What are Synthesizers mainly made out of?

[justin3am]

If you are talking about the cabinet... custom tooled injection molds for plastic parts, extruded aluminum and various forms of sheet metal are common. These aren't parts you will find "off-the-shelf". The molds we use for Nektar keyboards cost >$100k to tool.

Sorry for offtopic, but... what is your job at Nektar Tech, if you want to share, of course.

I do a lot of stuff. We're a small company, so we all wear a lot of hats. My official title is 'Product Technician' but we just made that up. I'm the tech support manager, the hardware QA lead, I handle all repairs in the US and parts shipments worldwide. I am also the product manager for our Pacer foot controller project (wrote the specs and helped with firmware development). It sounds like a lot of stuff but it's a fun and rewarding job.

[chk071]

Alright, thanks for sharing. Definitely sounds like a interesting job.

[BertKoor]

Making the cabinet is probably the easiest.

Fold a piece of sheet metal in a U shape to form top, front and back. Make the front lower than the back ofcourse. On the front and back fold it again for a centimeter or so to attach a bottom plate with some screws. Make the side panels from wood (walnut will look nice) and attach them. Put some rubber feet on the bottom.
Drill holes in the top for the pots, buttons and what-you-have. Mount them there. Drill holes in the back for the 5-pin DIN output, 12V power, and maybe some extra inputs like a couple of expression pedals. Mount those chassis parts as well.
Connect it all with soldered wires to the PCB which is mounted on the bottom plate, but use some small cylinders to keep it at least a quarter inch distance from the bottom plate itself to avoid short-circuits.

Now that was easy. Next job is to figure out what will go onto the PCB. Maybe some opto-couplers, diodes, resistors, op-amps. Or do it old-school with lots of transistors. You have analog stuff like the pots, rotary encoders, buttons. These need to be processed by some sort of brain (Arduino, Raspberry Pi?) to convert it into digital signals, eventually spitting out a stream of midi data. Also it seems you want a keybed in there as well. The keys need to be scanned, and timing info of two contacts is used to derive how fast the key was pressed, to make out a velocity. Info from the pads need to be processed as well. Things like an Arduino has 8 pins for input. That can be 8 switches, or some pins can measure a crude voltage (simple A/D converter.) To handle more inputs you need something like a multiplexer so it can switch which set of 8 to process.
And then there's the software. The processor needs instructions! Can you program?

Are you still with me? Do you still think this is a feasible DIY project?
I've done my share of DIY (converted a broken mixer into a fader box connected to the PC joystick port) but this project is too big for me to handle.

Bottomless time & money pit, bound to fail...

[chk071]

Yep, that's what i thought as well, especially considering that i don't have the impression that the OP really has looked into, or is aware what it all takes.

[Fox_GAMING_NTF]

I'm thinking of using Polished and Stained Balsa Wood for the wood parts of it.

[Fox_GAMING_NTF]

Is there anyone who makes custom cases for these that can use plastic?

[telecode]

Is there anyone who makes custom cases for these that can use plastic?

Get your self a table saw and mitre saw and the good wood and start making. It should be interesting to do.

[nix808]

imo- balsa is not the best,
it's very soft.
Even Western red cedar would be better-
but what about maple? It can be quite hard and long-wearing
For plastic- also u can start fabricating.
The stuff is usually Perspex/acrylic 8D
With a heat gun and masks u could do bends OK if u practiced and set up rough enough

[Fox_GAMING_NTF]

And does anyone know where I can get MIDI Keyboard parts (like Pads, Sliders, Knobs, ) that already have the wiring?

[Fox_GAMING_NTF]

imo- balsa is not the best,
it's very soft.
Even Western red cedar would be better-
but what about maple? It can be quite hard and long-wearing
For plastic- also u can start fabricating.
The stuff is usually Perspex/acrylic 8D
With a heat gun and masks u could do bends OK if u practiced and set up rough enough

I'm trying to find something light (light as in light weight).

[nix808]

OK cool
-it's just that balsa is like styrofoam almost
maybe western red cedar, also called Oregon would be a fit compromise

[vurt]

light? helium.
probably as useful as balsa in this situation.

[whyterabbyt]

And does anyone know where I can get MIDI Keyboard parts (like Pads, Sliders, Knobs, ) that already have the wiring?

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[justin3am]

As I mentioned before, I would recommend Bamboo. It looks nice, it's light and it's easy to work with. Balsa is great for models, not so much for a MIDI controller.

[Fox_GAMING_NTF]

Is there any type of easily-molded plastic, like, at-home easy?