APC in a joystick...

jamiewoody · November 26, 2010, 04:44:38 PM

though i am sort of new to the atari punk scene, i have noticed on feebay (um, i mean ebay...no, i was right the first time...) that there are several different versions of the APC for sale. there is one in a clear plexi-case, one guy makes his version in an altoids case, another in an atari 2600 joystick...

i took apart a 2600 joystick and noticed it is all printed and sensors...i thought it was supposed to be 2 potentiometers (as i have seen them)...i guess instead, it is that printed...

i also noticed, there is not a lot of space inside a joystick. so, where does one put the APC circuit once it is wired up? i suppose i could just use the joystick as a controller and separate module, but i could have sworn i saw a model which was all inside the joystick...

Circuitbenders · November 26, 2010, 04:50:43 PM

An Atari 2600 joystick uses microswitches doesn't it? Its not a variable controller with pots, every direction is either on or off.

Now an APC in a playstation controller with analogue sticks......................

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1148.0.html

jamiewoody · November 26, 2010, 06:11:04 PM

i stand corrcted....thank you!

Circuitbenders · November 26, 2010, 06:28:45 PM

I was asking a question there not stating a fact

I always assumed that the 2600 joysticks had microswitches but i know it doesn't have pots. Do they have that clicky effect when you move them like later joysticks?

I'm sure you could do something with a tiny synth in a playstation controller, especially in that the analogue sticks appear to be 10K joystick pots according to that thread.

jamiewoody · November 27, 2010, 04:43:12 AM

i do not know the answer either. i looked at one of my 2600 joy sticks and saw a printer piece of film, which appears to be a sensor of sorts. so, though it is not a potentiometer with moving parts, i loosely assume it is still a sort of variable resistor...i guess i could try cutting the cable, then hooking up the wires to an apc or other vco, and see if i can control it, either it will work or not.

but, i did see on on ebay with a 2600 joystick...let me look for a link...

computer at sea · November 29, 2010, 01:32:55 AM

An atari 2600 joystick is just a 5 way switch. There's one point that is common to up, down, left, right, and the button. As I recall, there's a foil bubble in each position that makes the connection. When you press up on the joystick there's a plastic lip that puts pressure on the foil bubble above the circuit traces that correspond to 'up'.

It's bee a bit since I looked at one of them, but I think that's correct.

You could use the five points as five discrete notes in the APC. The common point would go to the center of one of the pots and each of the five unique points would go to fixed resistors.

druzz · December 02, 2010, 04:25:39 AM

http://blog.skincontact.com/?p=728

that joystick has 3 100k pots inside .its a fligthstick pro . i'm lucky enough to have found one of those . when i found this guys blog yesterday (very cool blog by the way) i was trhilled to see that those joystick movement were easily useable.

jamiewoody · December 05, 2010, 02:25:56 AM

Quote from: computer at sea on November 29, 2010, 01:32:55 AM
An atari 2600 joystick is just a 5 way switch. There's one point that is common to up, down, left, right, and the button. As I recall, there's a foil bubble in each position that makes the connection. When you press up on the joystick there's a plastic lip that puts pressure on the foil bubble above the circuit traces that correspond to 'up'.

It's bee a bit since I looked at one of them, but I think that's correct.

You could use the five points as five discrete notes in the APC. The common point would go to the center of one of the pots and each of the five unique points would go to fixed resistors.

so, if you move the stick at north east, for instance, would it blend two notes?