making a midi controller.....
making a midi controller..... Posted on: 24.10.2010 by Enrique Silversmith so i dont quite understand this, i have been reading for about a solid week and cant grasp this concept.you can use a usb game controller as a cheap midi controller. its a HID unit then you run it through a program that converts HID to MIDI and map all the buttons. now a usb game controller only has 14 buttons. so why are the usb game controllers so popular or easy to use? why wouldnt someone use a usb computer keyboard and just solder a crap load of arcade buttons and map it with the HID to MIDI software (obviously only buttons no faders or knobs)? a usb keyboard is a HID right? or will this cause a problem like if i have a laptop and i plug in a usb keyboard will it conflict with my laptop keyboard? if there is any good literature online thats a good read post it. | |
| Jeffie Carlow 12.11.2010 |
Originally Posted by xsmooth69x
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| Enrique Silversmith 11.11.2010 | but my question still remains theres 16 buttons and 8 anaolog not 80 right.....
Originally Posted by Carter
D-pad 1 UP 2 RIGHT 3 DOWN 4 LEFT Triggers 5 L1 6 L2 7 R1 8 R2 right buttons 9 X 10 O 11 Square 12 Triangle middle 13 Start 14 Select 15 Left joystick button 16 Right joystick button then when you press the analog button in the middle it activates the 2 joy sticks right joystick 1 up 2 down 3 left 4 right left joystick 1 up 2 down 3 left 4 right which are 2 faders/knobs on one joystick and 2 faders/knobs on the other total of 4 knobs/faders how do u map LEFT-UP RIGHT-UP RIGHT-DOWN LEFT-DOWN can even put physical buttons on those? it just looks like a combination of the 2 buttons Up-and-Right or Up-and-Left etc |
| Enrique Silversmith 24.10.2010 | so i dont quite understand this, i have been reading for about a solid week and cant grasp this concept. you can use a usb game controller as a cheap midi controller. its a HID unit then you run it through a program that converts HID to MIDI and map all the buttons. now a usb game controller only has 14 buttons. so why are the usb game controllers so popular or easy to use? why wouldnt someone use a usb computer keyboard and just solder a crap load of arcade buttons and map it with the HID to MIDI software (obviously only buttons no faders or knobs)? a usb keyboard is a HID right? or will this cause a problem like if i have a laptop and i plug in a usb keyboard will it conflict with my laptop keyboard? if there is any good literature online thats a good read post it. |
| Enrique Silversmith 15.11.2010 | when i do the build for sure. if u dont enough googling and watch youtube vids u can see how u solder on the board. its very easy. to just keyboard map u use xpadder when i get around to geting all the parts etc ill figure out how to convert hid to midi should be to hard to map it. other people have done it and with enough time and reading u can do anything |
| Clay Lorow 12.11.2010 | Hey guys! I really like this idea, and I would love to do it. I am quite skilled with making stuff, also soldering is not a problem when it comes to simple replacing the wire or so, but wiring to game pad...Duh!!! :-( So, if someone could help me, it would be nice. Few questions for start: 1. Can I use chinese psx gamepad replica? 2. What kind (if there are any different) of knobs and faders should I get? 3. What da hack should I connect to what!?!?!?! (some close up pic of button connected to gamepads board would be nice!) |
| Enrique Silversmith 12.11.2010 | posted before i tried it so ill try it and let u know |
| Enrique Silversmith 12.11.2010 | huh? so if i hit right then up or down i can have another 2 buttons? |
| Jeffie Carlow 12.11.2010 |
Originally Posted by xsmooth69x
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| Enrique Silversmith 11.11.2010 | but my question still remains theres 16 buttons and 8 anaolog not 80 right.....
Originally Posted by Carter
D-pad 1 UP 2 RIGHT 3 DOWN 4 LEFT Triggers 5 L1 6 L2 7 R1 8 R2 right buttons 9 X 10 O 11 Square 12 Triangle middle 13 Start 14 Select 15 Left joystick button 16 Right joystick button then when you press the analog button in the middle it activates the 2 joy sticks right joystick 1 up 2 down 3 left 4 right left joystick 1 up 2 down 3 left 4 right which are 2 faders/knobs on one joystick and 2 faders/knobs on the other total of 4 knobs/faders how do u map LEFT-UP RIGHT-UP RIGHT-DOWN LEFT-DOWN can even put physical buttons on those? it just looks like a combination of the 2 buttons Up-and-Right or Up-and-Left etc |
| Enrique Silversmith 11.11.2010 | ya i am making a midi contoller ..... well its not midi (its setup as a generic keyboard) but im calling it a midi anyways!! im calling it the midi-zilla 2 acrilic sheets that im going to custom cut 20x sanwa buttons but ill only be useing 16 black 4 white 4 blue 4 green 4 violet 4 with those colors i can take out the button and button case and have a pretty large 2 tone button scheme also i will be soldering posts on the usb controller so i can switch cables and buttons easy. the wire will have clips soldered to them so i can change out buttons im not going to solder directly to the buttons so i can change the color scheme when i get tired of it...... or if a button breaks orrrrrr if i want to put another acrylic faceplate with a new layout or button layout i can change it on the fly. already got the usb game controller 2 faders 1 knob or maybe 2 idk 5mm ultra bright leds blue white red green resistors for leds wire 5mm led clips (so they can be attached to the acrylic face clean) the 2 acrylic pieces will have spacers and will be screwed together. pretty much ripping off the floating look of the midi fighter leds will turn on when buttons are pressed black, grey, red spray paint sorry this is really crude something i drew up in lecture lol the acrylic wont be cut into a square but will have the rays of the sun protrude a little bit. so imagine the cut picture as it is before i stapled it to the notebook. (made sure the button corners are still partly flat so i can put it on a stand above my TT's) the black part will be black, the black/blue part will be all red and anything that is gray will remain clear with the addition of lightly sprayed clouds on the clear section this will all be sprayed on the back of the top of the acrylic. so the first layer will be godzilla the tear drops (the bomb in the right bottom corner im changing that to a vinyl record with a bite takin out of it). then the red strips off godzilla will be sprayed. then last the gray faint clouds sprayed!! i tag all the time with spray paint the art will for sure look pimpin!! this will take a some time to build though i am a broke college kid and money aside i actually study and make good grades :0 and i bartend and DJ, the time is a crisis .99cent chinese usb controllers (got that actually i bought 3 and with shipping it was like $13) my soldering iron is broken so i have to buy another solder station $50 acrylic sheets $16 at home depo 20x sanwa buttons $44 (thats the killer) $40 for leds random parts, screws, spacers, wire, solder, resistors 3 cans of spray 1 can of clear and tape $20 sooooooooooo im only like $170 away from my controller well $171 but i already got the .99 cent game controller lawl |
| Wai Rofkahr 11.11.2010 | Very interested in this one. You could make a cleeeeeeean controller with some arcade buttons and faders |
| Enrique Silversmith 10.11.2010 | anyoneeeeeeeeee |
| Enrique Silversmith 09.11.2010 | bumppppppppppp |
| Enrique Silversmith 08.11.2010 | theres 16 buttons and 8 anaolog not 80 right..... D-pad 1 UP 2 RIGHT 3 DOWN 4 LEFT Triggers 5 L1 6 L2 7 R1 8 R2 right buttons 9 X 10 O 11 Square 12 Triangle middle 13 Start 14 Select 15 Left joystick button 16 Right joystick button then when you press the analog button in the middle it activates the 2 joy sticks right joystick 1 up 2 down 3 left 4 right left joystick 1 up 2 down 3 left 4 right which are 2 faders/knobs on one joystick and 2 faders/knobs on the other total of 4 knobs/faders how do u map LEFT-UP RIGHT-UP RIGHT-DOWN LEFT-DOWN can even put physical buttons on those? it just looks like a combination of the 2 buttons Up-and-Right or Up-and-Left etc |
| Enrique Silversmith 08.11.2010 | bumppppppppppp |
| Enrique Silversmith 26.10.2010 | how do u go about correctly mapping this? |
| Jeffie Carlow 26.10.2010 | Actually, I believe that there are 20! buttons + 80 analog inputs if you were to correctly map it. |
| Enrique Silversmith 25.10.2010 | ur the man when get the money for 16 sanwa buttons (mostly just the buttons are the $$$$) and 2 fader and a knob im making a tutorial too |
| Wava Egizi 25.10.2010 | THANKS! Yes! I first thought it only had 12-14 digital... But after that I found out that it had more |
| Enrique Silversmith 25.10.2010 | oskars +1 to you man your diy dj controller although you said in your write up theres maybe 12-14 digital inputs? after your write up did you figure out there was 20? |
| Enrique Silversmith 25.10.2010 | so wait i can essentially wire 20 buttons and 4 analogs? |
| Wava Egizi 25.10.2010 | A USB game controller often has these buttons: 1. UP 2. RIGHT 3. DOWN 4. LEFT 5. LEFT-UP 6. RIGHT-UP 7. RIGHT-DOWN 8. LEFT-DOWN 9. L1 10. L2 11. R1 12. R2 13. X 14. O 15. Square 16. Triangle 17. Start 18. Select 19. Left joystick button 20. Right joystick button + 4 Analog outputs = 4 faders, or 4 knobs It is very cheap to use a gamepad for a midi controller. It gives you both digital (buttons) and analog (faders) outputs. A keyboard only has digital outputs, which is good if you only want buttons. If you use a keyboard you will have conflicts with your "regular" keyboard, yes |
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