Maker and musician Oliver Hagen has designed a customized MIDI controller to handle perceived usability points on a Roland JD-Xi synthesizer — constructed round each a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W single-board pc and an Arduino Nano-compatible microcontroller improvement board: the DivingBoard.
“[The DivingBoard is] a home-made MIDI controller aiming to resolve the dearth of parameter accessibility on the Roland JD-Xi synthesizer,” its creator explains. “It differs from different options I’ve seen in that customizability and potential ease-of-use are better, and basic use with a variety of synthesizers is feasible, somewhat than simply with the JD-Xi. It is a work in progress, presently current as a practical prototype in common use.”
The issue, Hagen explains, is that the Roland JD-Xi is a strong synthesizer with over 100 adjustable parameters to form its sound — all accessed via simply seven knobs on its entrance panel, requiring the person to dive into nested menus on a cramped show. DivingBoard, then, permits the parameters to be accessed extra shortly — aiding musical spontaneity.
“The [Raspberry Pi] is linked to the synth through USB and exchanges MIDI messages with it,” Hagen explains of the machine’s operation. “These messages inform the synth to regulate chosen parameters to particular values, thereby exposing all the interior controls for straightforward manipulation. The kicker is that the eight bodily controls on my controller could be assigned to totally different inner parameters arbitrarily, that means that I can at all times have the precise controls I would like below my fingers.”
The machine permits speedy entry to commonly-used sound-shaping parameters, way more shortly than the on-board interface. (📷: Oliver Hagen)
Along with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a compact single-board pc, the DivingBoard makes use of an Arduino Nano-compatible microcontroller to learn its inputs and drive the character-based show. “I [had] used a Raspberry Pi 3 [Model] B+ because the mind of this mission as a result of it is what I’ve readily available,” Hagen writes of an earlier prototype. “I’ve tried the entire setup out with a [Raspberry] Pi Zero subbed in, and whereas it really works, the latency is apparent.”
Extra particulars on the DivingBoard can be found on the mission web site, together with a software program obtain; “I’ll attempt to put stuff on GitHub in some unspecified time in the future,” Hagen guarantees, “once I can discover time to re-learn how GitHub works.” Further info is on the market in Hagen’s Reddit put up.