DEADBANDV1.0 / PRE-LAUNCH
ACCEPTING RESERVATIONSOPERATOR BRIEF →UTC --:--:--Z
FIG.01 — OBJECT / ISO.VIEWSHEET 01 / 09
PRE-LAUNCH / SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

Your desk deserves better switches.

A CNC-machined aluminum desk panel of real industrial switches, dials, and toggles — wireless, standalone, and made to elevate your desktop setup.

When you’re ready for it to do things, the firmware is already inside — open, every control yours to bind.

RESERVATION ONLY · NO PAYMENT NOW
Deadband concept render — machined aluminum desk panel
FIG.01 · CONCEPT RENDER · 6061 AL · ANODIZED MATTE · 15° FWD TILT · ~280g
+
+
FIG.01 — ISO.VIEW / FINAL FINISHREV A · 2026
§ 02 — THE OBJECTFIG.02 — MATERIAL / COMPONENTRY

Not a gadget.
An object.

Five-and-a-half inches of machined aluminum, anodized matte black, tilted fifteen degrees toward you. On its face: two guarded toggles under red flip-up covers, a rocker, a knurled rotary encoder with twenty-four detents, a six-position rotary switch, and one illuminated latching push button.

Battery powered. USB-C charging. No computer required.

TOGGLE
Carling
SPDT · GUARDED
ENCODER
Bourns
PEC12 · 24 DET
ROTARY
Alpha TW
6-POS · 30°
HOUSING
6061 AL
CNC · MATTE
NOTE
These are the same component families found in aerospace cockpits and professional audio consoles. They are not decorative. They are the actual hardware.
§ 03 — LABEL SETSLASER-ENGRAVED · 3 STANDARD + CUSTOM

Make it
yours.

Every panel ships with laser-engraved labels. Three standard sets at launch, plus custom — name your switches whatever you want and we’ll engrave them.

FIG.03 — PERSONAL / PREVIEW
HUSTLECOASTRESTOVERRIDEENERGYMODE
HUSTLE · COAST · REST · ENERGY · MODE · OVERRIDE
+
+
+
+
FORM 09 / OPERATOR BRIEF

Find the panel
you’d actually use.

Nine questions. Two minutes. We’ll return your operator profile — the panel, the labels, and the modes you’d run on it. Built for people who already know what a considered desk looks like.

NO EMAIL TO SEE THE RESULT

TAKE THE BRIEF →
§ 04 — INTENDED OPERATOR
OPERATOR A

For the desk that
reflects your standards.

You already have the mechanical keyboard, the quality monitor, the cable that matches the desk. You’ve been looking for one more object that belongs in that setup. This is it — and when you’re ready, it does things. Mute your mic with a flip and a click. Arm focus mode. Trigger whatever you want it to. A community of operators is figuring out what their panels do; yours is waiting for you to decide.

OPERATOR B

The gift
with a story.

“It’s a cockpit panel for their desk — and it actually does stuff.” That’s the sentence that closes the gift. Machined aluminum, real aerospace switches, presentation box. Plug it in and it works out of the box; over time they’ll make it their own. Unusual. High-quality. Understood immediately by the person who opens it, and still interesting six months later.

§ 05 — SPECIFICATIONSREV A · 2026

Specifications.

HOUSING
CNC-machined 6061 aluminum, matte black anodized
DIMENSIONS
5.5" W × 4" D × 2.25" H · 15° forward tilt
TOGGLES
Carling Technologies, SPDT, guarded (red flip-up safety)
ROCKER
Panel-mount, positive detent
ENCODER
Bourns PEC12, 24 detents per revolution
ROTARY
Alpha Taiwan, 6-position, 30° detents
PUSH BUTTON
Latching, red LED ring illumination
POWER
Internal battery · USB-C charge (rear)
CONNECTIVITY
Standalone. USB-C for charging and data.
LABELS
Laser-engraved aluminum. Three standard sets. Custom available.
WEIGHT
~280g
§ 06 — CURRENT PROTOTYPEIN PROGRESS · PHYSICAL BUILD

Where
we are.

First hand-built prototype, photographed on the bench. Working toggles with red flip-up safeties, illuminated push button, brushed aluminum knob, and engraved labels.

Production units will move to the 15° tilted chassis, full set of six controls, and the final anodized finish shown in Fig.01.

HOUSING
Machined prototype chassis · matte black
CONTROLS
Carling guarded toggles · DND rocker · brushed knobs · illuminated PB
LABELS
Engraved: LAUNCH · DND · VIBE · ENERGY · HUSTLE · COAST
STATUS
Firmware integration · finish passes · tilt chassis fabrication
Deadband prototype — front view showing guarded toggles and brushed knob
PROTO.001 · FRONT · EARLY BUILD
Deadband prototype — HUSTLE / COAST engraved labels
PROTO.001 · REV · HUSTLE / COAST SET
§ 07 — BEYOND THE SWITCHESOPEN · COMMUNITY · HACKABLE
OPEN BRAIN · INCLUDED

Beyond the
switches.

Deadband is a beautiful desktop object — but we know the people who want one will also want to wire it into something. The microcontroller is already inside, running open-source firmware. A growing community is modifying their panels.

Bind the encoder to your DAW. Make the rotary your meeting-mute. Have the push button kick off your deploy pipeline. The panel stays analog; the wiring underneath is yours.

FIG.05C — MAKER PCB · REV.0
J1SWITCH HEADER12-pin · toggle + rocker + PB
J2ENCODER BUSA/B/Z · 3.3V logic
J3ROTARY TAP6 discrete lines
J4LED DRIVEPB ring · PWM
U1MCUOnboard · open firmware · MIT
U2USB-C BRIDGEShared with charging
  ┌──── T1 ── T2 ── ROCKER ──┐     ┌── ENCODER ──┐
  │          (Carling)        │     │  (Bourns)   │
  └────────────┬──────────────┘     └──────┬──────┘
               │                           │
         ┌─────┴─────┐ J1          J2 ┌────┴────┐
         │           └─────┬──────────┘         │
         │           [  U1  MCU  ]              │
         │           ┌─────┴──────┐             │
         └───────────┘            └─────────────┘
                        J4 · LED
MCU ONBOARD · FIRMWARE PRELOADED · MIT
01 / ONBOARD BRAIN

The brain is included.

An onboard microcontroller ships in every panel, wired to every switch, encoder line, and LED. Open-source firmware comes preloaded. Reflash over USB-C. No soldering required.

Included · Open firmware
02 / WHAT PEOPLE DO

HID. MIDI. MQTT. Whatever.

We'll publish reference firmware for keyboard HID, MIDI control, and serial. Community has already prototyped Zoom mute, Ableton mapping, Home Assistant toggles, and one very good “order a coffee” button.

Open firmware · MIT license
03 / THE WORKSHOP

A place for the mods.

A community workshop — schematics, wiring guides, firmware recipes, and a gallery of what people have built. Not a forum. A portfolio of panels doing real work.

Launches with V1
NOTEThe Deadband ships standalone and does nothing to your computer by default. That’s on purpose. The onboard firmware is open — there if you want to cross the line from object to interface, invisible if you don’t.Notify me when the workshop opens ↗
§ 08 — BUILD LOG13 ENTRIES · UPDATED WEEKLY

How it’s coming
together.

Open full archive ↗
E013
2026-04-21
DESIGNCOMMUNITYMILESTONE

Every Deadband ships with a brain

Pulling the microcontroller out of the upsell column and into the base unit. A Raspberry Pi Pico in every panel, from day one.

E012
2026-04-21
HARDWARESETBACK

The knob that felt wrong

Pulled the finalist encoder knob off the prototype after 48 hours. Felt cheap. Restarting.

The knob that lost. Beautiful. Wrong.
FIG · E012
E011
2026-04-17
ELECTRICALDESIGN

Cutting the cord, literally

Ripped out the USB-C plan. Li-ion pack going in. This thing should stand alone on a desk, not tether to one.

E010
2026-04-10
PROTOTYPEMILESTONE

Prototype 001 on the bench

First hand-built Deadband, powered, making the right sounds. Real object now.

Prototype 001, the morning it came alive. Wires still visible.
FIG · E010
E008
2026-03-27
HARDWARESUPPLYMILESTONE

No plastic anywhere. Full stop.

Every component audited for feel. Anything that read as toy got replaced with the industrial-grade version.

§ 09 — RESERVEPRODUCTION IN PROGRESS

We’re building
it right now.

Deadband ships later this year. Reserve your configuration and we’ll reach you the moment production is ready. No payment today.

No payment now. We’ll reach out when we’re ready to ship.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  DEADBAND · 001 · CARLING · BOURNS · ALPHA · 6061-T6 · MATTE BLACK · ©2026   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘