USB MIDI Controller Kit

[Fantasma25]

Hello. The other day a friend showed me a sequencer DIY kit he was building called groovesizer multiboard (http://groovesizer.com/multiboard/) and I thought that it was a really awesome kit. Then I wondered if there were any MIDI controller diy kits that worked with the USB MIDI Class and the only thing I found was a firmware called HIDUINO which works with an Arduino that has an ATmega USB MCU as a serial interface (not the ones that have an FTDI chip). Then I thought that it would be really cool to make a USB Class MIDI Controller DIY kit (All THT) that demystifies a little bit how USB protocols work. So I made a little research on what MCUs that have built in USB support are suitable for a DIY kit and I found that Microchip has a lot of PIC MCUs that support USB and have a DIP package. Now I'm starting to design a simple controller board with a couple of pots, switches and LEDs using the PIC16F1454, a 4 channel ADC and a couple of IO extenders.
What do you think about the idea?

[miguelvp]

I haven't used it but Cypress has a USB FS module that supports USB Midi as well

http://www.cypress.com/?docID=48885

Only supported on their PSoC 3 & PSoC 5LP (the later goes for $10 per chip, the former for under $5 per chip)

http://www.cypress.com/?rID=48924

But you'll need a programmer etc.

You might be able to use their Pioneer dev kit ($25) to use the built in 5LP, I don't have any MIDI capable devices anymore so I can't play with it to see if it works.

[Fantasma25]

That looks really cool! But I'm looking for something that can be easily soldered. That's why I looked for MCUs with a DIP Package. Those documents will be useful though.
Thanks a lot!

[22swg]

I found MiDi h/w  straight forward for a 16 ch volume controller I used a 4067 analogue mux, and a PIC16F scanning the channels and serializing any changes to the MiDi output ( UART serial ) , what had you planned to control ?  I started with a very good MiDi protocol book by R A Penfold .

[DavidDLC]

Some time ago, I saw on Hack a day a PIC18F2455 USB MIDI controller, there are some other projects using Atmel processor, take a look on the Hack a Day  page, search for MIDI controller

[DavidDLC]

If you are going to use the MIDI controller with a DAW, sliders are a must I will say.

David.

[miguelvp]

PC analog joystick cards had MIDI support, not that matters much here but the interface seems very simple:

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~lau0cy/sb.htm

[Fantasma25]

PC analog joystick cards had MIDI support, not that matters much here but the interface seems very simple:

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~lau0cy/sb.htm

Yes, indeed. Both the interface and the protocol are very simple and easy to understand. The tricky stuff will be the USB firmware  .
I already made a simple board to play. It has the pic I mentioned, a couple of pushbuttons, some breakout pins and the USB port. This will help to start learning how to write USB firmware. Here are the design files if you want to dig in. I'll also attatch the render of the board.
https://github.com/DiegoRosales/PCB_Designs/tree/master/El%20MIDI%20Chico

[DavidDLC]

For the USB firmware no need to reinvent the wheel, use the Microchip stack and modify it according to your needs.

David.

[22swg]

" Both the interface and the protocol are very simple and easy to understand."

Good luck with that...

[Scrts]

Have you ever heard about MIDIBox project? Check www.ucapps.de

[Fantasma25]

Have you ever heard about MIDIBox project? Check www.ucapps.de

Wow! I totally didn't know about that. That is pretty much what I wanted to do XD I guess I'll use them as a reference lol. 

[jeremy]

I've done this with an ATMEGA8 and VUSB. It was fun! But now that you can get a Leonardo Pro Micro on ebay for less than $10, I would use that.