wiimote

the wiimote contains unbridled MIDI control capability.
35 USD can provide you with a multitouch mix control surface
use the wiimote with this: http://glovepie.org/glovepie.php + a cheap usb bluetooth receiver, and you have the potential for a huge number of midi controller possibilities.
my personal favorite is the infrared camera.

i would go as far as to say that you can't get so much tech packed into 35 bones as you will with the wiimote...and i don't even own a wii.

I'm interested to know what it is that you're using all these midi controllers to control.
Mainly soft-synths?

reaper, soft synths, mixxx and the mpc. never had a problem finding the right sound so much as playing it with the degree of organic control that i wanted.
the wii thing is for playing stuff live. way cheaper and cooler looking to perform with than any controller i could buy. i'll literally draw faders onto a piece of paper, calibrate them w/ the wii, and then play them with infrared lightbulbs as if they were faders.

....wiimote...and cooler looking to perform with than any controller...

debatable ;].
everything i've seen is pretty bad and seems more about the gimmick of 'hey check it out it's a nintendo'.

not saying it's a bad idea, i know these things are awesome controllers, but just every performance i've SEEN with one looks kind of wack.

i'll literally draw faders onto a piece of paper, calibrate them w/ the wii, and then play them with infrared lightbulbs as if they were faders.

this sounds awesome....care to elaborate or demonstrate?

i think the midi control potential that involves holding the wiimote in your hand doesn't hold much performance potential other than the "oh cool a wiimote what's next." the IR stuff is where the real potential is.

care to elaborate or demonstrate

i will as soon as i can. first, i have to build a portable/collapsible wiimote stand and write the script. easy.
it's exciting stuff, i'm really surprised that i haven't seen others do it before.

ok.
after a couple days of working with this/programming a quick controller, i am ready to make an extremely inflammatory and controversial statement:

if you are not using a Wiimote in your studio, your midi control game ain't sh!t.

in 1 day i was able to surpass the year+ of work that i put into my gestural midi controller. a real shame - i learned a lot in the process, but the quality of midi control you get out of a wiimote+infrared pen makes Thermenia Cordero look like a child's toy (irony, thy name is Wiimote). funny how that works.

i'll try to make a webcam video in the next couple of days. in the meantime, more information:

the wiimote points at my desk, on which i've put a large sized sheet of paper
there are 8 different "modes" which are selected by flashing the infrared light along predefined areas laid out across the top row of the paper...so far, these modes are

strum (X movement triggers 2 octaves of C-Major, which can be interpreted into any other scale using Piz ScaleChanger in DAW. option of 2nd infrared dot = mousewheel)

pitchbend (X movement = pitchbend. center = 0. option of 2nd infrared dot = modwheel. this mode will also be used to control scratching in MIXXX, which is freeware Serato)

Mixer (8 predefined vertical ranges = 8 different CCs. possible to change banks for more CC contol)

Calibration (to be used on setup, to make sure your wii is aimed properly. when an infrared dot is placed on any of the 4 dots along the outside corners of the paper, a tone will play to let you know that you got it in the right place. this eliminates the risk of accidentally bumping your wiimote after spending hours working on a program and essentially ruining your sh!t because you didn't think it through and aren't able to get the placement right again...heh...)

as you can see i still have 3 more modes for interesting instrument control type stuff to play with in the future....

again. you'll never, ever get the same degree of innovative and downright USEFUL midi control that you'll get from the wiimote.

stay tuned.

I look forward to the vid.

I bought a Doepfer Regelwerk about 5 years ago but have never used it. I keep pulling it out to experiment with controlling something with it, but I never do -.-
It's been sat on my desk for the past 2 months but I still aint got round to working out what I want to control with it.
I've got a studio full of hardware (analogue synths, digi synths, a few samplers, 24 channel desk, loads of compressors, etc) so I've got my hands full controlling all of that. BUT, I'm sure there must be a good use to put that Regelwerk to...... somewhere.
Patching it up to the patchbay on my MS20 through my Kenton Pro 4 is a start.

That's why I'm interested to see what you're doing with your controllers.

subscribed

BUMP.
alright so i scrapped the original idea of going through bluetooth and glovepie.
bluetooth is jsut too unpredictable and unstable. glovepie is cool but it's nonlinear and the language isn't too powerful when it comes to midi

so i decided to return to the comfort and stability of Arduino and traditional MIDI protocol
i extracted the pixart infrared camera from the wiimote and set it up with a clock and an i2c unit plus an arduino. this was very difficult and i didn't even do any of the theoretical stuff - i just followed a schematic.
after an hour or two of debugging i am now successfully tracking an infrared dot with the wiimote sensor.

the good news is that this project is about to take off, i've got a lot more control over it now. i just need to build a project box for it and take it off the breadboard/onto the pcb.
the bad news is that this will no longer be something that another person could just use their wiimote at home for anymore, since it involved some part sourcing and breadboarding.

oh man so excited

Nym, I want Video! This sounds like awesome mad scientist funk goodness... I would say it was geeky if your music didn't go so hard (Warm Blooded gets much Rotation in my car) ... Show us what's up!

only as geeky as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix_Yu7bA4Qw

haha

My mates lecturer at Uni was the guy that created the Dr Who theme.

dot1x/15.

the possibilities!
if you're now using arduino, is there still a good reason to use the wiimote?
is it a good and easy way to have an infrared device?

if you're now using arduino, is there still a good reason to use the wiimote?

yeah actually you can't get the sensor from anywhere else. pixart doesn't sell them by themselves unfortunately. i'd probably have to order a thousand or more if i wanted to have a deal with PIXART themselves

instead of physically removing the ir cam from the wiimote i just cut the entire thing so that i only have the front part - black tip and the trigger button. this will probably stick out of my project box. i'll use the trigger button to start the calibration program.