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press

A pipeline that turns a software plugin into a hardware controller, from reading its parameters to a PCB ready to order. First build: Valhalla Supermassive.

hardware
The first Press controller, for Supermassive: a purple circuit board used as the front panel, with ten black knobs, a clear button, previous and next buttons, and 22 lit mode names from Gemini to Sirius.
Build 1, for Supermassive. The front panel is a PCB, with the legends in silkscreen and an RGB LED by every encoder and mode.

the pipeline

A hardware controller for one plugin usually means a new PCB, panel and firmware every time. Press automates most of that. A JUCE host sweeps every parameter, so the ranges and labels come straight from the plugin. We lay out the front panel by hand in Press's editor. Parts on the electronics board are placed by simulated annealing and routed with Freerouting, and it all exports as KiCad files and a JLCPCB order.

hardware

Three stacked boards: front panel, electronics and base. A Seeed XIAO RP2040 runs it, with 74HC165 shift registers for the inputs and SK6805 RGB LEDs under light pipes.

firmware

Every controller runs the same USB-MIDI firmware, and only the pin table changes. Encoders send relative CCs so the knobs never jump against the plugin. Buttons send notes. LED state comes back as one SysEx message, capped at 10 Hz.

build 1: Supermassive

295 × 85 mm, 120 parts, 10 encoders, 3 buttons and 33 LEDs, 22 of them for Supermassive's modes. The encoder LEDs follow the plugin through Live, so mouse moves and automation show up on the panel. Ordered September 25, working October 10.

next

v2 moves to Alps EC12E encoders, MX switches with per-key LEDs and a small OLED. The test board for those parts is laid out.

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