encoder to use for 4 player cab?

[Jimmy]

I have started build on my cab,  everything seems to be going fairly smoothly. But i have been doing my research and im a little confused wiring the controls.  Because ive counted something near 60 inputs needed.  Im really worried about ghosting. Which encoder should i buy?  I found threads on this in the faq, but none aswered my questions.

[markrvp]

What joysticks are you going to be using?  If you are using 49-ways, then you will need to get one GP-Wiz 49 for each 49-way joystick you use.  Each GP-Wiz 49 has 28 additional inputs, so you would have plenty.

If you have no 49-way joysticks, then you have a couple of main stream "current technology" choices.  There are more, but these are the two I would reccomend. 

1.)  If you absolutely have to have 60 inputs then you could get a KeyWiz and a GP-Wiz which would give you a total of 64 inputs.  These two encoders come from Groovy Game Gear.

2.)  If you can get by with 56 inputs (which I'm sure you can - just show us your layout), then the IPAC-4 from Ultimarc would suffice.

[Jimmy]

8 ways,  i think ive decided on p360s. 


56 is actually what i came up with.  Thats why i said nearly 60


player 1           6 buttons
player 2           6 buttons
player 3           4 buttons
player 4           4 buttons
1-4 start          4 buttons
1-4 coin insert 4 buttons
pause              1 button
exit                  1 button
4 joysticks      16 buttons
------------------------------
total               46   


maybe a few more, i guess i added wrong when i came up with 56

[markrvp]

Then either solution I listed above (Keywiz+GP-Wiz OR IPAC4) will work.

[Jimmy]

wheres the bst place to buy thes from?

[pointdablame]

wheres the bst place to buy thes from?

There aren't really many options.

Ultimarc sells the Ipac encoders at http://www.ultimarc.com

GroovyGameGear sells the Keywiz/GPwiz products at http://www.groovygamegear.com

divemaster127 also just started carrying the Ultimarc products in his thread in the B/S/T forum, so you can save a few bucks in shipping if you're in the US.



I'd also really recommend you read the FAQ on the board and the Wiki, as well as taking a look at the main page at http://www.arcadecontrols.com as this is a very simple question and has come up very often.  You'll probably answer hundreds of your own questions by reading the FAQ/Wiki

[rlemmon]

Hi. I can't speak for the others, but the ultimarc i pac's work great. 

[divemaster127]

I have the ipac4's stock here in the us, if you need one, you will save a few dollars shipping in the united states
thanks
dm

[psychopanda]

I like the KeyWiz Max 1.5. Especially the screw in terminals, since I've yet to learn how to solder.

I made a new control panel top and once I get eveything wired again, I'm planning on testing out the Shazaaam! key function. From what I've read, it looks like I can save a few buttons by using the Shazaaam! button as a shift key. My plan is to make Player 1 and Player 2 act as Coin 1 (P1+Shazam) and Coin2 (P2+Shazam). I'll probably do the same with the Pause, Esc, admin buttons too. I think the Ipac might have the same function, so either way you go you might be able to save some buttons utilizing a shift function.

[divemaster127]

its really preference what you like i like the ipac4 due to it saves your setting & you do not have to redo them everytime you reboot with the other i may be wrong but you have to set the settings up to default to keep from having to redo each time, if im wrong please let me know
dm

[Havok]

I have a Keywiz and GPWiz - they work great. There is a Keywiz program you can put in your startup if you really need to have your inputs mapped a particular way, however I just wired up the standard connections, and anything different I configured MAME to use that way. So, no real worries about "losing" a configuration.

Either way, you can't go wrong - they're both excellent products.