Using MIDI controllers as joysticks

Technical Control System
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A few posts have been made about similar topics in the past, and I think (can’t find it right now) midi2vjoy has been mentioned in the past, but I have made a GUI remake of it that can map MIDI controllers to vJoy devices using pygame. I’ve had this idea for a while, and I made a script to map a cheap MIDI keyboard (was $50 when I bought it but now it’s $90 and better controllers can be bought in that price range so I wouldn’t recommend it) to virtual joysticks, but I finally got around to making a more user friendly interface to generate these scripts. I tried to loosely copy the UI of DriverStations joystick tab so it should be straightforward.

Here’s the link for anyone who wants to try it out.

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Note that VJoy is old, causes system instability, often used by bad actors with malicious purposes, and there is a better project to use.

(Archived, but is otherwise stable while a v3 comes out)

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Back in 2018, in the off-season, I had an idea to use a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) pad to control the auxiliary functions of our robot, Roxanne. Of course, this was outlandish and incredibly funny, but we can’t wait until the 2024 season releases to see if this stupid idea can actually get some real laughs.

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I recall a number of years ago in the Portland Regional a team that used a ‘Guitar Hero’ controller for their robot. Can’t remember how well it worked :slight_smile:

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Strum bar is elevator up and down, I’ve seen it before too. Then 5 buttons for quick scoring heights or intake, outtake. Worked well. Can’t recall what teams I’ve seen with it, but more than 1 definitely in FIM over the years

Edit. I swear I saw this in 2015. 4 tote heights and the topper can were the buttons and strum was elevator up and down manual adjustment. Not sure what the other functions were. Or star power…

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This could be a good controller if you have too many things to control :‌)
You can even fit 2 of these (or 4 standard gamecube controllers) on one usb port!

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Some other options that should work out of the box:

TourBox
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Logitech Farm Simulator Side Panel

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WinWing PTO Panel

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I wouldn’t recommend any of the above personally, because I want to be able to replace a controller quickly and cheaply if it breaks, but they do have the advantage of looking cool AF.

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More:

LoupeDeck+

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Contour Shuttle

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Razer Stream Controller
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Microsoft Xbox Adaptive Controller

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8bitdo Arcade Stick
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We just used a PlayStation button pad. Didn’t even bother bothering our little brothers for their guitar controllers :joy:

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I’ve also managed to program an Adafruit RP2040 MacroPad using CircuitPython to present itself as a standard controller.

It’s a great cheap macropad, all the keys have an RGB LED so each key can be colour-coded. There’s also a small OLED display on the device, which I use to show what function each key does.

I’m sure a similar thing can be done with Adafruit’s larger button pads.

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A couple years ago I wrote a program that converted launchpad buttons to joystick buttons

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I haven’t actually used it in years but feel free to fork or add features :slight_smile:

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2468 used it at IRI lol

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