I use 5k pots, and an U-Hid Nano. The Nano's inputs are configurable, so I program the Nano's pins so that one is +5v and put it on the outside of the three leads on the pot, one as -5v (gnd) and put that on the opposite side of the pot's connecters, and then configure one pin as analog input and wire it to the middle lead on the pot. I repeat this for the other axis. I then program 3 more pins, one as the common, and wire it to my buttons common (2 of them), then each of the other pins to the button wires, and program them as button inputs in the Nano. I then adjust the gains (in the Nano programming utility), and calibrate it in windows. Then I'm done, I just configure MAME (Afterburner and the like) to use that analog input.