MisteRdeck
Assembly Guide

v1.05 1
Introduction
Thank you for downloading MisteRdeck, the Arduino-based MIDI stream deck. These instructions
will guide you through the process of making and using the device.

I created the deck for my own use, a few weeks before I started streaming. After fiddling with OBS
for a few days I knew that a hardware device for scene switching and volume adjustment was
going to prove incredibly useful. But herein lies the problem; all of the “cheaper” commercially
available products lacked any kind of volume adjustment hardware. The cheapest deck,
manufactured by a well-known company (I won’t name them) costs almost £100 and is essentially
a box with 6 buttons. I knew I could produce something more functional at a lower cost, so I got
to work.

Hours of designing and prototyping later and the MisteRdeck was born.

Massive thanks to /r/3DPrinting for the overwhelmingly positive comments, as well as the FB
group Prusa Community Forum. If it weren’t for the sheer amount of interest shown from these
two communities I would never have published this thing, selfishly keeping it for myself!

I also need to offer my thanks to the following;

Pieter P for the Control-Surface library
Everyone who contributed to the MIDIUSB library
Chris Yarger for the OBS-MIDI plugin
nightfox939 for the general aesthetic inspiration and genius pot-clip design

This manual is broken down into the following sections;

• Slicer settings & printing

• Stage 1 assembly (switches and pots)

• Soldering/wiring

• Stage 2 assembly (case)

• Arduino configuration

• OBS setup

What’s required?

Basic soldering knowledge

The ability to follow instructions

A little common sense ;)

Tools

M3 hex wrench

Soldering iron + solder

Superglue/strong double-sided tape

Tweezers (super helpful for positioning wires)

License

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
license. To view a copy of this license please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/
4.0/

With that out of the way, let’s crack on…


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Bill of Materials

Item Qty Link *

10k Linear Slide Potentiometer (45mm travel, dimensions 60mm x 9mm) 4 cpc.farnell.com

Cherry MX/Compatible Switches 12 mechboards.co.uk

Cherry MX/Compatible keycaps (relegendable) ** 12 ceratech.co.uk

1N4148 Diodes 12 amazon.co.uk

Hookup wire - amazon.co.uk

Arduino Pro Micro (clone) 1 amazon.co.uk

M3x10mm Cap Head Screws 8 accu.co.uk

M3 Square Nuts (max 1.8mm thickness) *** 8 accu.co.uk

M3 Heat-Set Threaded Inserts (4.6mm diameter) *** 8 amazon.co.uk

* Links are for example purposes, you may find them cheaper elsewhere.

** Recommended, but not essential. 3D printed keycaps would reduce the cost somewhat.
If you’ve got some transparent filament, Mc_gee’s printable keycaps are a fantastic alternative
(https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3791028/files).

*** Either Square nuts, or Heat-set Inserts; see Print Settings for details.


v1.05 3
Parts Breakdown

Box_*.stl Base.stl

Lid.stl Fader_knobs.stl

Clips.stl Solder_jig.stl

v1.05 4
Print Settings
Resolution = 0.2mm

Infill = 10%

Perimeters = 3

Supports = No

Brim = Possibly needed for clips

Estimated print time = 12h

Estimated material use = 150g

All STLs are correctly orientated, ready for printing. The models were designed around a 0.4mm
nozzle with an extrusion width of 0.45mm, printed at 0.2mm layer height. This is the optimal
configuration to eliminate any "gap fill" on the main box and ensure the sacrificial bridging works
correctly for the countersunk screw holes. Higher resolutions will be fine, lower (0.3mm for
example) might not work, but YMMV.

Box

You’ve got x3 options here, pick whichever is easiest for you;

• Box_*.stl - The original version, uses captive nuts on one side and inserted nuts on the other. I
thought I was being clever here, but it’s probably a pain for some users.

• Revised Box - The second version (remix, provided by senjak - non-logo version) does away
with the captive nuts and simply lets you insert them once the print has completed.

• Box_*_heatset.stl - The newly-added version that skips the nuts entirely and allows you to use
heat-set threaded inserts (this was requested by more than one person so I figured I’d
implement it - the more options the better, right?)

(2 version of each provided; Standard and Branded. Don’t like the logo? Print the Standard version ;)

Captive nuts

This version will require you to pause the print at a certain layer height, insert the nuts into the
cavities, then resume the print. This is slicer/printer dependant. If you're printing at the optimal
layer height (0.2mm) the pause will need to be inserted at the start of layer #29.

For PrusaSlicer, slice the file then move the layer slider to the correct layer height. Right clicking
on the plus symbol will give you the option of adding custom gcode. Paste in the following;

G1 X10.000 Y210.000 E0; parking position

M17; turn on steppers (prevent moving)
M300 S2500 P1000; beep
M117 PAUSED; write message
M1; user stop
M105; return to current temp

Once the print hits the correct layer it'll move the bed forwards, park the carriage to one side, lock
the stepper motors in position and notify you with a “beep”. Then it's just a case of inserting the
nuts and hitting resume. Note, if you're using OctoPrint you need to hit resume on the web UI,
NOT the Prusa.

WARNING: If you’re not using a Prusa, please double-check the compatibility of the above gcode
before sending it to your printer. There may be Prusa-specific commands listed and the last thing I
want is for your printer to end up breaking itself!

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Heat-Set Inserts

If you go this route you probably already know what you’re doing, but I’ll provide instructions
anyway.

From my limited experience with these, I’ve found that the following procedure works well;

Place an insert into the cavity.

Set your soldering iron to match the hotend

temperature of the material you’re using (for
the PLA I used the temp. was set to to
210°C).

Once the iron is up to temp. place the tip

inside the insert. Wait a few seconds for the
heat to transfer into the insert.

With minimal downward force the insert will

start to descend into the cavity, melting/
softening the surrounding material.

Go slow and steady; this process takes 10-15

seconds.

Once the insert is almost all the way in

(roughly 90%), stop applying force, remove
the iron and quickly flip the part over placing
it on a flat, heat-resistant surface and gently
push down.

This will set the insert in place, flush with the

face of the print whilst also flattening any
material bulge that may have occurred during
the process.

Leave the part upside-down for 30 seconds

or so to give the insert/plastic time to cool.

v1.05 6
 The insert is now installed and should sit
flush with the face of the box.

Repeat for the remaining 3 cavities.

Follow the same procedure for the 4 cavities

on the other side.

v1.05 7
Assembly (switches and potentiometers)
Switches


Place the Box on a flat surface and insert a

switch. It should pop into place with minimal
force. Note the orientation; I’ve mounted
them upside-down on purpose to give a little
extra room when soldering.

Repeat the process for the rest of the

switches.

From underneath you can see the distance

between the uppermost pin and the back wall
of the box. With the switch mounted upside-
down there is a little extra room for
manoeuvring a soldering iron.

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Potentiometers


Take the Lid and position it face down (you’ll

have to hand-hold this one, the pot sliders
will protrude from the underside when
inserting).

Push a potentiometer into place. It should be

a snug fit; not too tight that it requires
excessive force, but not too loose that it
easily falls out.

Note the orientation; the pin labeled “3”

should be located at the bottom (this is for
the Bourns pots listed in the BOM. Yours may
differ. See the manufacturers data sheet for
more info on orientation).

The pot should sit proud from the Lid by

roughly 0.5mm This ensures that the
mounting clips will butt-up against the pots
rather than the Lid.

Take a clip and whilst squeezing slightly

(green arrows) insert it into the slits.

It’ll click into place once pressed down.

Do the same for the other clip.

v1.05 9
 Repeat this procedure for the remaining pots.

Fader Knobs


The Fader Knobs are designed to

accommodate a piece of 1.75mm filament to
act as an indicator.

The channel may be slightly rough/tight so

it’s recommended to use a needle file or
1.5mm drill bit to remove any excess
material.

Take a length of filament, straighten it as

much as possible, clip off one end at an
angle and insert it into the channel.

Using a pair of snips or a craft knife, remove

the excess filament.

I’d recommend using some sandpaper to

remove any sharp edges and round off the
filament as much as possible.

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 Push the knob onto one of the sliders.

Make sure to also apply force from the

opposite side to prevent the pot/clips from
popping out.

Again, this should be snug but not so tight

that it requires excessive force.

Repeat the process for the remaining knobs.

v1.05 11
Soldering/Wiring
We’ll start with the easiest; soldering the pins onto the Arduino.


Insert the pins into the Arduino.

Flip it over and solder the pins into place.

It should look like this when done; pins facing

upwards.

v1.05 12
Next we’ll tackle the potentiometers.


Circuit diagram

We’ll start with the GND pins (labeled “3” on

the Bourns pots).

Take a length of wire and cut it into x3 small

(roughly 25mm) pieces. Strip the ends then
twist and tin the exposed wired. Wrap these
around the GND pins, connecting them
together.

For the right-most pin, take a wire and snip

off one of the connectors (making sure the
other end has a female Dupont connector).
Strip, twist & tin. Wrap this around the pin.

Solder all wires in place.

Repeat the process for the VCC pins (labeled

“1” on the Bourns pots).

v1.05 13

Each of the signal pins (labeled “2” on the
Bourns pots) require their own individual
wire.

Take 4 wires and snip off one of the

connectors (again, make sure the other end
has a female Dupont connector).

To make identification easier it is

recommended to use a different coloured
wire for each.

Strip a small section of the sheath on each

wire. Twist & tin.

Solder each of these wires to one of the

signal pins on the potentiometers.

That's the pots done. Make a note of which colour wire corresponds to which pot as it'll make it
easier when it comes to connecting the cables to the Arduino.

Now onto the switches. We’ll start by using the Solder_Jig to make some diode assemblies.


Take 3 diodes and bend the cathode leg (the

one next to the black stripe) a little over 90°.
Snip off the other leg leaving roughly 10mm.

v1.05 14
 
 Insert the diodes into the jig.

Solder them together where the legs meet.

Remove the completed diode assembly and

repeat this process 3 more times.

For each diode assembly, bend the long leg

90° just after the solder joint and snip off the
excess (roughly in line with the other legs).

v1.05 15
 

Take 4 more wires, snip off one of the
connectors on each, strip, twist & tin and
solder onto each of the diode assemblies.

Heatshrink not necessary, but recommended.

You're now ready to solder these onto the

switches.

Circuit diagram

Position the assembly in place and solder

each leg to the lower pin of each switch.

v1.05 16
 

Repeat for the remaining 3 switch columns.

Again, it's recommended to use different

coloured wires for easier identification later
on.

Use some more wire to create x9 jumper

cables, roughly 25mm in length.

Strip, twist and tin the ends of each.

Use these wires to attach the other switch

pins together, working along the rows. If you
have a pair of narrow tweezers it’ll help with
wrapping the wire around each pin.

Make sure that none of these wires are

shorting against the diodes.

v1.05 17


Use another 3 strips of wire, snip off one

connector on each, strip, twist & tin the bare
wire then wrap them around each pin on the
left-most switches.

Solder all wires in place. Be careful here,

there's not much room to work and it can be
quite easy to accidentally touch the hot iron
to the plastic box.

That’s the hardest part done. All that's left is to connect the wires to the Arduino and screw the
case together.

Grab a pen and piece of paper and use the following images to figure out which wires go to which
pot/key (your wire colours may vary).


v1.05 18
Assembly (case)


Pass the pot wires through the Box and
position the Lid in place. Use x4 M3 bolts to
attach the Lid. Don't over-tighten these as
you can accidentally break the Box.

Use some strong double-sided tape (or a

small amount of superglue) to attach the
Arduino to the Base.

Place the Box on its back with the Base in

front and connect the wires to the
corresponding pins on the Arduino. Refer to
your notes to determine which pins go where
(pots to GND, VCC and A0-A3, keys to pins 2
though 8).

Skip this paragraph if you’re using heat-

set inserts.
Insert the remaining M3 nuts onto the holes.
These have a tendency to fall out so a small
amount of glue is recommended. Just make
sure not to get any in the threads (or do what
I did and cram a little Blu-Tak in there, in
place of glue!)

Carefully tuck the wires into the box whilst

“hinging” the Base into position.

v1.05 19


Secure the Base with x4 M3 bolts. Again,

don’t over-tighten them

Finally, flip the deck over and attach your key

caps.

…and we're done! All that remains is the software setup.


v1.05 20
Arduino Configuration
In order to flash the code to the Arduino we must first download a couple of things.

Head to the Arduino IDE download page,

grab the latest version of the software and
install it.

We also need to download the Control-

Surface library. From their Git page click on
the green “Code” button and select
“Download ZIP”.

With everything downloaded and the Arduino software installed we can now connect the
MisteRdeck to the PC via a microUSB cable and open the MisteRdeck.ino code supplied with the
STLs.

Note: If the Arduino software throws up a message about moving the file into a folder, just click
the OK button.

There are just a couple more steps we need to perform before flashing the code.


From within the Arduino software, select the

“Sketch” menu item, go down to “Include
Library” and then select “Add .ZIP Library…"

Browse to the location of the Control-Surface

ZIP we downloaded earlier and select it.

v1.05 21


Select the “Sketch" menu item again, go



down to "Include Library” and then click
“Manage Libraries…”

From within the box that pops up use the

search function (top right) to find “MIDIUSB”.

Select the latest version and click Install.

From the “Tools” menu make sure that the

“Board”, “Port” and “Programmer” variables
are set correctly (your port number may
differ).

Now you just need to click the “Upload”

button and wait for the “Done uploading.”
message in the bottom left corner.

Congratulations, your MisteRdeck is flashed

with the code required for operation.

Just one more section and we’re done.

v1.05 22
OBS Setup
The following instructions are depreciated. I no longer use the OBS-MIDI plugin and instead
use a standalone app called MIDIControl. Scroll down for details…

The final step is to get the OBS-MIDI plugin and configure the buttons/sliders in OBS.


Open the OBS-MIDI download page, scroll to

the bottom and get the latest version.

Extract the contents of the ZIP file to your

OBS install folder (usually C:\Program
Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit).

Open OBS, click the “Tools” menu and click

“OBS Midi Settings”.

In the box that pops up you should see the

Arduino listed on the left panel.

Click the “Enabled” checkbox and hit

“Configure”.

When the new window opens, move one of

the sliders up/down. It should appear in the
left panel.

If we click on its menu entry we can set its

options using the drop-down items on the
right side panel.

In this example I've set mine to control the

“Desktop Audio” volume, but you can set this
to whatever you require.

v1.05 23
 After configuring your sliders we can now
move onto the buttons.

Press one of the buttons and x2 entries will

appear in the left panel.

Because the buttons work like MIDI notes

there are 2 states per button; note_on and
note_off (i.e., press and release).

For basic actions like scene switching, we

can delete the note_off state (these are useful
for things like “hold-to-mute”).

Configure each button to perform the task

you require.

Hit “Save” and close the window. Your buttons/sliders will now perform the functions you’ve set
up.

v1.05 24
OBS Setup (websocket/MIDIControl)
I’ve found that the OBS-MIDI plugin isn’t currently the best solution; it’s prone to crashing and
seems to have been abandoned. As an alternative, I’m now using an app called MIDIControl, in
conjunction with the obs-websocket plugin. This app offers a few more features (soundboard!),
hasn’t yet crashed and is actively being developed and improved upon. I’d recommend following
these instructions instead of using OBS-MIDI.

Head over to the obs-websocket site, download and install the latest version. Do the same for
MIDIControl.

Once installed, open OBS and the MIDIControl app (this lives in your taskbar).


Within OBS, go to the Tools menu and open

the Websocket Server Settings.

In here you’ll need to enable the server and

optionally set a password (recommended).

By default, the websocket runs on port

4444.

Open MIDIControl (taskbar) and click the

Options button.

v1.05 25
 
 the following options.

Set

If you’ve set a password you can enter it

here.

Also, if you’re running OBS on a separate PC

(dual-PC streaming setup) you can change
the IP address to match your 2nd PC.

Hit Save.

MIDIControl should auto-connect to OBS (hit

the Connect button if it doesn’t).

v1.05 26
 You can now click the “Add” button and start
defining keys, sliders and their functions.

Simply press a button, or move a slider and

the Channel/Note will appear in the top-right
boxes.

Click the checkbox of the function you want

and set its parameter.

In this example I’ve configured a button

(Channel 1, Note 12) to switch to my “Game”
scene.

Once done, click “Add”. Repeat for the

remaining buttons and sliders.

Remember to hit “Save” on the main screen

when you’re done.

And that’s it!

Make sure that MIDIControl is set to autostart and auto connect and you should be golden.

Another great feature of MIDIControl is that it also supports MIDI forwarding which allows you to
use the MisteRdeck to control 2 applications simultaneously, using a virtual MIDI port app like
loopMIDI. I have mine set up so the buttons control OBS and the sliders control Voicemeeter (for
audio mixing). Instructions on how to set this up are out of the scope of this guide, but some
Googling should provide you with the info needed.


v1.05 27
Conclusion
Congratulations on making it to the end of the build! If you run into any issues along the way leave
a message on the Thingiverse page, or send me a DM and I’ll try and help.

Please do also consider taking a quick photo and uploading a “make" to Thingiverse. I love
seeing my things printed on a variety of machines.

Changelog
v1.01 - 12/11/20 - Specified M3 nut thickness (thanks Wrightboy)

v1.02 - 15/11/20 - Added instructions for using heat-set inserts in place of M3 nuts

v1.03 - 23/11/20 - Slight alteration to the wording of the BOM

v1.04 - 27/11/20 - Added link to printable relegendable keycaps

v1.05 - 07/02/21 - Added instructions for MIDIControl and obs-websocket

v1.05 28