Hi there,
I am really interested in building my own midi controllers and also have the dream of building some tap shoes, that send midi signals. I found a few tutorials in the internet, but wanted to ask, if anybody in this forum has experiences in this field and would be willing to help me? It is pretty difficult to understand the tutorials, without any knowledge in this area.
I`m a total beginner, but I`m very interested and eager to learn new stuff. I`m from Germany, so German speaking people are also very welcome .

Thanks a lot
ronde

 

If you want to build a custom midi controller go to the doepfer site, he has a couple of very interesting options... you only need to add potentiometers and switches, if you are not able to do this... forget DIY. The midi tap shoes seem to be more complicated. I think that you need two piezo capsules and two Arduino wifi, not a lot of money. I'm trying to build with an Arduino and some solenoids a sort of robotic drummer, nothing new, but I want to use strange things... but this is another story.

 

check out: http://midibox.org/forums/

oder deutsch: kuckst du da ;)

 

midibox.org is a really nice forum, the people are very helpful there.
You might also look at the site http://www.ucapps.de/ which is affiliated to midibox.org or vice versa.

 

I would look into using drum triggers and a trigger to midi converter. Also using cheap DIY contact mics and some sort of drum replacement tool might work.

 

Thanks so much for your answer. The funny thing is, I just thought about this project today and how I could proceed with it!
Is there any easy way to get these midi drum triggers and converters? For me it is much more about the creative integration and I don`t have much time to get familiar with the whole technical side.
And what do you exactly mean with contact mics? Do you have any recommendations for that?

 

I'm using Teensy LC ( https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/ ) (Reichelt: 13 €). It's a device you can program and which will be recognized as a MIDI device at a PC. This requires some programming skills which you need to have if you plan to build your own midi controllers (I assume). Programming can be done by using arduino so there are lots of tutorials available.

Here is an example of the complexity of a program that sends a midi note on and off event every 5 seconds (I've grabbed it somewhere from the internet). The device is connected via USB cable to a PC in this case.

Code:

// USB MIDI receive example, Note on/off -> LED on/off
// contributed by Alessandro Fasan

const int channel = 1;
int ledPin = 13;

void OnNoteOn(byte channel, byte note, byte velocity) {
  digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // Any Note-On turns on LED
}

void OnNoteOff(byte channel, byte note, byte velocity) {
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);  // Any Note-Off turns off LED
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  usbMIDI.setHandleNoteOff(OnNoteOff);
  usbMIDI.setHandleNoteOn(OnNoteOn) ;
  digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  delay(400);                 // Blink LED once at startup
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
}

void loop() {

  usbMIDI.sendNoteOn(62, 99, channel);  // 62 = D4
  delay(100);
  usbMIDI.sendNoteOff(62, 0, channel);  // 62 = D4
  delay(4900); 

  // MIDI Controllers should discard incoming MIDI messages.
  while (usbMIDI.read()) {
  }
}

So basically in your case you need to add a condition of when to send a note (along with some minor changes) and that should be it.

I don't know how you want to design your shoes but there are 2 possibilities

• You can add a pressure sensor to your shoe (this can be done on the outside (?) or inside (?) or inside your socks) and you have to add some wireless connection (along with a battery) or you have to carry a USB cable from your programmed device to your PC. Here you can see an example of sensors:

• There are foils available "Pressure-Sensitive Conductive Sheet (Velostat/Linqstat)" which can be used stationary which you can place on the floor and it doesn't matter which shoes or even if any you are using. If you step on the foil then a MIDI event will be triggered. You also don't have to carry any devices with you. But additional work needs to be done here as well (placing cables around the foil etc)