An old school arcade button is the main feature of this module. Pressing the arcade button sends an internal 5V CV gate signal to the output. The CV value of the gate signal is passed through an attenuator and may be adjusted with the knob. A second smaller latching button will send the gate signal to the output, deactivating the momentary arcade button. An external signal can also be sent through the Battlegate Jr in place of the internal gate CV signal and attenuated with the potentiometer. The bipolar LED indicates the signal at the output.
It was late June 2024 and Langel from LoBlast was interested in collaborating on a project for Knobcon. Langel is a huge video game fan and wanted to incorporate a real chunky clicky arcade button into a eurorack module. The button had to be an old school button found in arcade games. I just happened to have a box of these buttons in various colors in the studio ready to go.
From there, mockups were created, schematics were drawn, circuits were breadboarded, iterations were considered. Finally PCB boards were ordered and at this point, we were getting close to our trip to Knobcon. When the PCB boards arrived, we had time to start soldering a handful before leaving. We ended up soldering into the night at the hotel to fill a case.
