Hello,
I'm EXTREMELY new to Arduino and have no previous knowledge in coding whatsoever. I apologize in advance for being long-winded but, have alot to explain.
I have an organ console which controls a virtual organ program called jOrgan. I've decided to change out the keyboards as, I was never happy with ( touch) as they were from two generic Yamaha keyboards, and the contacts were becoming unreliable.
I acquired two actual organ manuals with a contacts and buss arrangement that I want to use. I did some research and the cost to midify the manuals , to be out of my budget and looked for alternatives.
I found a site that a fellow created that, deals with this very situation and have been in contact with him. He is very busy and only replies once or twice a week so, I've came here for hopefully some more help and advice!
I ordered two Mega 2560 boards and two USB A to B cables, and have wired up one of the boards. One wire from each key contact, was attached to each pin. Pins that are NOT to be connected to are pins zero and 1 (the rx0 and rxt pins)? The 3.3 and 5 volts pins. After watching a YouTube tutorial, I was able to run the blink sketch which worked as it should buy from there, having difficulties.
He suggests wiring randomly to the pins and then, using the program midi-ox to monitor what actual pins are connected to which key so, it can be corrected in the actual sketch. I am also using the programs hairless midi-serial bridge and loop midi.
As of now, I am not seeing anything from midi-ox from the organ keyboard. Arduino shows M2560 (COM3) as the Port and it also shows up in the hairless midi-serial bridge.
Totally confused
The only way we can help is if we can see what program you have loaded into the Mega and exactly what you have connected to it. For example how is the Arduino connected to the computer and specifically what type of MIDI output are you using.
It would probably also be useful if you provide a link to site that you are working from.
Steve
Everyone is new in the beginning, no shame in that. But....
Try to learn coding somehow, somewhere, and play with microcontrollers like the Arduino family using simple, basic hardware.
The project You have in mind is quite advanced and You might be banged up until You've got some basic knowledge in coding and circuitry.
Can you post a link to the website you are basing this on?
I would probably start with just getting the arduino to detect the keys reliably, before adding any further code for the midi.
Thankyou all for the replies. Currently the only thing I have sent to Mega, is the blink sketch. The Mega is connected to my laptop through a USB a to b cable.
The website is " virtual pipe organs.wordpress.com in it, there are links to his page about converting the keyboards and other controllers to midi using the Mega.
He does provide a sketch which is quite lengthy, for both the keyboards and expression pedals and also one for the pedals and stops. I am only in need of the one for the keyboards. I printed out the particular sketch so I could kind of follow along. He mentions using midi-ox to monitor key presses and the pins that they are connected to. Unfortunately I am not sure if I need to send some program to the Mega to start this activity?
It;s a start.
And you have no idea how it works of course. Well i can speak for myself and tell you that i am willing to help, but not with some 3rd party software that needs to be modified or understood and explained.
There is one library, that would eb very suitable for your purpose being Control-surface which is being maintained by someone that is active here on the forum.
It is not difficult to make an Arduino to send midi-commands, but to make it appear as a usb-midi device, only the 32u4 boards are supported (micro & leonardo) although it can be done on any board that has a 16u2 as a usb adapter like the Mega. I say it can be done, but i am not helping. Of course you thought you needed a board with many pins and got the Mega, but with multiplexers you can easily supply the pins required.
Anyway, you can create a true-midi device without issue using any of the UARTs on the Mega, but if you want to stick the the software plan that you have, it is possible that you will be stuck with it's author.
If you want to make the keyboard touch-sensitive, you have another issue. I guess for a real pipe organ it may not matter much, but i always want my midi-keybaord to send touch sensitive velocity levels.
They are actually measured in my keyboard with by the difference in between the pressing of two switches within the same key. Velocity means speed, it all makes sense to me. (I have seen touch-sensitive midi switches for sale somewhere btw.)
Deva_Rishi,
Thankyou for your reply and the information as well. It sounds very interesting and am looking for the path of least resistance certainly. In my simple mind, I have 61 keys per keyboard and 61 separate wires from the contacts, that need to go somewhere and as of now, they are plugged in to the Mega.
The author of control surface, mentions the use of hairless midi-serial bridge so I am familiar with that program to some extent. I am willing to learn what I can if not too difficult.
I can say that I AM somewhat intimidated. For me it's like asking someone to learn to read music so they turn on the stereo.
Thankyou all for any assistance!
Fair enough. Well @PieterP is the Author of the library, he can best inform you on the most proper solution. You for sure have plenty of pins with the Mega.
Well it's all about fairly simple things, if you check out the examples it should all become a bit more clear, I do agree with @Railroader, that what you are trying to do is not quite beginner level, but a bit more intermediate.
Study the basic examples, mainly 'control' and let google be your friend.
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