Thank you for the tip!

DDR is great!! You can also buy the pads that are about 50$ and they are semi-soft (they have a foam insert) if you can't make or buy a metal one or you don't want a soft mat. I personally use a combo of DDR/Stepmania and Just Dance for excercise at home. Good luck!!

Are you dissatisfied with the L-Tek? I just bought a PIU one. Most people's issues seem to be with the fact that the sensors are only in the centre of the steps. I'm assuming you're more of a shuffly brackety endurance player

I'm trying out Promit's design now as well. I'm testing out some 4 mil velostat right now; resistance for a 3"x3" square is ~20k unloaded, about 300 ohms lightly preloaded (a 5x7 paperback book), and between 75 and 150 ohms when triggered. Depending on the voltage divider that you use and how sensitive a microcontroller you use to read the voltages, it seems like it might be finicky. I'm also studying if/how the velostat resistance returns to normal after triggering: it doesn't seem to be as quick as I might like, though it's just qualitative multimeter readings at this point.

@@jorymil Hey, thanks for the reply. It took about six months for someone to give me a straight answer on how to apply resistors, but once someone did, I was off to the races, and I'm happy to say my pads now work perfectly :D

The game is stepmania, and you can find songs on stepmaniaonline.net/index.php?page=downloads

Hi there, thanks for your questions! This build ended up costing me more than I planned for because I decided to use a few materials that were a bit costly. The biggest expenses were the copper tape (3 inch wide by 55 yards long: $70. I probably used less than half the roll though. I did a quick search and found some 1 inch wide 21 yard rolls for $15. Make sure the adhesive is conductive), Lexan Polycarbonate sheets (the large sheet was $28 + $35 shipping on ebay, and the small sheets were an 8 pack on amazon for $28--so total about $84 for all of it), the multi-console cthulhu (the brain of the control box--$40). THEN I had to get a bunch of miscellaneous tools like a little soldering iron, a rotary tool, etc. All of that drove the costs up a bit, but I don't think they have to be necessary, depending on how you plan your build. Instead of polycarbonate, you can use acrylic, which is typically less expensive and easier to find (make sure it has a little bit of flex though, so you don't have to stomp as hard for the buttons to register). You can get a smaller roll of copper (if you choose to use copper as opposed to aluminum or steel. I chose copper because it's very conductive), and plan your build and materials so you don't need to solder if possible, etc. The RJ45 set up isn't necessary if you want to be exclusively usb, It's just convenient if you want to switch between systems. You can even cannibalize an old/cheap soft ddr pad for its control box! I purchased the PCB directly from Godlike Controls (which doesn't seem to be accepting orderes for the time being), but Focus Attack (www.focusattack.com) and Ultimarc (www.ultimarc.com/) also sell PCBs. I bought my buttons, control box wiring, and adapted PS2/USB to RJ45 from Focus Attack. I haven't purchased anything from Ultimarc, but I found them in a tutorial that may be helpful to you: www.s-config.com/a-better-dance-dance-revolutionstepmania-mat-controller-with-i-pac/ BUT do some research on PCBs, because I haven't been able to get my pad to work well on anything except my PS2 (on PS3 & PC, I can't get opposite directions to register simultaneously. I don't know if that's because the PCB may be specifically intended for arcade/fighting game controls, or some other issue). It may even be a good idea for you to try ripping apart an inexpensive soft pad intended for use on your chosen system and using that as the controller instead (that may require a little bit of soldering though). If you decide to go with a PCB, see if you can get one that allows you to screw the wiring in place rather than requiring soldering (like the Cthulhu at 4:44. I think the I-Pac controllers have screw downs as well), which will keep you from having to buy an extra tool (but if you have to solder, you can do it! Just find a good youtube tutorial, get some blank PCB bread boards and practice until you feel confident. I had no idea how to solder before this project). Another tip, if you build your control box separate from the board like I did, make sure there is enough room in the box for all the wires, PCB controller, buttons and stuff. My little blue box is pretty cramped lol. Also, if you use copper tape, maybe consider permanently mounting a thin sheet of acrylic to the base of the board, or find a way to really get a smooth surface before laying down the bottom circuit. I find that the roughness of the wood allows the edges of the copper tape to peel up (the tape that's on the polycarbonate steps is solid though). Here are some of the sites I used to get information. If you have any other questions or want more details or tips, feel free to ask and I'll help you as best I can! I had to do A LOT of research because I'd never made switches or game controllers before, and if I can help smooth your process along, I'd be happy to :). (There may be some redundancies in the links below, but sometimes there is additional clarifying information) zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=3350 www.anikionline.com/FAQs/ddr/ddr%20in%20web%20format3-2.htm#_Section_5_: I was going to add more, but I have probably a hundred bookmarks saved for this project, and some for specific questions I had at the time. I think that those two sites may give you a good place to start, and if you want to know more, let me know. Don't get overwhelmed, this is actually a fun project if you like building things. Just make a plan and you'll be fine :). Good Luck, and let me know how it goes! -Aamaris

First of all, you're awesome, I didn't expect such an in-depth response. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply :D Also, you have given a bit of eureka moment I think I know why it's not registering the pressing of when you go for a left-right or an up-down step. The directional pads are being seen as a hat switch, which is used for directional pads and joysticks. The 4 directions are ruled by a control and when a button is pressed the control changes to a value. Now here is the interesting part, let's say you go to do a left-down step, when both of these are pressed a new value appears and the press is registered. Though if you press the trouble combinations the value resets to its neutral state and registers it like nothing has been pressed. Even though it does sense both pads being pressed it's the control value that cancels it out. If you imagine the dance mat like a joystick it's impossible for one stick to activate these directions. So maybe if the opposite directions were connected to a second control so they would no longer be on the same axis maybe that would fix it? Or maybe finding a way to stop the switch control value ruling over the direct input? What do you think? Also thank you again for the in-depth answer, finding it so much easier to find the parts I was looking for now :)

HMMMMMMM!! I suspected that it was because it was registering as a joystick, and your value explanation seems to confirm that! I tried wiring it so that right and down would be 'X' and 'O' (I know that DDR mapped directions to the controller buttons as well), but that wasn't a clean solution. Wiring opposite directions to a second control is a very interesting idea! I think the two controls would have to be wired together somehow so that it still registers as part of the same controller, but I wonder if this is a possible solution! I have absolutely NO IDEA how to begin to stop the switch control value ruling over the direct input (I wish I did! I'm not sure how to access that in game, and I don't know if that's possible on the PCB itself, and I don't have access to any sort of program that might control the functions of the PCB). If you figure out how to do that, please let me know! And PLEASE share your build with me once you've finished! I'm very interested in how it all comes together, what parts you choose to use, your troubleshooting, and how you end up structuring it! I'm sure you'll come up with a lot of wonderful solutions :). You're very welcome! I'm glad I could help, and if you have any other questions/issues, please feel free to keep in touch (you can also reach us through Facebook, linked in the description box)! We DDR home builders have to stick together ;)

probably but then it probably wouldnt be arcade spec... if that doesnt matter than yea