Update: Menu/Control Section for the DEGREE

Just an update… Finishing up the main circuit board - currently working on switching the touch based controls to tactile buttons.

DEGREE V4 (or 5? 6?)

The last version of the DEGREE used a series of capacitive touch buttons for the CONTROL section. I machined a bunch of tiny touch plates (compared to the larger illuminated touch plates) which would act as menu based buttons that have press-and-hold actions for changing things like each channels sequence length, pitch bend range, clearing sequences, etc., and although this method worked, it just didn’t feel right… The capacitive touch buttons work fantastic for all the performable actions like changing notes/octaves (because they are way more responsive than a tactile switch) but when using this technology for menu based actions there was a serious lack of visual/audible/physical feedback. Even as the firmware developer, I often wouldn’t trust certain menu actions were being executed and would regularly re-press (or re-touch? 🤷‍♂️) the touch plate…

I don’t want this thing to suck, so I decided to replace all the touch plates (for the CONTROL/MENU section) with basic tactile buttons. This was a bit tricky of a task since the PCB in this area is already really dense, I have no choice but to go with SMD based tactile buttons. Something I have never done before… And to make things even more difficult there are very limited options for SMD tactile switches which are illuminated. I have found a few illuminated tactile switch options that work but they are all pretty pricey… Although I really only need two of them 🤔… One for RECORD, and one for FREEZE... will update later on that.

- Scott