Rasberry Pi as a Midi Controller

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
1

Rasberry Pi as a Midi Controller

Hey all,
I am getting a Raspberry Pi, the 35 dollar computer, and I was wondering if it would be possible to use it as a midi controller. Using the GPIO inputs for buttons and sending midi messages or keystrokes to another computer via Ethernet or over wifi.
I would really appreciate your reply.

2

Haven’t looked at the specs for the PI but I would say probably - in fact I would say yes it will do what you want.

edit :

3

Thanks

Thanks!
I think I will try to do this, making modifications to turn it into a midi fighter . I will do a instructable if it turns out successful.

4

Thank You!

Thanks!
I will try to modify this so I can use it as a launchpad or midi fighter type device, if I succeed I will post a tutorial on how to do this.

5

actually you could utilize completely its computing power and make a “computer-less” instrument. like have a mini mixing or sample launching app running on there with PureData or Processing. Something like a stand alone Maschine. Running a whole Operating System just to read buttons and send MIDI signals is a little bit over kill, you could easily do the same with a $16 Teensy controller :wink:

6

As ghztomash said, Arduino and Teensy are perfect for this purpose. Teensy even has native MIDI and HID over USB, just plug the USB cable into a computer to get power and MIDI or HID. Sure, a Raspberry PI can do it, but it’s an entire computer, it’s just overkill.

7

He wants it to work over wifi or LAN though not USB, which will push the price up using duino.

8

Thanks for the input!

I’ve looked at both actually. I know that using the Raspberry Pi as a midi controller will be overkill, but I can use it as other things as well. @ghztomash did you follow a tutorial that can could help me possibly? If I fail miserably I will buy a teensy and use that.
Thanks for the input!