Standalone DIY MIDI Sequencer Controlling Nintendo NES

[Dragoony12345]

Man, that's some awesome peace of work, you're showing here!!!

I'm about to build an Arduino-based 8 step sequencer right now (almost finished, just need to wire things together) which is pretty similar to yours, but man: How do you connect the whole thing to the NES anyway? Via Midi-Input? Would you share this great peace of work (how to let the sequencer playing the soundbank of the NES)?

That would be awesome, dude.

I will post a video of mine, too, when it's finished. ;)

[sbtrctd]

Hey, as a MIDI controller, does it matter what resistance the pot is? Or can I define the values with the Arduino regardless of ohmage?

[kibjohn]

awesome!

[ZogDawg]

This is really cool!

However, your info needs A MINOR correction (pun intended)...

A minor is only the white notes starting on A and ending on A. If you start and end on C while only playing white keys it's C major, if you start and end on D it's D Dorian Mode, and each other white key note has it's own different scale or mode that you get from starting and stopping on it while only playing the white keys.

[littlescale]

Yes this is obvious. But I'd like to point out that the scale in the microcontroller literally goes for an octave from an A followed by a B, then C D E F G and then the octave A above. The octave doesn't start on a D or a C, it starts on an A :)

[brittttney]

hi, this is great!

was looking for a simple midi sequencer

was hoping for PIC based one tho

what kind of arduino board is it?

[nordemoniac]

How about rearranging the buttons... And voila, you have a Nintendo Synthesizer with one arpeggio;)

[reclusivesage]

It's looks so easy: some pots, a couple breadboards...what's the catch?

[littlescale]

What do you mean?

[TEMPHUiBIS]

-]. Legendary, I still love this .[-

[littlescale]

hey, thanks man! hope you are going well.

[TEMPHUiBIS]

-]. yeah man, im sending u an e-mail soon, stay online .[-

[KayBeats]

Very Creative, i will pay money for a sample CD with those sounds!!!

:-)

[littlescale]

Thanks man. If you like the sounds, then you should totally get a MIDINes! ;-) they are great

[stemcellfilms]

nintendo always had some of the best digirips

[picklehammer]

hey. I have a midines and I've always been looking for ways to experiment with it. arduino boards seem cool, maybe I'll look into it. I've been trying to get past some annoyances of midines. when you're writing songs for the midi nes, what software sequencer do you use? I've been having a lot of trouble with recording CC events in sonar, or even editing them logically (rapid changes, etc)

[littlescale]

heya, i have never used sonar. i use protools, logic and live. what exactly does the data look like compared to what you want it to look like?

i have other problems with the MIDINes - for example, sometime note-offs are recognised as note-ons for the sample playback channel -WTF?

[picklehammer]

protools, logic, and live? are any of those good with midi sequencing? I thought protools was mostly for non-midi stuff but I don't know about the other two. sonar just has a clunky interface when it comes to CC. but yeah, I've had other weird problems, like multiple identical note ons of one pitch being recognized as different pitches. haha.

[littlescale]

Well I guess I just sort of "grew up" on ProTools. Many people complain about MIDI in ProTools, but I don't mind it. I am quite used to the general interface.

Logic is great for MIDI processing - it is one of its strong points.

I just started getting into Live, so I have been mucking around with the MIDI side of it as well. So yeah, that's basically it.

[Mizgiwir]

This is simply awesome. I love MIDINES.

[littlescale]

yeah, MIDINes is one of the coolest MIDI devices i have ever seen!

[su7a7sband]

explain something to me dude: did you build this yourself, or is it a specialised componant you got for the task? and in either event how is it interfacing with the nes cart input?

[littlescale]

i did the breadboarding, thought of the (simple) logic, and wrote the arduino program. so i guess you could say i built it. but at the same time, the arduino is a "specialised component" of this system - though it can do many, many things.

the NES is running a cart called MIDINes that allows realtime control over the NES' sound chip using MIDI commands. so the arduino is taking the values of the

[kiDchemical]

brilliant. analog control, like a cv sequencer for a digital device. sometimes piano rolls can be tedious. anyways, 2 questions. 1, what is that board in the middle connecting the 2 breaboards? something to convert the ananlog trigger to midi ticks? 2, can you have rest's, or is it always just a continuous 8 note sequence?

btw, i checked out some of your other vidoes, good stuff

[littlescale]

Hi there. The board in the middle is an Arduino board. It also uses a 4051 multiplexer to read many pots (Arduino has 6 analog inputs only). Yes, it can have rests. When the pots are at fully to the left, that step does not play anything. Thanks for the comment.

[littlescale]

Oh yeah, the Arduino is basically a 'blank slate' that must be programmed in a simple language (derived from proce55ing). So basically you can do many things with the one board.

[TEMPHUiBIS]

-]. NOW THATS SKILL!!! .[-

[littlescale]

do i detect some sarcasm there?

[TEMPHUiBIS]

-]. i dunno what ya detecting, what i'm detecting is thats a PHATTASTIC thing you did. Im a fan of that sort of music u no .[-

[littlescale]

my sarcastometer must be misaligned.

;)