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 Forum index » Instruments and Equipment » MIDI Controllers and Interfaces
Making a Midi controller
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Guest42



Joined: Feb 15, 2005
Posts: 9
Location: NJ, US

PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:12 pm    Post subject: Making a Midi controller Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hallo folks. I've got an old bass guitar which I've stripped down and hollowed out so I can make it into a midi controller (going to have buttons up and down the neck) which I will plug into my computer for use with Fruity Loops and Reason.

Now I need to find a schematic to build the circuit for the midi controller, but the only one I found hooks up to the game port, and game ports are increasingly obsolete. Therefor, I'm looking for a schematic that hooks up to the USB instead, and was hoping that someone here could point my in the right direction.

Thanks for your time,

-Guest42
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ian-s



Joined: Apr 01, 2004
Posts: 2669
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Audio files: 42
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

It was once common for game ports (joystick connecters) to use spare pins for MIDI IO. These are true MIDI ports you just need a special cable to break out the MIDI 5 pin DIN sockets. USB and MIDI are unrelated except that they are both serial. You can buy MIDI boxes which connect via USB. MIDI is a dedicated Music interface and protocol, USB is general purpose.
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mi_dach



Joined: Dec 17, 2005
Posts: 133
Location: Sweden

PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 6:00 am    Post subject: Re: Making a Midi controller
Subject description: links, code and schematics
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Guest42 wrote:
Now I need to find a schematic to build the circuit for the midi controller, but the only one I found hooks up to the game port, and game ports are increasingly obsolete. Therefor, I'm looking for a schematic that hooks up to the USB instead, and was hoping that someone here could point my in the right direction.

Thanks for your time,

-Guest42


I've been working on this kinda thing for a while now. If you use a PIC chip, the hardware schematic is trivial, but the USB protocol itself is a nightmare. I don't wanna sound rude, but if you can't even find a schematic, you'll never complete the coding part of the project. You'll probably need to write an amount of code and burn it into a microcontroller. I can point you to Brad Minch's Lab1 and Lab2 example firmware in either C or assembly, which he graciously posted in this forum. It'd provide a very useful starting point. Also download and study the MIDI device class definitions. I've only started working on this end of it so I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is that if you get those descriptors right, the host platform will pick up the device as a generic MIDI device, and so you won't need to get into writing device drivers.

USB is hard.

If you've looked at gameport MIDI schematics, you can probably see why it's desirable to try that instead, it's lots less complicated, you'll still need some kind of microcontroller but at least its a straight forward serial communication. The various projects and circuits of Tom Scarff probably cover all you need to know to do MIDI (through a gameport), particularly the key encoder. That's probably all you need right there, if you abandon the USB idea. If your guitar is still working, the pitch to MIDI converter can listen to the note you play and transmit an appropriate MIDI message, but I am guessing this is aimed at a guitar, not a bass.

Unfortunately, Tom no longer sells the pre-programmed microcontrollers, but he does put the hex files for download, so if you want one burnt, send me a private message and I can burn his firmware onto a chip and send it your way.
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jksuperstar



Joined: Aug 20, 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

USB is easy if you MODIFY Smile Smile Smile

Many USB game controllers have analog controllers, lots of buttons, and some are even wireless. Some even have feedback, though I haven't seen it used in software game->midi converters. And the most expensive (and typically NOT used) ones sell for $40. I like to call these projects MIY, or Modify It Yourself.

You could also get a USB keyboard, if you need lots of buttons only. Though, most OSes will hi-jack the all keyboards thinking you'd want to actually use them as a keyboard Sad
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dasz



Joined: Oct 16, 2004
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Location: victoria, canada
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

These guys are cool for DIY.

http://www.ucapps.de/

They even have a USB module!
/Dasz
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