Help with U360 and Novagem buttons/controls

[sdolancu]

Long time reader, first time poster.   Finally taking the plunge and building a cabinet.

Controls question:   
Simple layout for 2 players. 
U360 joystick, novagem buttons, and a trackball.

I read on the ultimarc website that the U360 can have up to 7 buttons wired to it.  Does that mean I do not need to buy an I-PAC or KeyWiz or any other keyboard encoder?   These then just USB right into the computer?  Will it work for other emulators besides MAME? (I want to use Hyperspin and take advantage of other emulators like NES, Sega64, etc). 

I know I will need an LED Wiz to light the buttons and an OptiPac for the trackball?  Is that right?

Does the power for the LEDs in the novagems come from the LED Wiz?  Or off of the U360?

Trying to get the list of equipment before buying today and any experienced help for a newbie is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[stephenp1983]

The u360 has support for up to 8 buttons via a wiring harness, so no you don't have to have an encoder if that is enough buttons.  I did this on a bartop and just used the shift feature for the extra admin type buttons like esc, pause etc.

The novagems require more power than the electric ice buttons I believe, so you won't be able to power more than a few with usb power.  I believe you will need to get power from a 12v source from what I've understood.  If you went with the electric ice and the rgb boards you could power them through the ledwiz and usb.