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Sasa Djuric of Serbia is just one among many participants in the recent fad of crafting DIY Ableton Live midi controllers. But from the moment he was scooped up from the CDM Flickr pool, people realized his work went above and beyond most DIY creations.Djuric, His prototype controller is not only visually similar to the software’s on-screen controller but also works with it bi-directionally and even features functions that the software lacks, including a scratching board connected through NI Traktor. In fact, that is why he decided to take the DIY route to begin with: “There’s no commercial controller that really comes close enough to what I wanted to have,” said Sasa in an interview with createdigitalmusic.com.

What’s most impressive about Sasa’s projects, though, is the meticulous care he puts into every detail of the aesthetic, organizational, and technical functions of his creations. He crafts the buttons individually from 3, 4 and 6 mm laser cut acrylic, designs the 15 LED feeder receiver with feeders that have snap function, meaning “there will be no ugly ‘jump’ if the physical fader doesn’t correspond to the volume position in Live,” and even eliminates the spaghetti of wire seen with most professionally manufactured control boards. “I couldn’t afford to have messy wiring so I paid special attention to do it tidy,” said Sasa, “I wanted this controller to be as compact as possible . . . no place for mess.”

And he surely succeeded. The final product is not yet complete but it’s in its final stage and already looks like something Ableton could buy up and sell as is (hint, hint).

But whether the product sells commercially or remains strictly a DIY project, Sasa’a creations are revolutionizing the DIY Ableton movement. The fact that one man can craft what costs professional companies expert teams, huge production centers, and months of testing, really says something about DIY technology and seems to inspire people everywhere –

After posting photographs of his technology at different stages of production as well as video clips, breaking down steps to production and usage, Sasa has amassed quite a Flickr fan base. Join them and check out his media on Flickr or read more bout Sasa’s technology at createdigitalmusic.com.