Paul Hesketh
Member
Hello there - my first post, so please be patient.
Got interested in teensy last year, for DIY midi controllers. I've no background in electronics or programming, but enjoy experimenting. Been using MIDI sequencers for a number of years, though. I'm a fairly tactile person, dissatisfied with the feel and layout of midi controllers I've used, so thought I'd have a go at building my own, to control the software/plugins that I use the most. How hard can it be ? Metal cases, metal knobs, prominent visual indicators, something that feels sturdy.
Ran through the tutorials, and I've got a few little projects up and running, based around breadboards in project boxes:
a controller for peavey revalver, with 8 cheap button rotary encoders, 1 higher res optical encoder and a 1602 LCD display via a spi piggyback board. Used a shift register for the buttons, to increase cc values from the encoders at higher rate, as these cheap detent encoders only 20 or 24 counts for a full turn, can't remember which.
a cubase track inspector controller, with 3 rotary encoders with buttons, (for track select, balance, output gain), 1 higher res optical encoder for input level, 9 LED button switches (for record enable, mute, solo, monitor etc) and a 1.44 SPI display. Used two MCP23017 chips for buttons and LED control, resistor ladder chip to protect LEDs.
a kush hammer controller, with 3 button encoders (to select frequency), 3 334 line motor encoders (for cut/boost), 1.44 SPI display, 5 led buttons (bands in/out, bypass etc). 595 and 165 shift registers, resistor ladder for LEDs.
Got a few more projects on the go, but I have a question.
Got them all working individually, and bidirectionally - so, eg, pressing record enable button on box sets record enable in sequencer, and pressing record enable on sequencer illuminates record enable on box, same with encoder values for cc's. Fairly pleased with progress, it's been quite a learning curve for me.
However, when I plug more than one in at once, they don't work in cubase. Three teensy's are visible, and all work correctly at the same time in midiox. All are visible in cubase, but only one will work. Tried using midox as midi merge via loopbe virtual midi port, but didn't work, seemed to be in a very slow feedback loop, downloaded copperlan to try same, but that only shows one teensy present. Hmm.
So, my question is:
is the issue with my coding, or is using more than one teensy usbmidi at the same time not possible using win7 class compliant driver? Tried looking around the forums, but couldn't find anything specific, so thought I'd ask.
I've made a couple of smaller controllers using nano's and midi shields as they were cheap off ebay from China, for inserts, edit buttons, transport controls, which work very well, but of course each of these boxes need their own physical MIDI in/out. Rapidly running out of MIDI ports. Been looking at the iconnectivity MIO, as that appears to accept usb midi class compliant devices via a hub, but not sure if that will accept multiple instances of teensy and treat them as separate devices. If anyone has any experience with this, that would be appreciated, as if it will, then I'll probably buy one.
So, sorry if a little long winded. As an aside, I'm using some aluminium boxes from diyerzone, but because my projects look like rats nests, the wiring means that I can't physically put the top on the cases. So, guess I'll need to look into making circuit boards next. Guess I'll be having lots of questions in the future....
Thank you for your patience.
Paul.
Got interested in teensy last year, for DIY midi controllers. I've no background in electronics or programming, but enjoy experimenting. Been using MIDI sequencers for a number of years, though. I'm a fairly tactile person, dissatisfied with the feel and layout of midi controllers I've used, so thought I'd have a go at building my own, to control the software/plugins that I use the most. How hard can it be ? Metal cases, metal knobs, prominent visual indicators, something that feels sturdy.
Ran through the tutorials, and I've got a few little projects up and running, based around breadboards in project boxes:
a controller for peavey revalver, with 8 cheap button rotary encoders, 1 higher res optical encoder and a 1602 LCD display via a spi piggyback board. Used a shift register for the buttons, to increase cc values from the encoders at higher rate, as these cheap detent encoders only 20 or 24 counts for a full turn, can't remember which.
a cubase track inspector controller, with 3 rotary encoders with buttons, (for track select, balance, output gain), 1 higher res optical encoder for input level, 9 LED button switches (for record enable, mute, solo, monitor etc) and a 1.44 SPI display. Used two MCP23017 chips for buttons and LED control, resistor ladder chip to protect LEDs.
a kush hammer controller, with 3 button encoders (to select frequency), 3 334 line motor encoders (for cut/boost), 1.44 SPI display, 5 led buttons (bands in/out, bypass etc). 595 and 165 shift registers, resistor ladder for LEDs.
Got a few more projects on the go, but I have a question.
Got them all working individually, and bidirectionally - so, eg, pressing record enable button on box sets record enable in sequencer, and pressing record enable on sequencer illuminates record enable on box, same with encoder values for cc's. Fairly pleased with progress, it's been quite a learning curve for me.
However, when I plug more than one in at once, they don't work in cubase. Three teensy's are visible, and all work correctly at the same time in midiox. All are visible in cubase, but only one will work. Tried using midox as midi merge via loopbe virtual midi port, but didn't work, seemed to be in a very slow feedback loop, downloaded copperlan to try same, but that only shows one teensy present. Hmm.
So, my question is:
is the issue with my coding, or is using more than one teensy usbmidi at the same time not possible using win7 class compliant driver? Tried looking around the forums, but couldn't find anything specific, so thought I'd ask.
I've made a couple of smaller controllers using nano's and midi shields as they were cheap off ebay from China, for inserts, edit buttons, transport controls, which work very well, but of course each of these boxes need their own physical MIDI in/out. Rapidly running out of MIDI ports. Been looking at the iconnectivity MIO, as that appears to accept usb midi class compliant devices via a hub, but not sure if that will accept multiple instances of teensy and treat them as separate devices. If anyone has any experience with this, that would be appreciated, as if it will, then I'll probably buy one.
So, sorry if a little long winded. As an aside, I'm using some aluminium boxes from diyerzone, but because my projects look like rats nests, the wiring means that I can't physically put the top on the cases. So, guess I'll need to look into making circuit boards next. Guess I'll be having lots of questions in the future....
Thank you for your patience.
Paul.