Midi controllers with orx-midi
The orx-midi library provides a simple interface to interact with MIDI controllers.
Prerequisites
Assuming you are working on an openrndr-template based project, all you have to do is enable orx-midi in the orxFeatures set in build.gradle.kts and reimport the gradle project.
Listing MIDI controllers
To connect to a MIDI controller you will need the exact name and vendor of the controller as they are reported to the operating system. To discover these identifiers it is easiest to list the controllers, this can be done using the MidiDeviceDescription.list() function.
fun main() = application {
program {
MidiDeviceDescription.list().forEach {
println("name: '${it.name}', vendor: '${it.vendor}', receiver:${it.receive}, transmitter:${it.transmit}")
}
}
}
From what this program outputs you can pick a controller by copying its name and vendor identifiers.
Connecting to a MIDI controller
Once you have the controller name and vendor you can use MidiTransceiver.fromDeviceVendor to open the midi controller. For example to use a Behringer BCR2000 controller on a Ubuntu system we can use the following.
fun main() = application {
program {
val controller = MidiTransceiver.fromDeviceVendor(this, "BCR2000 [hw:2,0,0]", "ALSA (http://www.alsa-project.org)")
}
}
Listening to the controller
Once connected to a controller we can start listening to the MIDI events it sends out. The orx-midi library supports controller change, note on and note off events.
fun main() = application {
program {
val controller = MidiTransceiver.fromDeviceVendor(this, "BCR2000 [hw:2,0,0]", "ALSA (http://www.alsa-project.org)")
controller.controlChanged.listen {
println("control change: channel: ${it.channel}, control: ${it.control}, value: ${it.value}")
}
controller.noteOn.listen {
println("note on: channel: ${it.channel}, key: ${it.note}, velocity: ${it.velocity}")
}
controller.noteOff.listen {
println("note off: ${it.channel}, key: ${it.note},")
}
}
}
Talking to the controller
MIDI controllers can often react to data received from software. A common use case with MIDI controllers with endless rotary encoders is setting up initial values for the encoders when the program launches. Those values are then reflected in LED lights or in a display in the controller.
fun main() = application {
program {
val controller = MidiTransceiver.fromDeviceVendor(this, "BCR2000 [hw:2,0,0]", "ALSA (http://www.alsa-project.org)")
// send a control change
controller.controlChange(channel = 1, control = 3, value = 42)
// send a program change
controller.programChange(channel = 2, program = 5)
// send a note event
controller.noteOn(channel = 3, key = 60, velocity = 100)
// note: send velocity 0 to stop a note
}
}