External Winamp Control

Table of Contents

Have you ever wanted to control Winamp without using your keyboard? While Winamp now has full keyboard shortcut support, there was a time when this wasn’t available. I wanted an easy way to change songs, especially during gaming sessions, so I created an external control panel using the serial port. This tutorial will show you how to build your own 4-button Winamp controller.

Materials Needed #

4 push-buttons
Serial connector (DB9)
Project enclosure box
Cable (I recommend using a network cable for easier organization)

Tools Required #

Soldering iron and soldering supplies

The Circuit #

Here’s the schematic showing how to wire everything together:

Assembly Instructions #

Following the schematic, connect one side of each button to a common wire that will connect to pin 4 on the serial connector.
Connect the other side of each button to their respective pins on the serial connector according to the schematic.

Here’s how it should look during assembly:

Software Configuration #

We’ll be using COM-port Winamp Control V.1.42 to interface with our controller.

Setup Steps #

Select your COM port (most computers have 2 ports - choose the one you’re using)
Set the number of buttons to “4 buttons”
Remap the buttons - if you can map all buttons successfully, your hardware is working correctly!
Configure button actions in the “WINAMP” section. Options include:
- Volume Up/Down
- Next/Previous Track
- Play/Pause
- And more…

Button Response Types #

You can configure how each button responds:

Click: Single or double-click activation
Down/Up: Different actions for press and release
Turbo: Hold-to-repeat (great for volume control)
Clicks + Turbo: Combines click and hold-to-repeat functions
Clicks + Hold: Combines click and hold functions

Final Result #

Here’s how my controller looks in its finished state, housed in a repurposed disk case:

I hope this guide was helpful! If you have any questions, suggestions, or improvements, please leave a comment below. 😊