Cheap DIY Midi Controller

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    • January 8, 2020 at 7:17 pm #115691
      camn
      Participant

        Hey does anyone want to DIY a cheap midi controller?

        Here it is.

        It is an array of footswitches (up to 11?) that can all send a PC or CC message. I have it set up so pins 2-9 send PC messages 2-9, and pins 10-12 send CC toggles on #16, 17, and 18.

        I would set this up with 1-7 switches calling presets (or tuner or Bypass) using the PC pins, along with a CC button for the hotswitch or some other CC value you might like.

        PARTS NEEDED:

        (1) An enclosure.  $5-10

        (some) footswitches, momentary, NO $3/each

        (1)An Arduino NANO clone – $4.00

        (1) a power jack. – $1

        (1) midi connector (or you could scavenge a wire and direct-wire it) ($2.00)

        (1) 220Ohm 1/4watt resistor – $0.25

        (1) midi cable

        TOOLS NEEDED:

        A Soldering Iron

        A drill

        A few hours time.

        I wont go through the construction too detailed.. I dint actually build one of these. I just breadboarded it.

        But, you drill out the enclosure for your switches, your power jack and your MIDI jack.

        Then wire it like so:

        PC Firing Footswitches

        Pins 2-9 on one side, Ground on the other

        CC Firing Switches

        Pins 10-12 on one side, ground on the other

        Ardruino TO MIDI

        TX to 220Ohm Resistor to MIDI pin 4

        Ground to PIN 3

        5V OUtput from Ardruino to Pin 5

        Power Supply

        Postive to VIN on Arduino

        Ground to Ground

        Here is the code:

        //midi.controller for eventide H9

        //by Cameron Newell @the.nw.enterprise, http://thenorthwestenterprise.com/

        //Library Source https://github.com/tttapa/Control-Surface

        //Built for Ardruino NANO

        #include

        // Instantiate a MIDI interface

        //USBDebugMIDI_Interface usbmidi(115200); // for serial monitor in ide

        HardwareSerialMIDI_Interface serialmidi = {Serial, MIDI_BAUD}; //for normal operation

        /* Instantiate PCButtons that read the inputs from a push button and sends out

        a MIDI Program Change message when they are pressed.

        Ex: pcBtn = {**PHYSICALPIN**, {MIDI_PC::**NAMEHERE**, CHANNEL_#},};

        Must use PC name, reference here https://tttapa.github.io/Control-Surface-doc/Doxygen/da/da6/namespaceMIDI__PC.html

        My setup matches PC to PIN Number

        */

        PCButton pcBtn2 = {2, {MIDI_PC::Electric_Grand_Piano, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn3 = {3, {MIDI_PC::HonkyTonk_Piano, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn4 = {4, {MIDI_PC::Electric_Piano_1, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn5 = {5, {MIDI_PC::Electric_Piano_2, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn6 = {6, {MIDI_PC::Harpsichord, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn7 = {7, {MIDI_PC::Clavi, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn8 = {8, {MIDI_PC::Celesta, CHANNEL_1},};

        PCButton pcBtn9 = {9, {MIDI_PC::Glockenspiel, CHANNEL_1},};

        /*Hotswitch or other cc function

        Will fire 127 on press and 0 on release. Use a momentary switch, like the others.

        Assicn CC number from here:

        https://tttapa.github.io/Control-Surface-doc/Doxygen/d4/dbe/namespaceMIDI__CC.html

        https://www.midi.org/specifications-old/item/table-3-control-change-messages-data-bytes-2

        Default is cc#16, 17 and 18

        */

        CCButton button10 = {10, {MIDI_CC::General_Purpose_Controller_1, CHANNEL_1},};

        CCButton button11 = {11, {MIDI_CC::General_Purpose_Controller_2, CHANNEL_1},};

        CCButton button12 = {12, {MIDI_CC::General_Purpose_Controller_3, CHANNEL_1},};

        void setup() {

        Control_Surface.begin(); // Initialize Control Surface

        }

        void loop() {

        Control_Surface.loop(); // Update the Control Surface

        }

      • January 9, 2020 at 2:17 pm #153708
        brock
        Participant

          And that, my friends, is what you call a great tutorial.  Clear, concise, complete.

        • January 9, 2020 at 2:58 pm #153709
          camn
          Participant

            I mean, I wish there were more pictures. But this is the only one I took:

             

          • February 2, 2020 at 3:56 pm #153988
            camn
            Participant

              So, I got around to actually making one if these. It was EASY. Anyone can do it… So if you want to learn to solder and get a specific midi controller… This is your joint. When I am back at a computer I will get some pictures up.

            • April 20, 2020 at 5:35 pm #154646
              camn
              Participant

                Hey people.

                I just built a pretty clean MIDI controller cuz I was bored at home. Here is a detailed writeup with many images.

                http://thenorthwestenterprise.com/2020/04/21/another-h9-controller/

                YOU GUYS SHOULD BUILD YOUR OWN CONTROLLERS ITS AWESOME

              • June 11, 2020 at 6:21 pm #155111
                camn
                Participant

                  Wow that picture takes up everything

                • June 16, 2020 at 11:37 pm #155162
                  camn
                  Participant

                    Hey people I have made a bunch of these now, and polished up my process a little. Here is a more current How-To.

                     

                    http://thenorthwestenterprise.com/2020/06/12/a-midi-controller-for-the-eventide-h9-smoothest-yet/

                  • July 22, 2020 at 6:19 pm #155389
                    alamondm

                      I’m wanting to give this a shot in building. I have a arduino pro mini. Do I need to change anything in the code. I’m pretty new to the arduino. I have managed to build a switch for my hx stomp using one. It was trial and error but at the end of the day I got it working. Thanks for sharing with everyone.

                    • July 22, 2020 at 7:47 pm #155390
                      camn
                      Participant

                        It should work without much change in a pro mini!

                        There is one problem with this code…
                        The #include line stripped out the library. You need to #include the control surface library, and that line should look like this

                        #include Control_Surface.h

                        Only with a less than/greater than around the library. These forums strip it out 🙁

                        On my blog I have cleaner code examples
                        http://thenorthwestenterprise.com/category/guitars/

                      • August 6, 2020 at 8:56 pm #155492
                        camn
                        Participant

                          ok people. cleanest codeset yet. 

                          Incluses a spot for an expression pedal (or multiples) as well as a VOLUME BOOST with an LED toggling it’s state. This might break with a Preset switch, but will reset if you hit it a couple times.

                          Lets see if I can get it to paste correctly. If not, download here:

                          http://thenorthwestenterprise.com/files/Expanded_Published.ino

                           

                          //midi.controller for eventide H9

                          //by Cameron Newell @the.nw.enterprise, http://thenorthwestenterprise.com/

                          //Built for Ardruino NANO EVERY

                           

                          #include <Control_Surface.h> // Include the library 

                           

                          // Instantiate a MIDI interface

                          USBDebugMIDI_Interface usbmidi(115200); // uncomment this for serial monitor in ide

                          //HardwareSerialMIDI_Interface serialmidi = {Serial1, MIDI_BAUD}; //uncomment this for 5-pin operation- this sends on TX **may need to rename Serial1 vs Serial

                          //USBMIDI_Interface midi; // uncomment for native MIDI over USB

                          //HairlessMIDI_Interface hair (); // uncomment this for Hairless

                           

                          /* Instantiate PCButtons that read the inputs from a push button and sends out a MIDI Program Change message when they are pressed.

                          Ex: =   {**PHYSICALPIN**, {**PCHEXVALUE**, CHANNEL_#},}; 

                          This setup matches PC to PIN Number

                          */

                          PCButton pcBtn2 = {2, {0x02, CHANNEL_1},};  //PC#2

                          PCButton pcBtn3 = {3, {0x03, CHANNEL_1},};  //PC#3

                          PCButton pcBtn4 = {4, {0x04, CHANNEL_1},};  //PC#4

                          PCButton pcBtn5 = {5, {0x05, CHANNEL_1},};  //PC#5

                          PCButton pcBtn6 = {6, {0x06, CHANNEL_1},};  //PC#6

                          PCButton pcBtn7 = {7, {0x07, CHANNEL_1},};  //PC#7

                           

                          /*Hotswitch or other cc function will fire 127 on press and 0 on release by default. This is overridable. Use a momentary switch, like the others.

                          Assicn CC number from here, precede HEX with 0x

                          Ex: = {PHYSICALPIN, {**CCHEXVAL**, CHANNEL_#},{ VALUEWHNPUSHED, VALUEWHENRELEASED }};

                          */

                          CCButton button08 = {8,  {0x10, CHANNEL_1},};  // CC#16

                          CCButton button09 = {9,  {0x11, CHANNEL_1},};  // CC#17

                          CCButton button10 = {10, {0x12, CHANNEL_1},};  // CC#18

                          CCButton button11 = {11, {0x13, CHANNEL_1},};  // CC#19

                           

                          /* Instantiate a latched push button that sends MIDI CC messages for a BOOST function

                          This still uses a momentary physical switch. Assign to Volume in H9 control

                          Default values overriden. Adjust to boost strength preference

                           */

                          CCButtonLatched boost = {12, {0x07, CHANNEL_1},{ 127, 80 }};  // CC#7 – VOLUME BOOST

                          const pin_t BoostLed= {13};  // The LED to display the state of the boost button.

                           

                          /* Instantiate an analog input for an Expression pedal

                          This ia an analog POT with 5v, Ground and Signal. **may jitter**

                           */

                          CCPotentiometer potentiometer = {A0, {0x0B, CHANNEL_1},}; // CC#11, pot wired to pin A0

                           

                          void setup() {

                          Control_Surface.begin(); // Initialize main Control Surface code

                          pinMode(13, OUTPUT);  // assign Led pin as output pin

                          }

                           

                          void loop() {

                          Control_Surface.loop(); // Update the main Control Surface

                          digitalWrite(BoostLed, boost.getState() ? HIGH : LOW); // Update the LED state to reflect the toggled switch state. Match name of led to name of button

                          }

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