MIDI uses

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Troubleshooting
1

Howzit - 1st post here.

My background is in music, I've done a lot of MIDI sequencing, including SYS EX'ing and also have an automotive background including some customizing.

I'm considering the Arduino Duemilanove to accomplish my goal of making a pitch bend device that I operate with my knee. I made one last night with an old Anetek (similar to Midisolutions) box and it worked to a degree. The physical part of the lever setup is done. There's two levers, one on each side of my knee. One bends up, the other down.

In addition to sending out pitch bend data, the lever on the right of my knee, for upwards bends, needs to send out pitch bend data in the 64 to 127 range, and the left lever, for downward bends, needs to send out data in the 64 to 0 range. These are MIDI CC numbers I'm talking about.

Basically I need to hook up two 10K linear pots to a Arduino Duemilanove and have it send data out the USB.

Now I looked at the site for hours until I got a headache and don't overall have a clue what anybody is saying here!

I DO generally, in the end, get things, and I would imagine what I'm asking is bozo for an advanced user in this area.

Please, I have a few questions:

  1. this is easy right?
  2. is it rock solid for gigs?
  3. do I need some program like Stein's junXion to manipulate the MIDI date once it enters my Mac? (i.e. the need to have the right lever go from 64 to 127).

thanks!

2

You can very easily connect two 10k Ohm pots to the analog inputs of the Arduino.

As for sending data over the USB, that's also easy to do but will result in data being sent via the FTDI chip. This chip emulates a USB serial adaptor, and cannot function as a USB MIDI device. So, you'll need a proxy running on the host to convert raw serial data into MIDI data.

3

Thanks.

I've decided to go with a dedicated card called Wheel Electronic made by a German company named Doepfler.