SNES controller as sequencer

Hey everyone! I recently picked up an SNES Super Advantage controller and have set up an interface with it using a slightly modified version of this code

Now, outside of the general turbo and slow (basically, turbo for Start) features the controller has a few unique functions: fully automatic turbo for each individual button (except Start and Select) and sliders to adjust the speed of the turbo.

Considering that the controller's output is 2 bytes with the state of each button, and the fact that it can read every button being pressed simultaneously -- except up/down and left/right, which I obviously can't test without taking the thing apart -- I think this would be a great controller for a sequencer.

My very basic idea would be to hook up a speaker and use a tone generating library to assign each key a different and specific sound. The automatic turbo buttons/sliders could be used to make repeating beats, and the buttons can be used as a keyboard-style input. The joystick could be used to adjust pitch or volume.

Is this reasonable?

Sounds like it will work fine. Here is a modified version of that NES code with 'if statements' that you can put tone commands into:

byte ud = 127;
byte lr = 127;
byte st = 0;
byte sl = 0;
byte a = 0;
byte b = 0;
int latch = 2; // set the latch pin
int clock = 3; // set the clock pin
int datin = 4;// set the data in pin
byte controller_data = 0;
void setup() {

  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(latch,OUTPUT);
  pinMode(clock,OUTPUT);
  pinMode(datin,INPUT);

  digitalWrite(latch,HIGH);
  digitalWrite(clock,HIGH);
  
}

/* THIS READS DATA FROM THE CONTROLLER */
void controllerRead() {
  controller_data = 0;
  digitalWrite(latch,LOW);
  digitalWrite(clock,LOW);

  digitalWrite(latch,HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(2);
  digitalWrite(latch,LOW);

  controller_data = digitalRead(datin);

  for (int i = 1; i <= 7; i ++) {
    digitalWrite(clock,HIGH);
    delayMicroseconds(2);
    controller_data = controller_data << 1;
    controller_data = controller_data + digitalRead(datin) ;
    delayMicroseconds(4);
    digitalWrite(clock,LOW);
  }

}


void loop() {
  
  controllerRead();
  // if (controller_data==B11101111){
    // Serial.println("Button has been Pressed");  
     //}  else {
     //Serial.println("Button not pressed");
     //}

  //for REFERENCE:  
  //UP = 11110111 bit3
  //DOWN=11111011 bit2
  //LEFT=11111101 bit1
  //RIGHT=11111110 bit0
  //SELECT=11011111 bit5
  //START=11101111 bit4
  //A=01111111 bit7
  //B=10111111 bit6
  
  if (bitRead(controller_data,3)==0){
    ud = 235;
    //Serial.println("up"); //Debug test
  }

  if (bitRead(controller_data,2)==0){
    ud = 1;
    //Serial.println("down"); //Debug test
  }

  if (bitRead(controller_data,1)==0){
    lr = 235;
    //Serial.println("left"); //Debug test
  }
  if (bitRead(controller_data,0)==0){
    lr = 1;
    //Serial.println("right"); //Debug test
  }
  
  if (bitRead(controller_data,4)==0){
    st = 235;
    //Serial.println("start"); //Debug test
  }
  if (bitRead(controller_data,5)==0){
    sl = 235;
    //Serial.println("select"); //Debug test
  }
  if (bitRead(controller_data,7)==0){
    a = 235;
    //Serial.println("a"); //Debug test
  }  
  if (bitRead(controller_data,6)==0){
    b = 235;
    //Serial.println("b"); //Debug test
  }
  
  Serial.print(246,BYTE); // 240 plus the number of channels
  Serial.print(0,BYTE);   // button presses
  Serial.print(ud,BYTE);
  Serial.print(lr,BYTE);
  Serial.print(st,BYTE);
  Serial.print(sl,BYTE);
  Serial.print(a,BYTE);
  Serial.print(b,BYTE);
  delay(100);
  
  ud = 127;
  lr = 127;
  st = 127;
  sl = 127;
  a = 127;
  b = 127;

}