 150% if you think it's still a reasonable price range. Example: I got my keyboard for 5$, DMG-07 adapter for 2$ various paints maybe 10-15$ all together..which the paint will be used on multiple keyboards..roughly 10 if you're usin spray paint..which would be able 1.50-2$ maybe on paint per keyboard..which would equal about 9$ per keyboard to make. Let's say we want to make a 150% profit gain...sell them for 22.50 and your making a 13$ profit about. Which isnt that bad to start. That enough to buy materials for your next one and stash 4-5$ for whatever. And of course once you sell your next one you get the 9$ back you lost for buying you next one to sell. All in all though it's up to you man. Just don't make it to hog or people won't buy. I say paint 2-3 and sell then first then get supplies to do more but leave them unprinted and let people choose their colors and charge a little more for them. Sorry if this was confusing at all just trying to help out, and hopefully I was able to. O_o

Edit: I apologize for any typos or sentences that make no sense. I'm using my phone and I hav fat fingers.

Last edited by Vex (Jun 28, 2012 9:23 am)

Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas

It's all good, dude. I appreciate your input and the advice, and I did explicitly ask for the opinions of the community at large about potential demand and reasonable pricing. I chose to use more expensive materials up front for my personal one (new keyboard out of the box, nicer plastic-specific paints, et cetera), so my up-front production costs were a little higher than what you've personally described from your build. I've not had much luck finding bargain-basement OEM Nintendo parts locally, so that's another complication that would cut into my potential return on investment.

For now, I could consider doing a couple more at a reduced price that are just painted and don't have the wiring modified (or include adapters) – then I can use my leftover materials and get a bit back to re-invest in more hardware mod R&D. wink
I understand that the demand for that might not exist, though. It'd assume you are providing your own PS/2 to Game Boy Adapter, or that you intend to modify the wiring yourself to your own liking.

I'm not opposed to using a different base color than red – the base color gets used the most, so that can empties fastest; red is just what I already have available. I'm assuming most people don't want the piano keys to be colors other than traditional black & white, so if I kept the other keys the same and made a couple of base coat variations, that's a lot more "custom" with one change in production.

Vex
Offline
Louisiana

Well when you decide what you're gunna do let me know I might be interested in buying one actually. I have one that I made but another wouldn't hurt. Id want mine black and green mostly though probably.

GoingHam
Offline
Chicago

What keyboard brand and model is the one in the photo?
/ What would be the cost of a keyboard painted with original PS/2 cable left intact?

Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas

The keyboard I've used is an Inland Model #70009.

It's got membrane switches and low profile keys, it's a pretty basic modern keyboard – not clicky. The clean lines and minimalist design make it look pretty easily like it could be a musical instrument.

As for a cable intact, paint-only keyboard, how do you feel about $30? I'd need to check what U.S. shipping would be, I haven't really looked into that yet to gauge how it would or should affect pricing.

GoingHam
Offline
Chicago

So I tracked down a Inland model #70009 at my local Fry's electronic store.
I was a bit tired of messing with keyboards and soldering, so I had Justin install a PS/2 port installed. (And he did a fantastic job too)
I have yet to find any way to get a keyboard to work.

Any tips or instructions on getting this model of keyboard to work?
Also which version of LSDJ have you used while testing these?

Vex
Offline
Louisiana

I know 100% that it works with the most recent lsdj. Some of the slightly older version do not work. I want to say I had issues with v. 4.2 something..

basspuddle
Offline
washington

I'm really interested in this. Even if it is a bit pricey. http://www.asmretro.com/product/ps-2-to-gameboy-adapter

GoingHam
Offline
Chicago
Vex wrote:

I know 100% that it works with the most recent lsdj. Some of the slightly older version do not work. I want to say I had issues with v. 4.2 something..

I really don't know what I am doing wrong then, I just upgraded to 4.6.7. Here is my procedure of action:

Plug in keyboard
Loaded empty project
I have it set to sync to keyboard.
Have a 00 in PU1 and PU2
Inside Chain 00 there is Phrase 00
Inside Phrase 00 there are no notes just every instrument line is filled with 00 (default pulse instrument)
Start the sequencer and hit some keys with no results.

There isn't any I## in the project screen. The keyboard lock lights flash when plugged in. sad

Vex
Offline
Louisiana

Take the 00 instrument out. It may be it. I had an issue with that also and that fixed mine..o_0 it took some playing around with also have 00 under WAv and noise also

BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON

actually, ive been really thinking about getting an LSDJ keyboard and the specs on this looks pretty good. id be down to commission one for ~$40? i would even be down with a similar color scheme. PM if you are interested.

Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas
basspuddle wrote:

I'm really interested in this. Even if it is a bit pricey. http://www.asmretro.com/product/ps-2-to-gameboy-adapter

I'm one solder away from finishing one of those.

Let me tell you, they are a bitch to make, and going rate in a used game store for a DMG link cable is $7 (here in Austin, at least). So, the raw materials themselves come to five or six bucks each at retail. It's not a bad deal at all.

BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

actually, ive been really thinking about getting an LSDJ keyboard and the specs on this looks pretty good. id be down to commission one for ~$40? i would even be down with a similar color scheme. PM if you are interested.

Sweet. I'll get in touch with you in a bit when I've tested mine more and feel like I can provide a truly high-quality product.

Last edited by Telerophon (Jul 3, 2012 5:17 am)

Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas

Yeah, that adapter I just finished didn't work. I checked the pinout that I set up and it's all accurate, to my understanding.

I wish I had more experience, so I'd know what an appropriate response from the keyboard and the game boy would be. The keyboard LEDs should light up on boot, right? Should I get any response from LSDj that says it recognized the keyboard?

This is my first LSDj keyboard interface project, so I've got some troubleshooting ahead of me…

Thanks for your interest, everyone. As I've said, when I work out kinks, I'll get back to you.

EDIT: Is there a documented problem with LSDj 4.6.3 and the keyboard interface? I might have just taken apart a working adapter over a software problem, hahaha.

Last edited by Telerophon (Jul 3, 2012 6:50 am)

Vex
Offline
Louisiana

Typically have your tempo at 140+ I think helps. You go into your sync tab and sync it to "keyboard" where it has master, slave, midi and all that crap make it say keyboard or it won't work.
Also to my knowledge 4.6.3 should work if not just upgrade to newest. If that doesn't work your keyboard isn't compatible probably..

Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas

The keyboard is fine – the adapter I just finished is the likely culprit.

Is there any kind of obvious indicator that LSDj recognizes the keyboard it's synced to?