2 Quick, Generic Questions...(Holy Thread Pics!)

[Finchbyrd]

I've got the arcade setup, works great (thanks everyone) but I have got to get the front panel working on the pc. I gutted the PC and have the front panel's inputs just sitting out the back of the cab for now (2 usb ports, headphone out and mic out) and I need to have the speakers MUTE on the cab when I input headphones. Well this feature doesn't work, if I enable HD audio through the front panel in the BIOS I get sound when headphones are in, but it also comes out of the speakers. If I enable the other option, I get no sound through the headphone jack at all, and it still comes through the speakers. So, I come to you with this question. If I were to buy an external soundcard (Creative X-Fi usb, any make/version)
 
 would that do the trick? I have a screwy sleep schedule so sometimes I'm up all hours of the night, and if I keep playing at this time so will everyone else in the house. Annnnd, second question is this: I need new buttons. I can't do Sanwa buttons because they wont fit my CP, the travel distance isn't great enough, and people that would play the thing when I'm gone would probably smash the buttons through to the floor and tear 'em up. The buttons I have now are original, and terrible. They're squishy, and don't have a good "click" feel when pressed. It's a Marvel Super Hero's deluxe cab, I don't know if you can find a pic of it but the button travel distance is too far. I went to a local arcade and most fighters had concave style buttons, but they only came up out of the circle button cup about 1/4-1/3 of an inch it seemed, and had a noticeable "click" and were easy to press. The people there are clueless on what buttons are in the cab, but they had a good feel. I don't know if this is how all HAPP buttons are, but I need some that are concave, but have more travel than the Sanwa and less than the current ones I have. Thanks if you can help and have any idea what I'm talking about haha.


EDIT: I think these are comparable to the buttons I have's push length, except mine have vertical micro-switches and these are horizontal:
 
And these are the style I was asking about, I believe. I just don't know anything about Yenox quality.


And after looking, I could handle the HAPP Competition buttons, Sanwa's wouldn't fit in my CP anyway. Decisions decisions.

[versapak]

You definitely don't want vertical switches in a fighter. They are a much stiffer press, and with fighters you want pretty minimal resistance.

Any of the buttons above would be fine. I personally prefer concave buttons, but that is my American arcade roots dictating that preference. The trend now-a-days is definitely toward the Japanese ball top sticks and convex buttons.

If you prefer convex, then the Happ competitions would work great. If you prefer concave, then the Happ horizontals with pushbutton would do the trick.

[Ginsu Victim]

It is my understanding that Yenox are rubbish. It's not much more for Happ and we all know how good those are.

(Concave being my preference)

[Franco B]

I know you can't fit 30mm Japanese buttons in your panel but just for reference I really like Seimitsu buttons. I really don't like Sanwa buttons as you barely have to touch them to register a button press as the the plunger has very little travel and they are very light.

The Seimitsu's on the other hand have a slightly longer travel and are slightly firmer. I don't use anything but Seimitsu's now.

[Finchbyrd]

Yeah the vertical micro-switches in my cp kill it. After thinking about it, the buttons I'm trying to find were concave but had a sharper lip than the HAPP, they seemed to be straight one the sides all the way to the top, and once at the top they weren't rouned off at all. I'll probably just order the HAPPs but I need to find out what the others are because they were great. They were in a Tekken cab that had been converted from some Capcom cab, Tekken 5 had Sanwa or Seimitsu, but this particular cab was Tekken 3 or Tag I can't remember, and had the faux metal plate CP graphic from Capcom cabs.

[Finchbyrd]

Here is the one I'm talking about on the right, compared to mine on the left in the top pic, and the opposite on the other pics *yuck*:

[versapak]

The Happ horizontal buttons sit noticeably lower than the verticals. I am not sure if it is as big of a difference as what I see in your pics, but there is definitely a difference, and they are MUCH easier to press.

My guess is that the Happ horizontals sit about the same height as the competition ones around the edge, though they would obviously go concave from there rather than convex.

[Turnarcades]

DO NOT USE THE BUTTONS IN THE SECOND BUTTON PICTURE! (with the blue switches)  seriously, they are lame - not properly concave, the plastic somehow feels too hard, the button nuts are weak and the switches and button springs are horribly stiff. They look very similar to some I had from Gremlin Solutions in the past which were assured to be "just as good as Happ or other similar offerings", but they really are not.

[Finchbyrd]

They're probably just horizontal HAPP like you said. I've never had any "real" experience with any buttons other than my verticals. Thanks all, I'll end up with the competitions or standard concave.