Newbie need info for building a controller for PC audio cue software

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sotho

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Hi there!

I'm pretty new here and want to build a midi controller using Teensy microcontroller and i have got some questions. My main goal is too build a midi controller in a box with illiminated arcade button that will have 2 USB output (for redundancy) (from what i saw i can simply mount 2 teensy that will be triggered by the same switch)

First is the controller can only produce midi note or it can emulate keyboard key too (If i want to emulate spacebar, or letter of the keyboard) If you can emulater keyboard key how you program them?

Wich controller i need? Is the Teensy LC is ok for my need? Does it will have enough power to drive the switch LED? (I plan to put approx 5-6 switch) I saw a lot of generation of teensy micro controller!! Is the LC is about to be discontinued?

How i can program the micro controller? Is it a hard procedure? Can we have some template??

i was looking for an alternative for being able to screw the board. Waht do you use? I found this on the internet do you have other option?

https://www.tindie.com/products/loglow/teensy-32-breakout-revision-d/

Other more generic option exist?

Thanks a lot for your advice!
Fred
 
What do you mean by 'redundancy' in having two USB ports?

Any Teensy will work as a controller without needing a breakout board. Get one with soldered headers if you are new to electronics hardware.

The LC makes since as the cheapest. It's unlikely Paul will discontinue that model as it's the appropriate board for lower demand projects without complex libraries for display or audio processing. And there is bound to be a T3.x board with the same pinout and functionality for a long time. He still sells 8 bit boards from over a decade ago...

Teensyduino doesn't allow you to set a Teensy to send both MIDI and keyboard messages but it's usually unnecessary for software that supports MIDI to need keyboard commands. I believe there is and advanced skill-level method of achieving this but I'd consider the answer for your purposes to be 'no' but you shouldn't need both as software will typically support one or the other more thoroughly.

There are example sketches for simple MIDI controllers. Adding LED indictors isn't difficult but having them display something meaningful can be since you normally care about the software's state and so now you need your controller to receive data back from the software... so it really depends on what you need it to do. If you just want an indicator to flash when the message is sent it would not be difficult to add to a sketch.

Perhaps you could give a more detailed explanation of what you are trying to do and whether there is some particular software it needs to support.
 
Redundancy is because sometime you will need a backup computer so you have 2 computer running the same audio cue software with the same cue. So you trigger 2 computer at the same time so if one crash during the show you still have a backup that is running!

This is just because i will have at some point to fix it in a case so i need a board where i will be able to fix it. (With screw hole)

For the LED is not a big job as i just want the button to be illuminated.

I want to use it with SCS audio software. https://www.showcuesystems.com/cms/
 
You can share a switch on two Teensies but it might need an external pullup as I'm not sure how using one or both Teensies' internal pullups would work.

A single Teensy could send regular (series hardware) MIDI and the same out could be listened for on both PC.

You can power the LEDs directly with just a resistor to limit current and the power from USB.

I don't see the manual on that site but I'm pretty sure all the transport features can be MIDI triggered so you would not need both PC keyboard and MIDI.
 
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