The BIG Arduino MIDI controller thread

**Amusion** · 09-30-2016, 01:43 PM

Hi, I'm sorry but I'm a noob here. I was starting to make a midi controller with Arduino. I was thinking of 16 rotary encoders 8 faders and 2 or 1 touch panels which could be used as something on Korg KAOSS Pad. So could you help me out? And one more thing, I'll be using ableton live 9.5 so what do I use as a middleware(software which converts the inputs into midi signals which would be the inputs for ableton.)
I use mac with OSX 10.11.6 and ableton live

**DJDoubleYou** · 10-01-2016, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Amusion

Hi, I'm sorry but I'm a noob here. I was starting to make a midi controller with Arduino. I was thinking of 16 rotary encoders 8 faders and 2 or 1 touch panels which could be used as something on Korg KAOSS Pad. So could you help me out? And one more thing, I'll be using ableton live 9.5 so what do I use as a middleware(software which converts the inputs into midi signals which would be the inputs for ableton.)
I use mac with OSX 10.11.6 and ableton live

What do you want to use as brain? Teensy, Arduino with USB MIDI, Livid their stuff, or just serial to midi stuff (would not recommend that)

**Mytx** · 12-13-2016, 07:00 PM

Hey!

I'm from Argentina, and I wanted to share here the stuff that we are making in Yaeltex, a small custom MIDI controller company.
We are making custom MIDI controllers since 2009 and in the latest years we focused on making custom Arduino based MIDI controllers more powerfull and easy.

With that in mind, we've created some tools:
Kilomux shield: Arduino I/0 expansion + MIDI shield. 32 analog/digital input (soon to make v2 with 64 inputs). 64 digital/pwm outputs. MIDI in/out.
Kilowhat: multi platform SysEx configuration for all the stuff connected to the Kilomux
www.pimpmyhiduino.yaeltex.com Pimp my Hiduino is a small web tool that compiles custom Hiduino firmwares to call your device whatever you like it to be called.m Hiduino makes your Arduino a plug and play USB MIDI device (Link)
We are developing and will be launching more and more stuff.

Feel free to ask for more info to make custom midi controllers. Hope some of our ideas and products helps you make your own tool.
You can find us on instagram, facebook. Our website (only spanish by the moment).

Some examples:

Some other hardware (not Kilomux based)
Brain V2 based Milan 2x16 step sequencer for maxforlive:

**Mytx** · 12-15-2016, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by ReggieUK

Hi All, I've been a little bit slack, sorry for not posting!!!

Here's the code for my megafighter, 32buttons, 16 faders/knobs, support for rotary encoders, user programmable addressable rgb LEDs and saving to eeprom. It uses a mega2560 and the dual moco-lufa firmware (usb-serial and usb-midi) and the adafruit neopixel library.

It's on my github repo, the original code is almost non-existent now but it did originally come from the arduino midifighter instructable as it's all written on arduino ide with arduino libs etc. the original code is open source, by extension so is mine, a mention in your code if you do adapt it would be nice, enjoy it and don't blame me if it breaks anything (it shouldn't break anything, I've been using it for some time now). I make no apologies for my coding style, or over/under commenting, it is what it is and it works for me. I haven't done a schematic, it's pretty simple to work out which pins you should attach to buttons and faders, if your faders appear noisy, you probably need to move the shared gnd to another gnd pin on the mega 2560, if that doesn't solve it, you'll need to look into solving the noise issue yourself, this is afterall a WIP and prototype code.

https://github.com/Reggi3/megafighter

I will add my precision pitch fader code sometime over the next couple of days or so.

Hey ReggieUK!

Amazing work on that MEGAFIGHTER!!. We at Yaeltex are currently using Hiduino but we are seriously considering start using moco-lufa. That would make the switch between serial and midi communication much easier. Anyway, I find very little documentation about the project and I wanted to know if SysEx messages works ok in moco-lufa. Have you tried it? We are making a SysEx MIDI configuration tool that maps custom CC, notes, NRPN, program change to components connected to the Arduino (using the Kilomux shield and the Kilomux Arduino Library) and having problems while using SysEx in Hiduino.

**Machiel** · 12-21-2016, 07:51 AM

I have built a few controllers so far and have been using standard pots with some nice rubber caps and arcade buttons.

What I would like to do next is to build one with 'pads'. Those rubber type ones you see on some controllers out there. So far I have not been successful in finding these parts anywhere to include in a DIY project. Anyone here have a good source for that? LED illumination would be nice but not mandatory.

thanks!

M

**DJDoubleYou** · 12-21-2016, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by Machiel

I have built a few controllers so far and have been using standard pots with some nice rubber caps and arcade buttons.

What I would like to do next is to build one with 'pads'. Those rubber type ones you see on some controllers out there. So far I have not been successful in finding these parts anywhere to include in a DIY project. Anyone here have a good source for that? LED illumination would be nice but not mandatory.

thanks!

M

Only those Adafruit pads i'm afraid. Another option is to use this:

http://sc-fa.com/blog/2010/10/07/sil...nd-comparison/

**Mytx** · 12-21-2016, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by Machiel

I have built a few controllers so far and have been using standard pots with some nice rubber caps and arcade buttons.

What I would like to do next is to build one with 'pads'. Those rubber type ones you see on some controllers out there. So far I have not been successful in finding these parts anywhere to include in a DIY project. Anyone here have a good source for that? LED illumination would be nice but not mandatory.

thanks!

M

Yeah that's something I would love to add to my Arduino based MIDI controllers as well ... But as you said, it's really hard (or impossible?) to get them as spare parts. There is some explanation about how it works in this thread. Might give you some ideas!

**jimbobaggins** · 05-28-2017, 07:44 PM

Hi All

I purchased a Worlde Panda 200 a couple of years ago and, as those who are experienced with this piece of gear know, it does not work.

As a result it has sat in it's box in the cupboard.

The problem is that you cannot save any settings on the device and that all sliders and knobs are not free to be programmed.

Plus any settings you do make are lost as soon as it is powered off.

My contact with the company resulted in being told that there is no programming software available for it and that I should follow the user manual.

All attempts at doing this have resulted in extreme frustration.

So it occurred to me that since I have most of the hardware (pads, sliders, encoders) that I could replace its brain with an Arduino.

The problem I have is their are so many Arduino's and their clones that I do not know which one to use to achieve my aim.

The link below will show you the device and also have a link to the user manual.

Also if anyone has successfully used and programmed one of these devices please let me know.

All advice is welcome (except to junk it) and appreciated

http://en.worlde.com.cn/prod_view.as...79&FId=t3:72:3

manual

https://img.banggood.com/file/produc...al%20V1_00.pdf

**Catbee** · 05-18-2018, 02:33 PM

Hello I'm looking for advice related to controller building. Im just looking to rehouse an old Casio into a nice chassi and replace the switches and potentiometers as well as replacing the all of the keys with arcade buttons. I can only find info on how to make midi controllers like this? Any advice out there?

**dirtyjokesfunny** · 09-29-2018, 01:46 AM

Aside from hardware, you’ll also need programming skills. The two books I read to begin with were Accelerated C++ by Koenig and Moo, as well as The AVR Microcontroller and Embedded Systems by Mazidi et al. I really enjoyed the hands on approach of the former book (write as much code as possible while reading the book and make it run if you can). The latter book includes a lot of general information about computers, and mostly uses AVR assembly language for the examples. I actually found this extremely useful, as it really solidified my understanding of how computers work and what they are capable of doing. Even as a beginner (maybe especially as a beginner) I think learning a little bit about assembly language is worth while, even if you never actually write any of it. A book on ARM might be more useful than one on AVR though; ARM is a lot more powerful, and is what’s used in e.g. more modern Teensy boards, Axoloti, Raspberry Pi, many Mutable Instruments modules, and surely many other examples.

After reading these books and making some simple and some not so simple projects I started reading the source code for the Arduino libraries, which I highly recommend doing at some point of you use Arduino a lot.

+1 for Teensy; the built in USB MIDI capabilities are stupendous for making a DIY MIDI controller, and the documentation on the Teensy website is pretty good.