Question about joysticks...

[obblitt]

Everyone in the world has used one of these joysticks at some point:



Can one of these (or similar) be wired to control 3 different parameters simultaneously in an analog circuit? One being the up and down motion, another being the side to side motion, and the last being a push in motion (I'm sure there's joysticks out there with that function).

[ollie]

not sure how useful they'd be but playstation pads have 2 joysticks that are variable pots that have a click button function as well. I'm sure cheap versions of them would too

[obblitt]

Why would they not be useful?

[frank_p]

You want to build a receiver or something to attach to it (at the place of the servo) ?
If I remember well, position "data" is "coded" in some kind of a pulse-width-modulation fashion.  The time the signal is on compared to when it is off: determines what is in relation to the position of the joystick and the position the servo-motor should be.  Inside the servo-motor there is a pot and a motor connected together so correction can be applied via a feedback loop in the electronic of the servo module.

If you want to see what is happening, connect an oscilloscope on one of the output of the receiver.

If you want to convert that info into an analog voltage you have to build an integrator (I think).

 

[obblitt]

You've completely lost me.

[ollie]

Why would they not be useful?

I mean it as in I'm not sure what kind of connection they have. There was a thread around here somewhere where someonw was talking about using them. I'll post it here for you if I find it

EDIT: Here you go, this is the thread I was talking about:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=74083.0

[frank_p]

On the servo: there are three wires:
- One is the common
- the second is the power source
- the third is the control signal

You have to find what is the common wire and what is the signal wire.  Once you find that you have to measure the period of the PWM signal.

When you play with the joystick, the proportion the "switch" is on vs when it is off in one period (for a given position of the joystick) is telling you (or the electronics) the info of where the angle of rotation of the servo should be (digital signal == PWM).  Now if you want to convert that digital info into an analog one (ex: a continuous level of voltage) you got to build an electronic interface that is called an integrator.  The integrator can be used to give you the mean value of the digital signal.

Then you can use (per ex) a FET to make a variable resistor from the mean voltage that is coming out of the integrator.

[frank_p]

You just want to use the joystics part ? Or go "wireless"   

[obblitt]

Wait.... okay. I'm still completely lost on you. I have no knowledge of electronics past the very very very basics.

I made a typo in the OP. I mean that I wanted a joystick to control one parameter of a separate, analog circuit, and the other two to control two parameters in a digital circuit.

Okay. I guess I have to share my idea...

Digitech Whammy. I want to mod one to have an expression input, and also put a simple low pass filter somewhere inside the existing enclosure or in a separate enclosure. The expression input would connect to a joy stick. The joy stick's up/down motion would take over what the foot pedal does on the whammy, and the joystick's left/right motion would control the low pass filter. All at the same time  . Basically, I'm trying to make really, really, really, really, really, really insane sounds. I had the idea for the push function to control some sort of digital "hold", but that'll probably be a lot of work.

So, what I was originally asking is if this is possible.

[frank_p]

You know only basic electronic and you yant to venture in something digital and analog, and, and...
I know only basic electronics too, but you seem not to know where to go...
Your post is not yet precise: where do you want to connect one thing to the other, do you know ?
Are you shure you want to jump in that project right now ?
Or you just had a "flash".
No offence at all.

[obblitt]

It was a flash.

Here: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9032

Also check out the thread link that was posted here, 2 or 3 posts up.

The thumb stick controls two pots simultaneously. All I needed to know was that exactly. I'm going to wire the control where one pot controls something in an analog circuit, the other, the pitch control in the whammy 4. All I need now is a higher value on the pots.

[frank_p]

I tought at first you wanted to command your effects with the radio, not the mechanical device of the joystick.  I was talking about what is going on at the receiver (inside the radio controlled effect someone could do).

[obblitt]

Ahahaha... whoops. Sorry about the confusion.

[GREEN FUZ]

Well it can be done, as is being demonstrated here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuGvYanpyk

Haven`t a clue how you`d implement it though.

Ask Devi ever  .

[owenjames]

Those joysitcks control pots do they? I always thought they controlled digital encoders. Its probably easy to do what you want to do given its pots that are being controlled. Lots of digital microprocessor chips have analogue inputs, a simple 8 input PIC has two, or is it one? so conterolling digital using one of the pots should be easy, just connect one end of the pot to ground one end to 5V and have the wiper input into the MicroProcessor, probably through a nice big resistor and with a capacitor to ground to remove HF noise. The pot that is controlling the analogue portion of your circuit you can just use in the same way you would use a pot normally, the fact its connected to a joystick doesn't make any difference.

What are you planning to do with this joystick, Im thinking a two axis foot pedal for some crazzy shizzle right? whammy and wah?

[owenjames]

Well it can be done, as is being demonstrated here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuGvYanpyk

Haven`t a clue how you`d implement it though.

Ask Devi ever  .

God! some many switches and a joystick, and all that comes out is vary varied noise! 

[obblitt]

What are you planning to do with this joystick, Im thinking a two axis foot pedal for some crazzy shizzle right? whammy and wah?

Whammy and a lowpass filter, yes. The problem now is pot values.

The more I think about it, the more effects I could find a use for the joystick in. If I could replace the pots with higher value pots, shit, I could have one or two of these in almost all my effects...  vibe, trem, ringmod, whammy, delay...

[Scruffie]

I had a look round google, theres a few projects where people have used terminal strip from the connections to wire up there own controllers, dunno if it'll help but heres a link to a few of the projects.

http://wrongcrowd.com/arcade/joystickp2.shtml
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_jim.html
http://slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_wiring.html

Scruffie.

[Taylor]

Wiring a joystick to control parameters is not hard at all - they're just 2 pots attached at a right angle. You can connect them like a usual pot, though getting a value that is useful in your intended circuit is a crapshoot. You can also remove the spring if you don't want it to center-adjust.

Now, modding a Whammy to accept a pot control is not at all a simple task. IIRC, the treadle is using a magnet Hall effect sensor or similar, not a pot, so this is not a trivial mod.

If you're only interested in DIY, this will be tough, especially since you say you only have very basic electronics knowledge. If you don't mind paying, I bet the guys at Molten Voltage could make this happen for you.

[obblitt]

Cool, I'll take a look into that.