DMX Fader Controller Quad

2023 Capacitive touch sliders + buttons, DMX output

This fader board is a custom-built replacement to the various available options on the market for DMX controllers with faders. It uses custom capacitive touch sliders to control four individual DMX slots, along with six capacitive touch buttons for setting preset DMX outputs. The fader channels have smooth fading LED indication per-channel to show the channels’ current values.

The primary design goal was to prototype several custom footprints for spatially-interpolated, two-layer capacitive touch sliders in close proximity to tens of higher-frequency PWM-driven LEDs. The design is fully functional for use after rework.

Since the firmware is written entirely in-house, each fader and preset button can be fully customized for which slot(s) it affects. In the case of the buttons, their behavior can be configured to latch or to activate only on hold, resetting to previous output values on release.

Power is supplied to the board through USB-C. It supports wired DMX output out of the XLR5 connector or wireless DMX if an external antenna is attached to the wireless IC.