Background

Until recently, I had used an Arduino to output readings from potentiometers over serial USB, convert it to MIDI in Pure Data and then send it to Ableton Live. This convoluted setup has one clear drawback: you always have to have PD running to convert the serial to MIDI. I wanted something that wouldn’t rely on any other software; not least because it becomes increasingly difficult to configure MIDI settings in PD once you’ve had some Dutch courage prior to your set.

In order to simplify things, I set out to make a class compliant HID midi controller. A simple, and cheap, way I found was to use the Teensy microcontroller. What’s even better is that you can also you use the Arduino IDE to build and upload sketches using the Teensyduino add-on.

The Teensy USB Development Board is a complete USB-based microcontoller development system. Only a standard Mini-B USB cable (sold separately) is needed to connect to a PC or Macintosh.

I recently got a Teensy microcontroller as part of a Build Brighton group buy. It can be purchased directly from the manufacturer but those living in Europe might find it cheaper to purchase from Floris.

Hardware

Connecting potentiometers to the Teensy is fairly easy and they have a great tutorial on their website. Simply connect your potentiometers to +5v, ground and to the Teensy’s analog inputs (A0, A1, A2, A3, A4 & A5).

Software

Use the tutorial here to get up to speed with how to use the Teensy. It provides details on how to upload sketches, install the Teensyduino add-on etc. Now, back to business, make sure you’ve selected MIDI from Tools > USB. This will allow your device to be recognised as an HID device, without requiring any other drivers. Neat, huh? Now, upload the sketch below.

// Teensy Midi Controller
// Philip Cunningham
// http://philipcunningham.org
// Smoothing hacked from
// http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Smoothing

// Smoothing amount
const int numReadings = 30;

// Set the readings from the analog input to 0
int readings[numReadings] = {0,0,0,0,0};

// The number of pots
int pots = 6;

// The index of the current reading
int index = 0;

// Running total
int total = 0;

// Pin total
int pintotal[6] = {0,0,0,0,0};

// Pin average
int average[6] = {0,0,0,0,0};

// Set midi channel to send to 1
int channel = 1;

// Set the last readings to 0
int lastreading[6] = {0,0,0,0,0};

void setup()
{
  // Standard midi rate
  Serial.begin(31250);
}

void loop()
{
  // Get reading for all potentiometers
  for (int i = 0; i < pots; i++ ) {

    // Set index to zero
    index = 0;

    // Loop to create average reading
    for (int j = 0; j < numReadings; j++ ){
      // Subtract the last reading
      total = total - readings[index];
      // Read from the sensor
      readings[index] = analogRead(i);
      // Add the reading to the total
      total = total + readings[index];
      // Advance to the next position in the array
      index = index++;
      pintotal[i] = total;
    }

   // Calculate the average
   // Divide by 8 to make between 0-127
   average[i] = (pintotal[i]/numReadings)/8;

   // If reading is different from the previous
   if (lastreading[i] != average[i]){

   // Send midi data
   usbMIDI.sendControlChange(i, average[i], channel);
  }
  // Set last array value to current value
  lastreading[i] = average[i];
  }
  // Delay output by 5ms
  delay(5);
}

Please fork me on Github.

The sketch above was written for my controller, which has six potentiometers. So, if you’ve got four, three or eight pots, you’ll have to change the code slightly to reflect this. Check the comments in the code, it isn’t really hard to do; unless you’ve got more pots than analog pins. Then things become more complicated. If this sounds like you, try investigating something called multiplexing.