DMG all in one USB for power, sound and MIDI ... is it possible? (Page 2 of 3)

To my experience the two most common DMG damages are a missing battery cover or battery springs that are totally twisted (so they make your batteries jump out). If this project works out you could rescue a millions of DMGs!

Thanks for the heads up, Apeshit. Really appreciate your warning. I've informed myself beforehand what the different parts do and I at least know that I removed the two circular plastic parts opposite the button pads that are an integral part for the stability of the front PCB. I have thought long about if I need them and I came to the conclusion that I will risk it for a couple of reasons:

First of all I'm planning to use this DMG as my DAW companion, that means I will be starting it with mgb and remotely controlling it over MIDI for most of the time. The number of button presses compared to say a DMG primarily used for LSDJ will be minimal, a handful per session perhaps.

Secondly this is a proof of concept. I am willing to sacrifice a DMG and the other parts in the name of "science" if this does not work out everybody here is invited to learn from what I do and improve upon it, I'm just pioneering the work. In fact I would be stoked if anybody who knows more about the DMG and electronics than me will step in and streamline and optimize the process.

Finally I'm really excited about this project and I'm having a lot of fun thinking about how to pull it off and getting my hands dirty.

In any case I will learn from this and others will do the same.
Worst case is that I fail to execute my idea properly. I can then try to identify why it failed and try again.
Best case is everything is holding up and I'm building the next big mod, just like everybody is prosounding the DMG nowadays some may be "USBoying" theirs in the future (or what ever name we come up with).

Haha! And even in a red DMG as well, with the iMic. Do you have a writeup of this?
Good info with the cap, what do you suggest? 10nf?

Ah well I knew somebody must have had the same idea before.

Last edited by lastfuture (Nov 19, 2012 12:17 am)

Just because it's been done before by a scene giant, doesn't mean you aren't aiding innovation:)

These types of things should be done more often for the sake of progress... but that's one side of the argument;)

I got notice today that contrary to what the merchant's online store stated the usb hub I ordered is actually out of stock and will take one or two weeks to get to them first. Kind of a damper, since I was expecting it today.

Just wanted to let you all know so that you don't think I've abandoned the project.

Alright, I got the USB spider/squid hub and managed to take the casing off with a lot of force and sweat (it was an almost solid piece with 2mm wall thickness!) and what I found isn't entirely what I expected. I could need somebody's expertise on this. The leads going into each of the USB jacks are wire directly coated with something none-conductive that color codes them at the same time. How do I get it off or solder to it? I thought for a second to solder directly to the pads on the PCB even though they're fairly tiny but they are also coated with a clear coat (looks like a thin coat of glue) and don't conduct like that.

I have tried fire on one of the wires, making it glow hot orange, but I could only restore conductivity to a certain degree... any ideas?
also while we're at it, any idea on the markings near the solder points? D+ and D- are probably the data lines ... n stands for neutral aka GND? and e could then be +5V? As I said they're coated with a non-conductive clear coating of some sort and I can't measure anything.

Last edited by lastfuture (Dec 4, 2012 12:51 am)

Not sure what kind of wire that is, but it's in every headphone I've ever fixed.  It's AWFUL to solder.