playstation pad as a midi controller

[localhost8080]

hi, i was just wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to use a playstation control pad as a midi controller, ive got one of those usb converter boxes for it, i use it on my pc to play games just now, Ive done a few searches on google for something that can help me, but ive drawn a blank any help you can give would be greatly appreciated

cheers

[localhost8080]

well, i got this to work - it wasnt easy, ill be making a tutorial on how to do it and will be posting it on my blog today, ill post the text in this thread aswell, just incase you want to see how to do it =)

[localhost8080]

well, ive done two tutorials today, one is how to use a midi controller with abelton and the other is how to use a playstation pad (or xbox pad, or any joystick) as a midi controller to control abelton (or protools, or cubase, or anything that can use a midi controller)

the first one is here (using a midi controller in abelton (http://jonathansblog.co.uk/2008/06/24/abelton-tutorial-4-using-a-midi-controller-in-abelton-midi-mapping/))

the second one is here (using a joypad as a midi controller (http://jonathansblog.co.uk/2008/06/24/how-to-use-a-playstation-pad-to-control-abelton/))

[localhost8080]

this is a quick one - im gonna show you how to control abelton with a midi keyboard
i have one of the m-audio ones with the knobs and sliders on it and i use it to control all sorts of things in abelton.

its really easy when you know how, so im gonna explain it as simply as i can.

first thing to do...

open up a session, or start a new one, and put some kind of effect in - ive got an eq

<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_28_13.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2607140219/"> <img src="http://static.flickr.com/3222/2607140219_d61f825037_m.jpg" border="0" /> </a>

the first thing to check is that your midi conrtoller is enabled, so go to

Options &gt; Preferences &gt; Midi sync

<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_30_41.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2607144159/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/3187/2607144159_fefc058922_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

you can see in the first box that ive picked my controller, its a radium 61 and its input is the delta 1010 midi in
then in the second part ive enabled the boxes for Track and Remote.
thats your controller enabled.

next thing to do is to click on the box at the top right that says MIDI



<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_33_04.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2607980232/"> <img src="http://static.flickr.com/3169/2607980232_6c870a7c92_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

everything goes blue.

all you do now is click on ANY BLUE THING and move the knob or slider that you want to control that with


<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_35_27.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2607985966/"> <img src="http://static.flickr.com/3263/2607985966_8b0eba2919_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

you'll notice that you can control multiple things with the same knob, and any thing that you have controlled is displayed in the MIDI Mappings box.

to delete a mapping, simply click on it in the midi mappings and hit the delete key.

to get out of the midi mapping mode just hit the MIDI button on the top right again.

[localhost8080]

this is a sneaky little one - how to use a playstation pad (or any joystick) as a midi controller to control abelton (or any other music making program that can do midi)

i use a playstation pad to play oldschool games on my pc (using zsnes emulator) ive got one of those little usb convertor thingies so the playstation pad gets recognised as a regular joystick by my machine..

but i wanted to use it as a midi controller.

there are three things you need

one is called MJOY (http://otk.it/mjoy/)
one is called midi-yoke (http://www.midiox.com/)
the other is called MIDI-OX (http://www.midiox.com/)

you need to install all of them
mjoy is a little program that takes the input from any joystick and puts it out to a midi port.
midi-yoke is a program that makes an internal midi patchbay so that you dont need to mess with loads of cables.
midi-ox is a program that lets you see midi messages (not really needed, but it helps.)

once they are installed open up midi-ox

<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_46_10.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2608012850/"> <img src="http://static.flickr.com/3036/2608012850_8fed680cee_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

if you move a midi controller thats connected to your midi in port then you will get something like this

<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_47_46.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2607187385/"> <img src="http://static.flickr.com/3288/2607187385_42b1b45481_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

that just shows the midi control messages from your keyboard or whatever you pressed (it wont work with the joypad yet !)

leave midi-ox open and open up MJOY

<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_53_37.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2608031862/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/3279/2608031862_2c84070cb2_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

i picked the input for my joypad to be midi yoke 1 and the output to be midi yoke 2 (dont let them be the same thing, or it complains)
a little explination of this program - there are buttons for
X (X-axis of your joystick)
Y (Y-axis)
Z (Z axis)
a few other axis buttons and some roman numerals (for the square, circle, triangle, X buttons)

there is a channel knob, and a CC/Note knob a min value and a max value also.

i just left the channel set to 1 - you can pick any
for the CC/Note you need to change it for every action - so the X axis can be CC 1 and the Y axis can be CC2 - that way you get different controls for each axis and button.

to add a control just pick the buttons and the channel and the not then hit the + symbol.

<a title="Screenshot - 24_06_2008 , 16_58_40.jpg" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23402090@N04/2608045112/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/3173/2608045112_76104fe87e_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>

you should also see midi-ox spew out some more control information. add all the axes and the buttons form your pad.

thats you done.
you can now enable that midi controller in any midi program (it will be 'plugged in' to midi yoke 1 as its port.

you can close midi-ox but remember to keep MJOY open.