Using Joysticks/Xbox Controllers as Midi Controllers

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 2:59 am

Hey what's up. I'm bored tonight, so I'm trying to get my Xbox controller working as a midi controller. Should be pretty decent, actually, as you've got 6 axises available to you in a rather easy to control manner. Should be BADASS for bass automation. Could always play keys with your left hand and have the filter sweeps controller with the joy and trigger in your right hand or w/e. Anyways, the process thus far has been to take the little end thingie of an xbox controller and cut it up, soldering it to a USB cable purchased from the local dollar store. A touch of hotglue and some electrical tape give it that nice homebrew sheen. I didn't actually modify the controller's cable as I'd like to be able to give the controller back to my father in law when I'm done with it (it's not mine). Just that little extension thing on the end is hacked apart to get at the cabling.

Then I've got some Xbox->Joystick drivers.
http://www.redcl0ud.com/xbcd.html
Available there. This converts the non-native signals into usable joystick data.

Then I scored a program VMidiJoy which converts joystick signals into Midi signals. You can use this program with any DirectX 8+ compatable joystick including steering wheels etc (pedals!!). I've got an old steering wheel kicking around somewhere. I might hook up the pedals because that would be just badass for filter sweeps.
http://www.vellocet.com/software/VMIDIJoY.html

I'm just in the process of finishing shit up. I'll take some pics soon.
If you've got any questions get at me!

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:10 am

Status report - had some problems with the cabling. Resoldered a few times and everything looked okay so I hopped on the internet. Turns out that some of the Xbox cables have the white and yellow cables flipped. So I had to swap them.

Connections look like this:

PC
USB
|
|
|
^
White Red Black Green
Yellow Red Black Green White(unused)
^
|
|
|
Controller

The drivers are all installed now.

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:40 am

thats dope man... somethin different...

dont like the chances of the father-in-law seeing his box controller again.. in working order anyway

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:16 am

tempest wrote:thats dope man... somethin different...

dont like the chances of the father-in-law seeing his box controller again.. in working order anyway

Lol it's not actually the controller that is modified tho - it's just one of the "dongle" things, which you can relace (i've got extras as I used to hack xboxes and have spare parts kicking around)

I'm having some problems getting the joystick drivers to communicate to the software posted above so I'm trying another piece of software called rejoice... http://www.dioramadesign.net/blog/wp-co ... taller.exe This seems to work much better.

thehovsep · Post by **thehovsep** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:44 am

ahha wow, that's some next level shit.
hope it comes in handy. it would be pretty funny to see someone rocking out a game controller at a Live PA

big up

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:49 am

i see...

seems like a massive fuck around for not much point man, unless you bust out the xbox controller in a live show, thatd be cool.

a pedal tho could be handy tho

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:02 am

Okay so I had to install midiyoke (www.midiox.com) and then send my axiom's signals through midi yoke channel 1 where the controller was also being sent. I got it working controller parameters etc using some software called rejoice which takes the joystick signal and converts it into midisignal but the software doesn't function how I want at all so I'm going to keep working on this until I get it working like you would expect a controller to. rejoice doesn't cut it and I can't seem to get VMIDIJoy to work (although it looks ideal - just doesn't read my joystick signals properly... Well, at all actually.)

Not that much work. I'm bored tonight anyways and am out of inspiration at the moment. Totally worth it for another 6 axis of control. I only have a pitch bend and mod wheel. The knobs on the axiom are totally useless. Think about it too - what other controller do you know of that gives you 3 axis' of control per hand. Faders maybe but they're not as easy to control as a trigger and a thumbstick - especially while trying to play out a bassline. Who knows tho. Maybe I'll never use it. At the very least it was a fun 3 hours and I accomplished something new and learned some new software such as midiyoke (which I keep meaning to anyways so I can use some of those tone to midi converters - control instruments with my flute, guitar or voice). And yeah never thought of the live implications but good point! I'll see what sort of fresh ideas I come up with using this thing.

Just for reference here is a forum thread discussing different softwares which convert joystick signal into midi.

http://createdigitalnoise.com/viewtopic.php?p=935

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:26 am

Alright I finally got it working just right.
http://www.vellocet.com/software/VMIDIJoY.html
I used the analogue version of that software and it work exactly like you would expect. SWEET. Very very cool. Horsing around in massive and it's just a dream.

unempty · Post by **unempty** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:38 am

Fun!

I've had much luck using the USB HID midi input component in Bidule as well. That helps avoid various MIDI loopbacks and drivers if you run into bugs and stuff. Complete recall is nice too, and you can do all kinds of wonderful transformations to make the controllers do funky things.

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:45 pm

Unempty wrote:Fun!

I've had much luck using the USB HID midi input component in Bidule as well. That helps avoid various MIDI loopbacks and drivers if you run into bugs and stuff. Complete recall is nice too, and you can do all kinds of wonderful transformations to make the controllers do funky things.

Thanks for the info! I'll check it out. Yeah that's one of the issues. If you you're midiyoke 1 to midiyoke1 then you're hung like a horse.

ludofuzz · Post by **ludofuzz** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:59 pm

Anyone played with the wi2midi? sick sick sick. and a bit useless but sooo much fun.

Check it out....http://theamazingrolo.blogspot.com/2007 ... chine.html

Again live usage could be ace......

Decklyn...you're not on DEMONOID per chance are you? If you have a mac there is something you might like involving joystick / midi action

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:24 pm

Ludofuzz wrote:Anyone played with the wi2midi? sick sick sick. and a bit useless but sooo much fun.

Check it out....http://theamazingrolo.blogspot.com/2007 ... chine.html

Again live usage could be ace......

Decklyn...you're not on DEMONOID per chance are you? If you have a mac there is something you might like involving joystick / midi action

I'm on demonoid but PC user over here for sheer affordability. Once I get an income (just graduated) I'll prolly get a nice mac and start using logic.

docwra · Post by **docwra** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:33 pm

lol. Funny tnuc

Using Joysticks/Xbox Controllers as Midi Controllers

Using Joysticks/Xbox Controllers as Midi Controllers

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