curtist Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Hello! I am using a funky little device called the MakeyMakey to make a MIDI keyboard. The Makey sends keyboard characters (a-z 0-9) to my macbook when different keys are pressed. I'd like to turn these keys into MIDI notes entirely within Logic. I was able to do this successfully using extra software such as VMPK which does exactly what I'm looking for, but the problem was the VMPK window had to be active in order for it to make the character-midi conversion, so every time I would click on something in Logic, VMPK would stop and I'd need to click on it again to get MIDI notes. This simply won't work for what I'm trying to do. I've also tried the CAPSLOCK keyboard in Logic but for some reason it doesn't work. The characters that the Makey sends do not trigger the midi notes. The macbook keyboards still triggers them though. I've tried this in Garageband with success so I guess the logic caps keyboard works differently. So my question is, Is it possible to convert keyboard characters into MIDI notes entirely within Logic Express 9 without using the caps keyboard? OR Is there any software the can convert characters into MIDI notes and always stay actively open even when I'm messing around in Logic? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlas007 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Have you checked here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtist Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks, I'll give it a shot but I'm thinking I might run into the same problem that I did with VMPK. I was really hoping I'd be able to do this all within Logic. Also, this MAX/MSP stuff looks like its way over my head. Edit: Yeah, it's way over my head... and its 200mb of space I'd rather not waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlas007 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 You mention that your makeymakey sends keyboard characters. Could it be that those characters are MIDI notes messages?Does that thing comes with drivers to install? Did you try to connect it directly in your mac and check if there are some activity occuring inthe MIDI IN readout, in the Transport bar? I am asking because it seems there are many places mentioning using it to use it as MIDI controller (rather basic ones) after Googling "MakeyMakey MIDI"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtist Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 You mention that your makeymakey sends keyboard characters. Could it be that those characters are MIDI notes messages?Does that thing comes with drivers to install? Did you try to connect it directly in your mac and check if there are some activity occuring inthe MIDI IN readout, in the Transport bar? I am asking because it seems there are many places mentioning using it to use it as MIDI controller (rather basic ones) after Googling "MakeyMakey MIDI"... No drivers to install, it does not send midi notes. It is HID. All of the MakeyMakey Midi instruments I've found use software between the Makey and Logic to turn the keystrokes into midi. This didn't work for my purposes because of the reason stated in my original post. This method works great but I need to be able to manipulate the controls in logic while playing the notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlas007 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 No drivers to install, it does not send midi notes. It's HID. HID (as in Human Interface Device) I assume... Ok then, in what format does it transmits its alphanumerical characters? ASCII? Have you googled it? How about here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtist Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 No drivers to install, it does not send midi notes. It's HID. HID (as in Human Interface Device) I assume... Ok then, in what format does it transmits its alphanumerical characters? ASCII? Have you googled it? How about here? I've been googling all morning! lol -That tutorial is great, for anyone using Traktor. -Yes, it sends as ASCII Hmm, I though this would be simple but 2 hours of internet meandering has got me nowhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Is it possible to convert keyboard characters into MIDI notes entirely within Logic Express 9 without using the caps keyboard? Nope. If the MakeyMakey sends ASCII codes then a PD or Max patch (like Atlas' link) would be the way to go to convert those to MIDI notes. But this wouldn't happen within Logic, Logic would receive the converted notes from the PD or Max patch as if the patch were just another MIDI device. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtist Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 I would try figuring out why you can't get the Caps Lock keyboard to work properly first...all you want to achieve is to play notes with your computer keyboard, no? That's excatly what the Caps Lock keyboard does. Is it possible to convert keyboard characters into MIDI notes entirely within Logic Express 9 without using the caps keyboard? Nope. J. Capslock Keyboard works perfectly fine with my laptop keyboard. It doesn't work with the characters coming from the makey, which is weird because the makey works exactly like a keyboard in any other program I've tried it in. It even works with the Garageband keyboard, but not with the Logic Caps Keyboard, very strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Capslock Keyboard works perfectly fine with my laptop keyboard. It doesn't work with the characters coming from the makey, which is weird because the makey works exactly like a keyboard in any other program I've tried it in. It even works with the Garageband keyboard, but not with the Logic Caps Keyboard, very strange. Yeah, sorry. I edited my post after understanding what you wanted to achieve. Read my post again... J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtist Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Is it possible to convert keyboard characters into MIDI notes entirely within Logic Express 9 without using the caps keyboard? Nope. If the MakeyMakey sends ASCII codes then a PD or Max patch (like Atlas' link) would be the way to go to convert those to MIDI notes. But this wouldn't happen within Logic, Logic would receive the converted notes from the PD or Max patch as if the patch were just another MIDI device. J. Thanks for the help, what is a PD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordi Torres Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Pure Data, it's like Max but it's free. http://puredata.info/downloads/pd-extended If you need some help with it let me know. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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