How I made a Modular Macro Keyboard System (3D Printed): Ocreeb MK2

Check out HeyGears UltraCraft Reflex: store.heygears.com/referral/r...
Join the HeyGears IdeaShapers community: bit.ly/41ZgYle
🍃 Grovemade Premium Desk Accessories: Get 10% off using code SALIM10
Notepad: bit.ly/Grovemade-NotePad
Display Rail: bit.ly/Grovemade-Display-Rail
Vertical Organizer: bit.ly/Grovemade-Vertical-Org...
Entire Kit: bit.ly/Grovemade-The-Note-Tak...
Ocreeb MK2 is the second iteration of my macropad project. This version features the XIAO RP2040, hotswap sockets support, a detachable switch plate, an OLED screen and I'm exploring a fun new idea inspired by the Monogram Creative Console - a custom magnetic connector that lets me attach all sorts of external modules to make different layouts. Join me as I try to design and build the modular macropad system that kind of works 😅
👋 Follow me:
linktr.ee/salimbenbouz
⚡️ Project links:
Github: github.com/sb-ocr/ocreeb-mk-2
Instructables: bit.ly/3vCNajG
🧪 Project resources:
KMK Keyboard Firmware: kmkfw.io/docs/
Adafruit Seesaw Framework: bit.ly/Adafruit-Seesaw
Using the UPDI Programmer: bit.ly/3tX4NtZ
MIDI commands into Lightroom actions: rsjaffe.github.io/MIDI2LR/
Zack Freedman's project:
• Modules! Magnets! MiRa...
_______________________
🛠 Tools:
Autodesk Fusion 360: bit.ly/49dQyQN
Soldering station: geni.us/16zcw5
3D Printer: geni.us/UKTApo
PEI build plate: geni.us/9K0md
iFixit Driver Kit: geni.us/pE8dvKd
Magnetic Helping Hand: geni.us/qmbA3W
Digital Microscope: geni.us/OvfXE
Oscilloscope: geni.us/rHzAS8
🎬Video gear:
Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC Art Lens: geni.us/43RyE
90cm Octagonal Softbox: geni.us/tXzLg2U
Motorized Camera Slider: geni.us/CKpHVYp
Aputure Amaran 100D Light: geni.us/DitmF6
Aputure Amaran PT1C Tube Light: geni.us/zcYT
Heavy Duty Light Stand with Casters: geni.us/W3aZy4Z
RØDE VideoMic GO II Microphone: geni.us/3gEQb4
RØDE Wireless GO II Microphones: geni.us/HTWPS
🎧 Music:
Epidemic Sound share.epidemicsound.com/cp32b6
_______________________
00:00 Intro
00:38 Parts and changes
02:25 Prototype
06:00 PCBs
07:05 Enclosures
08:05 3D Printing
12:19 Assembly
15:46 Final result
16:25 Firmware usage and mistakes
18:47 Outro
Affiliate links may be included in this page. I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
#diy #modular #mechanicalkeyboard #macropad #3dprinting #maker

[@SomberDestiny]

The content on this channel is WAY too good to only have 36k subs. Hope your channel blows up, my dude. Sweet project, as always.

[@markfox6741]

Agreed!

[@user-ue7mw7hg7n]

What my sub isn't good enough for you?

[@shakthizen]

Yess ❤

[@javargas917]

Just subbed. Luckiest find of 2024 so far!!!

[@bel5978]

Let it grow at its rhythm. 38K with only 4 video, that's performance, man. Don't push Salim to play the "youtube" game by click-baiting (GreatScott admitted it), doing stupid joke and storytelling and useless scenery (like Sean Hogdins unfortunately :/) DO NOT FORGET: the making and learning are the "interest" of these video, not your "film making" skill. @Salim: if you do that or create a thumbnail with a wide open mouth, I unsub right away! :P

[@alexgaffney6781]

This is why i love open source projects, i've had this idea in my head for years but never got around to designing and making it. Now i dont need to and can just tailor these designs to my needs. Awesome project!

[@KuboMelich]

Same feelings!

[@TrietNguyen-ze3th]

Hi, may i ask what kind of knowledge I need to learn inorder to do everything He did in the video? Right now I'm studying C++ in college first year and try to selftaught Python.

[@jaleru]

"I'm not an expert." Made me chuckle to mask the tears of my failures

[@salimbenbouz]

I’m glad people are enjoying the process. I'm always reluctant to include a lot of detail for fear of producing a boring video

[@c0mputer]

Yeah dude, the editing is top notch and the project is even better. Maybe a work space tour for an upcoming video? Looks like a relatively small space but it’s action packed with great stuff.

[@salimbenbouz]

Thanks! it's a small space indeed but I try to make it work. Maybe some day we do a tour yeah!

[@silardgal8223]

The interrupt fix can be that you buffer data on the module side. Meaning if there is a press, you put it into a buffer, and when the main modules comes to read it, you are not losing any data. Yes, you will have a small delay, but still with no data loss. I would suggest the next version to have CAN Bus, as its a multi-master system and you can send messages directly to the main host, but also to the modules as well. Awesome project!

[@giannismentz3570]

The CAN Bus protocol might be appropriate actually for this project, I had read a bit about it in the past, yeah it's probably the right choice. Your buffer fix will probably also do the trick as well, if he doesn't wanna go the extra step and add CAN Bus to all this.

[@WHOOLKAN]

I graduated back in the day in electronics but for the past 12+ years I've been pursuing art as a career. Seeing stuff like this makes me want to pick up the soldering iron again

[@mypaxa003]

Everything was so clean. I almost got depressed about my DIY until you added those tiny bits of hot glue) What a relief)

[@salimbenbouz]

😂 the funny thing is I was going to make a bracket when I was designing the enclosure and I refrained and decided not to waste more time and just use good ol hot glue 😂

[@trusnake733]

3:52 so I was mildly interested in this video because of the modular aspect, and I was curious how you planned the board layouts, … and then saw this right here 😮 Instant subscribe. This is a masterclass in “it’s not the tool, it’s how you use it.”

[@salimbenbouz]

thank you! I appreciate it

[@billyjoe3309]

Just have to say, I love that idea with the golden pads on the side. Being made from small PCB's that slot in and then solders. That is brilliant! Thanks so much for that idea!

[@naveentechs]

To say I'm impressed would be an understatement, this video inspired and sparked a motivation in me. Thank you for making this video

[@salimbenbouz]

Thank you! I appreciate it

[@recurveninja]

Regarding your performance issues: you may be able to speed things up by writing your signal interpreter in C and compile to a dynamic library (.dll on windows, .so on *NIX). Using the Ctypes (uctypes in circuitpython) module , you can import it as a python module and call your functions while benefiting from C-level performance.

[@salimbenbouz]

Thanks for the suggestion! I will look into it. You're right maybe this will work way faster for the custom address pulse I was tinkering with.

[@joe-skeen]

Or even Rust

[@AlainPilon]

@@joe-skeen Rust is great if you already know Rust and need it to do something. It is a terrible idea if you dont. Learning curve is Dwarven Fortress like.

[@Debrugger]

Dynamic libraries aren't a thing for circuitpython (a loader probably wouldn't even fit in memory). You need to statically compile it into with the runtime. I couldn't find any up to date guides, but I think you just have to copy what the other modules in `circuitpython/shared-module` do.

[@witebatman]

Dude, I am blown away by your creativity and technical follow through. Huge inspiration. Thank you!

[@alexander-s]

This is such fantastic production quality! The editor is genius and the way they are structured are absolutely fantastic!!! Well done, Salim!

[@ImAbnormal]

Wow glad I clicked on this video. Criminally underrated. Great job on the project! As some who also has built custom macro pads I can only imagine the hours of blood sweet and tears into this and glad to see you got it working. Keep it up!

[@patrickhubner2678]

Great job on the video! Your explanation of the development process and design decisions is clear and easy to follow. I appreciate that you highlight the weaknesses and suggest improvements. Keep up the excellent work!

[@tuzimBacilla]

WOW this was one of the most incredible DIY projects i've seen related to macropads and stuff.. I had a similar project a few years ago, but I lack some technical skills and left this project aside. Now, with your project in mind, I've got inspired again. Thank you! And congratulations for this awesome project!

[@kakashie950]

Will 100% be adding this to my list of future projects. I had the OG Pallet Gear before they changed to Moment and I loved how it worked. Design(s) look beautiful and being able to have those hotswap keys so if I am working in a shared space I can have quieter keys or if I decide to use it for something like gamin I can have a more tactile or clicky key is just genius.

[@electronicstv5884]

This project looks absolutely cool! The modular idea is really great and makes it easy to experiment with different modules. This could be really interesting and helpful for beginners. It's also nice to see someone showing the problems that occurred while making the project. You often see such great projects with no problems whatsoever. And if you try to make it on your own it doesn't work as easy as it seems on other videos. Really great! 👍

[@danfg7215]

I say forget magnets, they're clever, but I'd rather have a physical lock under the pieces to securely keep them together, maybe a slide mechanism or like legos. Realistically, users will setup the parts once, and rarely move them around. Just my two cents on your amazing idea.

[@martin_mrwld]

I think it should be combined with gridfinity

[@Savannah-sd]

Sounds like someone's never used magnets nor a modular platform before. I say you teach yourself some things before you start spewing nonsense. When you do actual work using inputs that aren't a basic keyboard, your setup will evolve as your workflow evolves, literally the entire point of a modular setup, and modular setups are rarely setup and never changed. As for your issue with magnets, you clearly have no basis in reality for that statement, neodymium magnets are more than strong enough for this application and the modules aren't just going to break apart as you use them, not that they even would break apart without intentionally separating them anyways given that they'd only realistically separate under linear opposition as there's no point in the mechanism to skew along the other axes. You clearly lack the capability of logical thought given your stance on this, and you clearly base your stance in combination with lack of logical thought on your lack of experience with anything relevant here considering your lack of understanding. If you choose to be this mindless, then learn to sit down and shut up instead of spewing your mindless shit.

[@helplmchoking]

A magnet might not be as strong as a slide lock or lego style stud (which is much harder to disconnect), and I'd personally love some kind of push latch mechanism so you're not sliding on pogo-pins but anything mechanical is going to be a potential breakage - especially with brittle resin printed parts. The magnets might be less secure but there's no sliding pins against each other and no small parts to snap

[@hellNo116]

that is a bananas project. amazing work. also the things that we can now do in personal labs is crazy nowadays. the polish that the resulting modules exhibit is superb!!! also great video editing. somewhat overshadow part of the video since the project is by far the most captivating thing in it.

[@chybanie716]

Man, I love your content. This video was suggested to me by the algorithm and I clicked it because it is a very specific topic that is of interest to me but also I vaguely remembered watching your video about the first macro pad. As usual when someones content impresses me I checked out your channel and my mind was blown - "omg, it's the same guy that made the DIY space mouse" I thought as I had that video in my 'watch later' for some time now but never got around to actually watching it. Well, now I got around to it as my adhd brain hyperfixated on learning Fusion the last 3 days and already wants more control so it was a perfect combo. In that video I noticed your CRT Rapsberry so naturally I had to watch that video as well and was impressed as well. Your workflow is great and you do a great job presenting it. As well as documenting it on instructables and github? I must be dreaming :o Do you have a background in design? You pay attention to details, your creations are great in function but visually beautiful as well. The idea with a PCB as a front plate instead of a sticker was amazing. You really are an inspiration for me and my projects!

[@Quinchi]

The amount of knowledge and abilities put into this is just ovewhelming, awesome project. You just got a new subscriber.

[@razzledazzlecheeseontoast9808]

Incredible production value, both of the build and the video. What a gem!

[@ardaasik9176]

Can't appreciate sharing your inspirations enough, brings much more depth to explaining the design thinking of the project.

[@justbendev2324]

What an insane project to share with us, i loved every second of it, Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@lilpun021]

Need more videos and the workspace setup is so on point!

[@CraigHissett]

This concept is unreal! Ive yearned for this kind of platform for such a long time to build up a MIDI controller for a portable recording studio Ive built. Using a handful of the faders and the button/encoder combo units would nail that. Also the resin based printing is incredible. It looks flawless compared to extrusion driven prints.

[@Hardest]

Head this idea in mind for a very long time as well, I'm very impressed with your work and passion. Thanks to show it and mostly, to make it even open source. Thanks a lot

[@n1k0n_]

Amazing as always Salim!!! Thanks for all the help with my projects recently too. Love your channel!

[@Ender_P.K]

That will definitely blow up. Almost full coverage of subscribers is 19 hours, amazing quality and cool b-roll. Keep going and you'll get it!

[@Abunai_]

You’ve become my favourite KZbinr, Salim. Another really great project and the time and effort you take to explain your successes and failures is refreshing. Looking forward to your next project.

[@authenticLC]

I think that you've learned so much in a short amount of time, on top of having good production value makes you a very underrated channel in my opinion.

[@CrashTestZombie-mx3nj]

you are such an inspiration!!! i can't believe how many disciplines you have under your belt to be able to make such a bespoke hardware interface. i just subscribed

[@Finder_NY]

I won't build something like this. But your dedication on this project amaze me man.

[@whitehat_9814]

the only sub 500k channel i watch because of the standard of the content. Your content and production has the qualities of a million subscriber channel.

[@whitehat_9814]

not trying to tell you what to do since i don't know what you have in mind but just my opinion : don't go hard on the meme-fication stuff. you and your content give off a classy professional vibe and i felt it doesn't suit too much meme-fication. but all upto your taste and the majority of your viewers. i personally have weird tastes sometimes.

[@Eden21425]

I love this. I would dig faders and even motorized faders alot. Many modern composers use similar tools like the monogram to control the expressions of virtual instruments over midi commands, and its really useful and would be a great cheaper alternative to the monogram.

[@rwlodarczyk]

What an amazing project! Beautifully done.

[@paoloambrosio]

Your projects are insanely good! Mind-blowing attention to detail from product design to video editing.

[@salimbenbouz]

thank you!

[@adammills4099]

This is a really impressive project! I also started building custom keyboard because of the super inspirational Mirage keyboard that Zack is working on!

[@byronnielsen8896]

Damn this is really next level, fantastic project and quality content! - Happy to finally the YT waking up and promoting creators that deserve it.

[@iladshyanchess]

We need more videos on KZbin with this quality. 40K subs?! You deserve more man. This video got the editing of a premium commercial video. Keep it up.

[@GabrielRTXti]

Awww man this project, 1st time seeing this channel, the print procces is so well done

[@e74av]

A great option for combining all of the modules would actually be to connect those as a USB bus. All modules would be independent, the number of modules would mean nothing and you would get rid of any protocol definition and programming.

[@lanepemberton8886]

Also one less pin in the connector

[@e74av]

@@lanepemberton8886 Well, maybe uneven number of pins can help with reverse connecting options so that you don't need to think how to connect all of those.

[@andrew689]

Just discovered your channel. You are developing and tinkering with things, just like I would love to do if I had the time these days. Keep up the great work 👍

[@_brandocorp]

This was a really fun watch. I'm glad this popped up on my feed!

[@VoidScytheX]

Mindblowing! Thanks for uploading.

[@nicknack125]

This is awesome and absolutely hilarious since I've been developing my own modular macropad line based on seeing the creativity console - all the steps you went through are legitimately all the steps I went through as well, even down to chucking an extra interrupt pin. I didn't have the thought to make custom pogo connectors though, that was a super clever design. Nice work! Also to add onto your part at 18:00 - my approach uses a single I2C controller device with some extra logic that auto-assigns I2C addresses after going through a discovery/scan process, which involves the peripheral device responding with its unique chip ID and a module type identifier. All keypresses or actions are buffered and then cleared on an I2C read, but latency issues like you mentioned start to pop up when you get 8+ devices. Cranking up I2C speeds worked for a bit but I am currently redesigning since I started hitting I2C bus capacitance issues at higher speeds.

[@salimbenbouz]

haha! that's amazing. I'm glad i'm not the only one to think this way. I received a lot of suggestions that I might try and buffering the interactions is one of them. thanks for the taking the time!

[@sachasmart7139]

Amazing detail. Nice work!

[@sunraiii]

The fact that you made these all by yourself is impressive. Great work!

[@RealKanashii]

I've been planning to do this for sooooooooo long. Nice someone finally made it. Great work. Subscribed.

[@adamborkowski3175]

Awesome project, thanks for sharing!

[@rbmcp-]

I rarely write comments. Really rare. But given the quality of Salim's content, how good his videos are, how imaginative and expert he is, it would be a sin not to leave a comment here. There are so many DIY KZbinrs. And then there is Mr. Benbouziyane!

[@OrangeSheep14]

Amazing project and great vid!

[@DentedPrinter]

This is remarkable. I am going to be tuning in deeply to this project.

[@bmxscape]

you are quite good. with persistence and consistency (a quality video every couple months is great) you will continue to do well

[@TeslaSpain]

Your videos,organitation and design are the perfection

[@j.k.4958]

Man this is an impressive work you pulled. I'm sincerely amazed :O

[@gustinian]

I sketched an near identical design concept back in 2012-ish (when 3D printing was in its infancy and I had an early Makerbot Replicator which wasn't really up to the task, plus my embedded knowledge was more rudimentary). Well done for getting so far! If I was going to tackle it today, I would probably program it in Mecrisp Stellaris Forth on a STM32F411, perhaps using a overclocked MIDI scheme or I2C. Forth is ideal for this sort of project - fast real time incremental compiling and testing with instant debugging feedback (unlike C), plus it is an order of magnitude faster than Micro Python.

[@artursmihelsons415]

Cool project and great video! For interrupt issues - instead of pulse count for modules, modules can send one pulse as interrupt and followed by unique module address in 4bit binary..😉

[@harry.mishinev]

Wow, you put so much effort in this video. It's just amazing!

[@bobdouglas262]

Looking forward to the next one.

[@110Genesis]

That's some of the BEST maker content out there. Keep it up mate!

[@lossless4129]

Dude you are awesome, excited to see you continue to grow!

[@RussellNelson]

Wow. Very high production value on this video! I'm impressed! You won a subscribe for that alone. Not to mention KEEEEEEEEB!

[@angelosnegkas]

Congrats! Very good job. Thank you for make this free to everyone!

[@bel5978]

Thanks a lot for the instructables, salim. You are a kickass maker! 🙌

[@nathan471]

Love this project! Such a great video. Keep up the good work!

[@villeturkkinen]

Amazing skills all the way. It was nice to see the whole production from a to z. Thank you!

[@DPWII]

absolutely genuis, love the work!

[@matthew-lawrence]

Amazing Project! Keep it up

[@Tao-of-Design]

Professional level production on both video and product.

[@arnabhazra2287]

Just outstanding. Keep making awesome stuffs 👍

[@salimbenbouz]

Thanks, will do!

[@charliesanders4065]

What a killer project man, video was super in depth and well edited

[@TheFonurb]

Thats really impressive. Cool project!

[@keepitgrimy]

Amazing work and stunning video presentation

[@Bozarnite]

This is really cool! I am glad you showed up on my youtube feed.

[@TheRJH1]

Amazing project, love it!

[@theyehsohz]

holy hell, HeyGears is amazing. I cannot believe I've never heard of them until this video!

[@jaysprenkle1026]

Very nice. I am extremely jealous of the tools. Holy cow!

[@screen_names]

Seriously a great video. hope you keep making content because you are bound to blow up.

[@anlukinha8764]

No way, I had the exact same idea last weekend. God bless u saved me tons of time!.

[@SamGreenMaker]

This is amazing. I don’t know half the terms you used but this was so cool. That printer is wild.

[@lorenzodalvise9367]

Next step: motorize the sliders 😎

[@sch9986]

this is an awesome project. nicely done.

[@CodingWithAuryn]

What an amazing project. So much details and crazy good! Love your content!

[@salimbenbouz]

Thank you!

[@georgekerwood9100]

Hi quality work and great presentation, thanks for your time!

[@josemaria8205]

This is awesomee, congrats mann

[@Kumodot]

That's a Dream 3D Printing Setup. Loved the results !

[@miettoisdev]

my man, this is some next level stuff!!!

[@alleessssssio]

Impressive build!

[@nado121]

The MK1 was great but you really outdid yourself on this one! Fantastic work!

[@weistonaski6924]

Impressive build and overall video quality mate

[@Psychoticgamer94]

I truly found a gem. Subscribed keep it up.

[@samsstills]

Amazing stuff, simply outstanding.

[@joaovitormiranda1570]

awesome!!!, brazilian mechatronics engineering student here, you are soo good doing these things, bro haha

[@wotermelon_]

Never heard of mechatronics lol, is it mechanical+electronics engineering??

[@joaovitormiranda1570]

@im_Carlisle yeah, something in the middle of two others, isn't so recognized cus is "something new" but, at the same time, is in a rising way :)

[@wotermelon_]

@@joaovitormiranda1570 Back in my day people just chose between civil, chemical and mechanical to have a "safe career". Nice to see that they're coming up with new courses to tackle industry requirements

[@JonnySchaab]

Sooooo good, fantastic work dude

[@AA-du1pt]

You can use CAN to make the communication faster so you don't need interrupts, can is really simple on hardware side and can go up to 1Mb/s. I2C is usually 400Kb/s which is not great and is pretty noisy on long bus topologies such as yours. I'm not sure if the rpi mcu has CAN but it most probably has SPI so you can put an SPI to CAN ic to make it work. CAN is exterelemy noise resistant and has many many features that would work great in this project

[@colincramer2393]

CAN is a more robust bus system that i agree, but for such a system CAN is too much. I2C has the benefit that it is build in almost all uController. It simpler and cheaper. And if the interrupt system works the I2C bus will be good enough

[@dukelec]

CDBUS is similar to CAN, but much faster and simpler than CAN, we should use UART controller like CDCTL01A.

[@AA-du1pt]

@@dukelec This looks super cool, but sourcing the chip seems like a pain, I could only find alibaba links to it. I would love to get a reel of this

[@MegaKronny]

Good Job dude! Very cool project.

[@aloowakp]

Man I so want to make one, just gonna wait for the instructables, or maybe a v1.1, brilliant build, got yourself a sub

[@TrueBark]

Amazing! Please keep it up!