The old RC transmitter becomes a new MIDI controller
The old RC transmitter becomes a new MIDI controller
Arduino Team — March 31, 2023
If you're going to produce electronic music on a PC, you need some sort of input tool. It can be your keyboard and mouse, but most producers prefer to use a dedicated MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller. This will provide a more intuitive and efficient experience. Instead of buying something new, HYPRREAL turned a 70s Futaba RC transmitter into a MIDI controller.
RC transmitters, like the vintage Futaba model used for this project, are controllers for RC vehicles like planes and cars. While inexpensive toy RC vehicles tend to come with dedicated transmitters, higher end vehicles work with universal transmitters like this one. They are of higher quality and can be used with any vehicle in an enthusiast's collection. Being an older model, this unit was quite simple. It only had two potentiometer joysticks and a few sliders. To expand its capabilities, HYPRREAL has added several additional potentiometers.
An Arduino board monitors all potentiometers via multiplexers. It runs a library of MIDI controllers, so it can send MIDI messages to a computer connected via USB cable. As far as the computer is concerned, the connected device is just a standard MIDI controller. This means that it will work with any MIDI software and HYPRREAL only had to configure the various controls of this software. The result is a useful MIDI controller in a very attractive retro package.
Categories:ArduinoMIDI
Arduino Team — March 31, 2023
If you're going to produce electronic music on a PC, you need some sort of input tool. It can be your keyboard and mouse, but most producers prefer to use a dedicated MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller. This will provide a more intuitive and efficient experience. Instead of buying something new, HYPRREAL turned a 70s Futaba RC transmitter into a MIDI controller.
RC transmitters, like the vintage Futaba model used for this project, are controllers for RC vehicles like planes and cars. While inexpensive toy RC vehicles tend to come with dedicated transmitters, higher end vehicles work with universal transmitters like this one. They are of higher quality and can be used with any vehicle in an enthusiast's collection. Being an older model, this unit was quite simple. It only had two potentiometer joysticks and a few sliders. To expand its capabilities, HYPRREAL has added several additional potentiometers.
An Arduino board monitors all potentiometers via multiplexers. It runs a library of MIDI controllers, so it can send MIDI messages to a computer connected via USB cable. As far as the computer is concerned, the connected device is just a standard MIDI controller. This means that it will work with any MIDI software and HYPRREAL only had to configure the various controls of this software. The result is a useful MIDI controller in a very attractive retro package.
Categories:ArduinoMIDI
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