Have you ever dreamed about building your own MIDI controller / drumkit / instrument but weren't sure about all the technical stuff? With MidiMidi (software) and MaKey MaKey (hardware) it's entirely possible to build your own gear within minutes - and without any soldering. If you know how to plug in a USB device you are ready to go.
Connect anything conductive - coins, fruits, metal, people - to your computer and play chords or melodies.
How about adding sound FX notes to your guitar? Or controlling a DAW directly from your drum kit?
Give your crowd something to talk about. Want to controll cutoff and resonance with bananas? Now you can!
Integrate sounds and sound effects into your show. Or let your visitors shape the sound of your exhibition.
Hint: You can test MidiMidi even without MaKey MaKey by using your normal keyboard.
Download the Demo (Mac + Windows)
MidiMidi (software) and the Kickstarter funded hardware MaKey MaKey are the dream team to build or prototype DIY MIDI instruments the easy way.
MaKey MaKey connects physical objects to your computer:
"Alligator Clip two objects to the MaKey MaKey board. For example, you and a banana. When you touch the banana, you make a connection, and MaKey MaKey sends the computer a keyboard message. The computer just thinks MaKey MaKey is a regular keyboard (or mouse)." (Quote from makeymakey.com)
But how can these key presses be used for making music? This is where MidiMidi comes into play!
MidiMidi converts the keyboard messages into MIDI notes or MIDI controller data.
MidiMidi supports the same "keys" as MaKey MaKey out of the box (MaKey MaKey doesn't support the whole character set of a standard keyboard, it can only generate these keys: W, A, S, D, F, G, left, right, up, down, space). Just start the software and assign different MIDI events to them.
This is all it takes to build your first own controller!
Set a channel and a controller (CC) number per key.
Define separate CC values for key press and key release events.
Activate the toggle mode to hold down the pad until you press the key again.
Each key can trigger up to four separate MIDI notes. This way it's possible to play single notes as well as chords.
You can choose different channels, instruments, and velocity values per key.
It's also possible to toggle notes: Turn them on when you press them once, turn them off again when you hit them a second time. Perfect for drum loops.
Bonus!
MidiMidi includes a lot of scale and chord presets.
Examples: Minor, Major, Blues, Harmonic Minor, Phrygian,...
This way you can always play in key while you jam on your instrument!
I used the makey makey since a long time but was blocked in my experimentations because of the midi limitation. With midi midi I can realize my ideas ! Thank you so much ! Ben F.
I'm trying Midi Midi since few days, and that's really a nice software, it rocks solid and is very light for cpu and ram. Damien T.
FeelYourSound uses Share-it / Digital River for sales. They offer many secure methods of payment including credit cards and PayPal. You will receive a serial via email with which you can unlock the demo once your offer is processed. Please note that there is no physical delivery and that you will have to buy MaKey MaKey (the hardware) separately.