CP with game pads

[lilspanisheddie]

I am getting closer and closer to building my cabinet and I was wondering about controllers.  I have plans on building a 2 person CP with trackball, but I also love playing the 4 player games.  Has anyone set up MAME with a CP for players 1 & 2 and then gamepads for players 3 and 4?

[ahofle]

Sort of...I have a 3 player control panel with two USB female sockets on the front of the CP box for console games (or a 4th player in Gauntlet if necessary).  Works great!  If you plan on doing any console emulation, especially N64, then I would definitely go with USB jacks.

[lilspanisheddie]

Does this mean you are able to have 4 players playing at once?  3 on your CP and 1 one a gamepad?

Instead of that adapter couldn't I use a hub on either side of the cabinet so that a gamepad could be plugged in on the side?  Does this make sense?

[ahofle]

Yes 4 players at once.  You can do 3 on the CP and 1 with the pad (or 2 on the CP and 2 with pads if you configure MAME correctly).  You could definitely use a USB hub, but where would you mount it?  The nice thing about the jacks is that you only need to drill a small hole and screw them in instead of cutting out a perfect square piece to mount a hub.