Gotta say I really like the midi controlled power glove that controls midi and I remember months ago thinking “analogue controllers are potentiometers, like twiddly knobs on a synth. Can’t I use that?” the answer is yes, I can, thanks to vcv rack which is a fantastic bit of kit. Also I try to make a drum loop and subsequently ignore it as I play my melody. I have a gear stick with 7 positions on it. I’m wondering if I could map those to midi CC then somehow tell the sequencer to play any pattern from 1-7.
Thls is a more serious attempt to play music using foot pedals to influence the sound. A high pass filter with frequency cut-off, drive and resonance operated by accelerate, clutch and brake respectively, and the input signal is my microkorg via line in playing my harkonnen helicopter patch which I have discussed elsewhere on the forum and I will repost here when not phone posting as I have a screenshot of it on the computer. Speaking of which, is there a way to save the preset as a file somewhere? I could share it with anyone who fancied playing with it.
That’s a revelation to me, thanks a lot! Am sure I’ve got some analogue game controller stuff in the cupboard somewhere. Hmm… may take an old remote controller apart, or just rig up the pots to a USB interface thing.
I mean the settings of the microkorg. I mean it’s dumb just taking screenshots. Surely there’s some sort of csv file that can be input into any microkorg to load the presets in.
And yeah, if Windows recognises the game controller, you just go to game pad and there it is. I also have a hotas which I’ve been considering trying out again for ace combat as that looks like a really cool flight sim. But, let me see.
X, Y, Z (roll, pitch and yaw) on the flight stick.
Throttle, which has a slide potentiometer on it as well
A scroll wheel on the throttle .
That’s 6 analogue controllers, not including all the toggle, trigger and rocker switches. That’s a lot of control.
Frankly, I’m a noob at all of this. I watched the video about what you can put into an vca’s CV inputs to do all sorts of fun things to the sound.
Once again I’m wishing I had more than two arms. I know, you can program a sequencer to play a pattern but I haven’t had any fun with that. I’d rather have two hands playing the keyboard(s) with feet touching pedals and another pair of hands on a hotas.
Just the flight stick alone on the right hand, I could have the filter resonance, drive and frequency there, leaving my feet free to say, control the vca with lfo frequency and anything else. I’m itchy at the possibilities.
So at some point I will have to record some midi, then play it back into the microkorg, leaving hands and feet free to play with joysticks and steering wheels.
If I ever do a live performance it’s gonna be a fun setup.
I saw some videos on doing fun things with an ADSR that I will have to try next time. But in this one I learn that osciloscopes are great for relative tuning.
I have recorded about 40 minutes of audio, but this is an exerpt from the end, when I figured out something really nice sounding. I’m playing a four note sequence on the microkorg, using reverb from the NTS-1 and rubbing a rubber stick against the ribbon cable of the NTS-1 which was a square wave osciliator and some band pass filtration. Yummy.
Hakonnen Helicopter is a patch I made for microkorg and I’m really keen on sharing it, so let me know if you want it or want screenshots if you want to fit it into your synth. I’ll be doing a video showing build and if I feel fancy editing in the audio of the music into the build. If I feel so inclined.
I put it here because I mention that this patch is used in my song “An avalanch of sand.” Which I think is a great song, my favourite I’ve made. But now I can’t recreate it as my computer has become really noisy and as much as I like white noise, I only like it when it’s intentional.
Which is a shame as the potentiometers of my foot pedals are great controllers, designed for driving sims, but it’s an analogue controller, operated by my feet, so ideal for adding a layer of expression.
I’m thinking about my options. It’s a logitech steering wheel., it’s USB. So I need something that reads USB, like VCV rack, and converts those signals into MIDI. Like VCV rack.
But, VCV rack is a powerful beast, with lots of virtual modules, one of my favourite is the filter where I use accelerate for cutoff, clutch for overdrive and brake for resonance. Maybe in the future I could make a USB to midi interpreter for a raspberry pi, and have those midi signals go to another bit of kit, although the filter in my microkorg doesn’t have overdrive (maybe amp?)
Now I need to get my Casio VLtone line out fixed so I can hook that into the NTS1
Edit: I hate programming. But I’m willing to learn the bare minimum so I can bring fourth what needs to be done. I want my foot pedals!
The free application called Pure Data has some excellent MIDI, audio and hardware support. Runs easily on a raspberry Pi and is a graphical language (no coding) with thousands of examples you can simply cut and paste. It wold be ideal for getting all your external devices involved.
Pure data can also work with your daw and other hardware and output MIDI or whatever; even haptic feedback to your pedals and wheel. Enjoy
