Schlagwort: MIDI Controller

  • Old RC transmitter becomes new MIDI controller

    Old RC transmitter becomes new MIDI controller

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    If you’re going to produce electronic music on a PC, you need some sort of input tool. That can be your keyboard and mouse, but most producers prefer to use a dedicated MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller. That will provide a more intuitive and efficient experience. Instead of buying something new, HYPRREAL turned a ’70s Futaba RC transmitter into a MIDI controller.

    RC transmitters, like the vintage Futaba model used for this project, are controllers for RC vehicles like planes and cars. While cheap toy RC vehicles tend to come with dedicated transmitters, high-end vehicles work with universal transmitters like this one. They’re of a higher quality and can be used with all the vehicles in a hobbyist’s collection. Being an older model, this unit was quite simple. It only had two potentiometer joysticks and a few sliders. To expand its capability, HYPRREAL added several additional potentiometers.

    An Arduino board monitors all of the potentiometers via multiplexers. It runs a MIDI controller library, so it can send MIDI messages to a computer connected through a USB cable. As far as the computer is concerned, the connected device is just a standard MIDI controller. That means that it will work with any MIDI software and HYPRREAL only had to configure the different controls within that software. The result is a useful MIDI controller in a very attractive retro package.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dityCHaksus?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    The post Old RC transmitter becomes new MIDI controller appeared first on Arduino Blog.

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  • Zen sand garden in a suitcase doubles as MIDI controller

    Zen sand garden in a suitcase doubles as MIDI controller

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    At the shallow end of the pool, a MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) controller can be as simple as a handful of buttons that correspond to different notes. But even as one wades into the deep end of the pool, MIDI controllers tend to still look like hunks of plastic with some knobs and keys. Redditor Gilou_ wanted something that felt more organic (actually, “inorganic” if we want to be technical) and so they built this unusual MIDI controller that looks like a Japanese-style sand garden in a suitcase.

    If you stumbled across this device without any context, you would assume that is exactly what it is: some kind of portable sand garden. Opening the top of the suitcase reveals a handful of dark stones resting in a bed of sand. Traditional rakes and scoops hang in straps on the lid of the suitcase. But underneath the sand there are a few electronic components that turn the sound garden into a functional instrument. A piezoelectric pickup, like the kind you’d see on some acoustic-electric guitars, in the sand translates the vibrations of sand raking and sifting into an audio signal that feeds into a computer’s sound card.

    The sound from the piezoelectric pickup might be interesting to a foley artist, but it wouldn’t be very musical on its own. To make this a useful electronic instrument, Gilou_ added an Arduino Micro board as a MIDI controller. The dark stones are knobs that sit on potentiometers, which lets the musician adjust the sound of the sand as it plays through the computer. Each potentiometer controls a different effect, such as reverb or delay, that dramatically alters the sound of the sand. Instead of something that sounds like a lapel mic rubbing on a shirt, the musician can create ambient music that is quite pleasant to hear.

    Boards:Micro
    Categories:ArduinoMIDI

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  • Convert an old telephone into a MIDI instrument

    Convert an old telephone into a MIDI instrument

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino Team — September 1st, 2022

    MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a fantastic standard because it is versatile enough to encompass almost all instruments, but simple enough to work with using low-power digital hardware. A typical MIDI message contains three bytes. The first is a status byte that describes the action (like “note on”) and the channel to use, the second byte contains the note to play, and the third byte defines the velocity. Because a single switch can act as a trigger to send a MIDI message, one can turn an old touch tone telephone into a MIDI instrument.

    The phone used in this project and most others like it have numeric keypads set up in the same way as keyboards, with a matrix reducing the number of I/O pins needed on a connected microcontroller. Multiply the number or rows in the matrix by the number of columns to get the maximum number of keys. This particular keypad had a combined row/column total of 11, which means it could support up to 30 unique keys. But only 12 of those are connected, so the tutorial includes instructions on how to identify the key that each row/column combo triggers. Once you know that information, you can connect the row and column wires to the I/O pins of an Arduino.

    The provided Arduino sketch will handle pretty much everything else after you assign the pin numbers, but it is still worth understanding how it works. First, it loops through all of the necessary rows and columns to determine the states of every button. From there, it sends the assigned MIDI message through a MIDI jack connected to the Arduino through three wires. You can assign pre-made messages to specific keys, or you can get creative and create special algorithms that alter the messages based on key combos or sequences. Connect any MIDI output device to the MIDI jack to synthesize or sample the notes, or connect it to a computer to record MIDI sequences.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ts9fuTH4o?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    As a bonus, this tutorial even explains how to convert the handset into a functional microphone that you can amplify, so you can have vocals to accompany your MIDI music.

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  • The Root Commander is a homemade MIDI controller that ensures you never play the wrong note

    The Root Commander is a homemade MIDI controller that ensures you never play the wrong note

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino Team — May 8th, 2022

    After attempting to learn how to play the piano after some previous experience with guitar and music theory in general, YouTuber EvolutionStoneware encountered a few difficulties when trying to learn the keys on a standard MIDI keyboard. Because of this, she created a DIY MIDI controller called the Root Commander that allows for a single note to be played based on the settings of several inputs.

    Within the controller is an Arduino that reads the values from three potentiometers and determines the corresponding scale, key, and octave. Once stored, the firmware chooses the correct string containing either the scale, key, or octave depending on which range the values fall into. For example, setting the scale potentiometer to between 500 and 722 selects the “Dorian” scale. From here, these values are all shown on the integrated I2C OLED display in the center.

    Pressing one of the seven buttons at the bottom of the MIDI controller plays a note that is outputted on both the screen and through the five-pin DIN connector at the back, which enables the device to be connected to a host device that in turn translates the data into audio.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF-8TOUuaHY?start=161&feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

    For more details on how the Root Commander was designed and built, you can read about it here on EvolutionStoneware’s blog.

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  • Light Deck is a MIDI Lightroom controller

    Light Deck is a MIDI Lightroom controller

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino Team — October 21st, 2021

    Using Adobe Lightroom can be a tedious process, especially for those who don’t have their keyboards set up with a hundred macro shortcuts. Andrea Lunaro wanted to make this process easier by constructing a large, physical bank of buttons and potentiometers that can be used to perform a whole host of functions within Lightroom. It can output commands to copy/paste, set HSL values, do basic transformations, and navigate around the software in general, all over the MIDI protocol. 

    This device — called the Light Deck — is powered by a single Arduino Micro, which is connected to several 16-channel 74HC4067 multiplexer ICs that handle both the input and output with the bank of rotary potentiometers and buttons. Data is outputted via USB to the host computer running Lightroom where it is then converted to Lightroom commands with the help of the MISI2Lr plug-in. 

    Both the PCB and enclosure were custom-designed and assembled, with the enclosure being fully 3D-printed along with its accompanying button/potentiometer covers. As seen in this demonstration video, the Light Deck works really well at providing users with a pleasant analog interface for fine-tuning various image parameters. 

    For more information about this project, you can check out Lunaro’s write-up on Hackster.io and design files on GitHub.

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  • Stryde is an Arduino Nano Every-powered MIDI preset loader

    Stryde is an Arduino Nano Every-powered MIDI preset loader

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Arduino Team — May 23rd, 2021

    MIDI-controlled instruments are awesome, as custom sounds can be loaded and dynamically changed while you play. However, accessing these effects often requires an external controller that can get expensive and complicated. That is why music enthusiast Joe King created the Stryde, which is a fully integrated MIDI preset loader within a small enclosure. Stryde uses an Arduino Nano Every at its core to store presets, display information, and select effects.

    As seen in King’s video below, the Nano Every has room for up to 128 total presets that can be scroll through with the help of a pair of buttons. There is also the ability to use a MIDI pedal as an input to switch which presets are currently active. The back of the Stryde contains a single port for MIDI IN and two ports for MIDI OUT with DIN connectors. Even though the device has plenty of connectivity, the best feature is probably the fact that it is open source, therefore letting users completely rewrite the firmware if they want. 

    To learn more about or back the Stryde for yourself, check out its Kickstarter campaign.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS3BdUcAOvU?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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  • theMIDInator is a marvelous MIDI controller

    theMIDInator is a marvelous MIDI controller

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    theMIDInator is a marvelous MIDI controller

    Arduino Team — December 9th, 2019

    While you may know on some level that an Arduino can help you make music, you probably haven’t seen as good an implementation as this MIDI controller by Switch & Lever. 

    The device features a numeric pad for note input, which can also be used as a drum pad, and a variety of knobs and even a joystick for modifying the beats. Controls are housed inside a beautiful laser-cut, glued, and finished wooden enclosure.

    An Arduino Mega (with its 54 digital IO and 16 analog pins) is used to accommodate the inputs, and data is passed on to a digital audio workstation, or DAW, to produce actual sound. 

    Code and circuit diagrams are available here if you want to build one, though your setup can be customized however you like!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5yPdoPooU?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

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  • Traktorino is an open-source DIY MIDI controller for DJs

    Traktorino is an open-source DIY MIDI controller for DJs

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Traktorino is an open-source DIY MIDI controller for DJs

    Arduino Team — April 3rd, 2018

    A keyboard and mouse is a great user interface system for general computing tasks, but in other situations custom knobs, sliders, and lights would certainly be more fun. If you enjoy making digital music, then you should check out this low-cost, Arduino-based MIDI controller by Músico Nerd

    The Traktorino gives you access to a plethora of knobs and sliders, as well as LEDs for custom feedback in a laser-cut package. Internally, the device acts as an Arduino Uno shield, and is designed to control Traktor DJ software by default. It also supports other MIDI programs, and perhaps could even be adapted to work with other applications as well.

    The Traktorino is a MIDI class compliant device, designed for controlling Traktor. It has several features and custom made mappings, so you can take the most of the software. However, it can do much more than that. The Traktorino can control any software that accepts MIDI, like Ableton Live, Serato, FL Studio, Logic, etc.

    More information and build files can be found here and on GitHub. You can see it in action in the video below!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT9N1NJRlqc?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]



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