IIDX Deck - Build Log - Part 4

Date Published: 2018-05-28

This part covers the programming and lighting modes. Source code is down at the bottom for download, as well as on github.

With everything wired up, I just had to program basic joystick functionality using the teensy, as well as some simple code to read from the digital encoders for the spindles. It's all covered in the source code pretty well, so I won't get into that too much here. What I will cover are the 14 different lighting modes I programmed for the controller. Not covered in the source code: all the arcade buttons will light up when pressed. I did this by routing the LED power through the button. The button is grounded when pressed, completing the circuit for the LED to light up, and open when not pressed, preventing current from flowing.

Some basic thoughts on how the lighting modes function. I have a colors.h file which contains several color sets which I refer to as 'Rainbows' in the source code. You can swap between rainbows by turning on modifier mode and using the P1 start and select buttons to cycle through rainbows. The rainbows give the various lighting modes below the choices of color to switch to. They go from one to the next, skipping the 'off' color as needed depending on mode. Find below a video showing the various rainbows. Most of the videos of particular modes below will use the standard 'ROYGBIV' type rainbow. Sorry on the video quality here, I have no idea what I'm doing with recording bright lights in a dark room.

To change to a lighting mode, toggle the MOD button to the on position, and press one of the 14 LM keys as shown in this handy diagram. R+ and R- will switch rainbows when the MOD key is engaged. The 'Esc' button sends an escape keyboard button press when the mod button is engaged (so I can exit the program with the controller as needed), and the 'Go' button sends Windows Key + 5, as that is where I have my shortcut to launch Lunatic Rave 2 in my taskbar. If you want to map them to something else, it's easy to edit in the source code. To resume normal play, disengage the MOD button.

Lighting Mode 1: Solid Color

This lighting mode will simply cycle through the colors of the current rainbow one by one, skipping the 'off' color, and set the entire deck to this single color. You can cycle to a specific color by pressing the LM1 button repeatedly while the MOD button is engaged. The color will remain constant when the MOD button is disengaged.

Lighting Mode 2: Slow Fade

This lighting mode will cycle through the colors of the current rainbow slowly fading from one to the next, and set the entire deck to that color. Repeatedly pressing the LM2 button will cycle to the next color of the rainbow from the current fade state. When the MOD button is disengaged the colors will cycle on their own indefinitely.

Lighting Mode 3: Marquee

This lighting mode will show a marquee that marches around the wheel at a steady rate. The direction the marquee animation is traveling depends on the last direction the disk was turned. Repeatedly pressing the LM3 button while the MOD button is engaged will cycle through the rainbow colors. The color will remain unchanged when the MOD button is disengaged.

Lighting Mode 4: Slow Fade Marquee

This lightning mode is the same as the marquee type above, but the color will continuously fade through the entire rainbow slowly. Repeated pressing of the LM4 button will cycle to the next color of the rainbow from the current fade state. When the MOD button is disengaged the colors will cycle on their own indefinitely.

Lighting Mode 5: Wiki

The wiki lighting more will populate the deck with a solid color marquee style pattern, but unlike the marquee mode, it will remain stationary until the disk is moved. The lighting pattern will then move (more or less) with the disk as it rotates. As with the solid color option, repeatedly pressing the LM5 button while the MOD button is engaged will cycle through the rainbow colors. The color will remain unchanged when the MOD button is disengaged.

Lighting Mode 6: Slow Fade Wiki

The slow fade wiki mode is the same as the wiki mode, but the color fades slowly through all the rainbow colors. Repeated pressing of the LM6 button will cycle to the next color of the rainbow from the current fade state. When the MOD button is disengaged the colors will cycle on their own indefinitely.

Lighting Mode 7: Rainbow Wiki

The rainbow wiki mode populated a smoothly transitioned version of the rainbow to the disk for each player. The rainbow will then move to follow the movement of the disks (roughly) as they are rotated.

Lighting Mode 8: Slow Rotate Rainbow

The slow rotate mode populates the disk lighting with the smoothly faded rainbow pattern, but it rotates freely without input from the player in the direction the disk was last rotated. If the direction fo the disk changes, the direction of rotation changes as well.

Lighting Mode 9: Random Rainbow

The random rainbow mode will populate the disk with a randomly positioned smooth-fade rainbow pattern every time any button is pressed while the MOD key is disengaged. This one can be a bit distracting, honestly.

Lighting Mode 10: Random Color

This lighting mode has been nicknamed 'seizure mode' by those who have used it. Every time any button is pressed while the MOD button is disengaged, a random color from the rainbow will be displayed as a solid color for the whole disk.

Lighting Mode 11: Off

This lighting mode shows no colors on the disks at all, but the power for lighting is still on, and the buttons will still light up when pressed.

Lighting Mode 12: Color Pulse

This mode displays a solid single color of the rainbow at the bottom of the disk. Repeatedly pressing the LM12 button while the MOD button is engaged will cycle through the rainbow colors. The color will remain unchanged when the MOD button is disengaged. Once the MOD button is disengaged, every time you press a button, a pulse of the color at the bottom of the disk is 'shot' up one side towards the top of the disk, until it vanishes.

Lighting Mode 13: Slow Fade Color Pulse

This mode is similar to the Color Pulse mode above, but the color at the bottom of the disk will slowly fade through the rainbow. Repeatedly pressing the LM13 button will cycle to the next color of the rainbow from the current fade state. When the MOD button is disengaged the colors will cycle on their own indefinitely. Once the MOD button is disengaged, every time you press a button, a pulse of the color at the bottom of the disk is 'shot' up one side towards the top of the disk, until it vanishes.

Lighting Mode 14: Rainbow Color Pulse

This mode is very similar to the slow fade color pulse, and it will behave identically until a button is pressed. When the button is pressed, it will send a pulse of the next color in the rainbow, and change immediately to that color at the bottom of the disk. Basically, it is like the slow fade color pulse mode, but color changes are instant and quicker.