Is this the ultimate DIY hardware VU meter?

[DjNecro]

Heh, beat me to it

keep in mind that the more stuff you are doing (writing to lcd's, turning leds on and off, etc) the less time you have to process midi... and beyond anything else, midi latency is a no-no... One solution (which is what I will likely use on my controller) is to use two arduino's, one for midi input (leds/lcd) and one for midi output... Getting two arduinos talking to each other is pretty trivial...

Other option would be to move up to a faster microprocessor, but that is beyond my skill set at the moment

[Siytek]

Just got my Arduino code working ... Twin VU meter that can be assigned to any MIDI CC number(s). Works exactly the same as MiL0's LCD, just for Arduino

To use this code with Arduino you will need this MIDI library installed...

http://timothytwillman.com/itp_blog/?page_id=240

This code assumes you have working MIDI I/O hardware on your Arduino and a working LCD display. Don't forget to change the LCD pin numbers to the pins you are using! My pin config is different to the Arduino examples as I have a custom Arduino board. For more info on LCD, see this Arduino page ... http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/LiquidCrystal

#include "WProgram.h"
#include "Midi.h"
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
LiquidCrystal lcd(2,3,4,5,6,7); //CHANGE TO PINS YOU USE
// HELLO WORLD EXAMPLE: (12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2) ///////////
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///// EDIT THESE SETTINGS FOR YOUR REQUIREMENTS /////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
byte VU_CC_A = 3; //CC NUMBER FOR VU METER A
byte VU_CC_B = 4; //CC NUMBER FOR VU METER B
byte LCD_CHARS_PER_LINE = 8; //NUMBER OF CHARACTERS PER LINE ON YOUR LCD TO BE USED BY VU (LEFT TO RIGHT)
byte VU_A_LINE = 0; //LINE NUMBER FOR VU A TO APPEAR ON
byte VU_B_LINE = 1; //LINE NUMBER FOR VU B TO APPEAR ON
byte MIDI_CHANNEL = 0; //MIDI CHANNEL NUMBER TO BE USED, 0 = ANY CHANNEL
byte LED_PIN = 13; //13 IS ARDUINO STANDARD LED PIN NUMBER
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

byte VU_VAL_A = 0;
byte VU_VAL_B = 0;
byte VUM5[8] = { 0x1F,0x1F,0x1F,0x1F,0x1F,0x1F,0x1F,0x1F };
byte VUM4[8] = { 0x1E,0x1E,0x1E,0x1E,0x1E,0x1E,0x1E,0x1E };
byte VUM3[8] = { 0x1C,0x1C,0x1C,0x1C,0x1C,0x1C,0x1C,0x1C };
byte VUM2[8] = { 0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18 };
byte VUM1[8] = { 0x10,0x10,0x10,0x10,0x10,0x10,0x10,0x10 };
byte VUM0[8] = { 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00 };
byte b;
byte c;

class MyMidi : public Midi {
  public:
  

  MyMidi(HardwareSerial &s) : Midi(s) {}
  
  void handleControlChange(unsigned int channel, unsigned int ccnumber, unsigned int ccvalue)
  {


       if (ccnumber == VU_CC_A){

        VU_VAL_A = ccvalue;
         
        }
         
         
       if (ccnumber == VU_CC_B){

        VU_VAL_B = ccvalue;
         
        }
         
       }


};

MyMidi midi(Serial);


void setup(){
  
  pinMode(LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(LED_PIN, LOW);
  lcd.createChar(0, VUM0);
  lcd.createChar(1, VUM1);
  lcd.createChar(2, VUM2);
  lcd.createChar(3, VUM3);
  lcd.createChar(4, VUM4);
  lcd.createChar(5, VUM5);
  lcd.begin(8, 2);
  midi.begin(MIDI_CHANNEL);
  lcd.clear();
  digitalWrite(LED_PIN, HIGH);
  
}


void loop(){
  
midi.poll();
VU_A();
VU_B();
  
}

void VU_A(){
  
        b = (LCD_CHARS_PER_LINE * VU_VAL_A) / 127;
        c = (((LCD_CHARS_PER_LINE * 5) * VU_VAL_A) / 127) - (5 * b);
        
        for(int x = 0; x < 8; x++){

         if (x < b){ lcd.setCursor(x,VU_A_LINE); lcd.write(5); }
         if (x > b){ lcd.setCursor(x,VU_A_LINE); lcd.write(0); }
        }
        
        
        lcd.setCursor(b,VU_A_LINE);
        lcd.write(c);
  
}

void VU_B(){
  
         b = (LCD_CHARS_PER_LINE * VU_VAL_B) / 127;
        c = (((LCD_CHARS_PER_LINE * 5) * VU_VAL_B) / 127) - (5 * b);
        
        for(int x = 0; x < 8; x++){

         if (x < b){ lcd.setCursor(x,VU_B_LINE); lcd.write(5); }
         if (x > b){ lcd.setCursor(x,VU_B_LINE); lcd.write(0); }
        }
        
        
        lcd.setCursor(b,VU_B_LINE);
        lcd.write(c);
  
} 

[escapemcp]

Could you use these for creating an S4-like loop size monitor?

Using the output from the "loop size" midi out command, and limiting the midi-range to 10 (so that it outputs from 0-10 CC values), would there be any way of translating these 11 states to reflect the loop size e.g.

MIDI CC OUT | TEXT DISPLAYED ON LCD
0 | 1/32
1 | 1/16
2 | 1/8
...
9 | 16
10 | 32

Have been looking for a way to do this for ages, but without success... would this be possible, or can it only display the "raw" cc data output?

Many thanks & great work achieved (so far)!

escapemcp.

[zzzuperfly]

absolutely - arduino is a computer the size of a matchbook - anything one can do with a really old computer can be done with it (about the power of an 286).

Could you use these for creating an S4-like loop size monitor?

Using the output from the "loop size" midi out command, and limiting the midi-range to 10 (so that it outputs from 0-10 CC values), would there be any way of translating these 11 states to reflect the loop size e.g.

MIDI CC OUT | TEXT DISPLAYED ON LCD
0 | 1/32
1 | 1/16
2 | 1/8
...
9 | 16
10 | 32

Have been looking for a way to do this for ages, but without success... would this be possible, or can it only display the "raw" cc data output?

Many thanks & great work achieved (so far)!

escapemcp.

[zestoi]

wow - necro thread probably better to pick up a rasberry pi now for something like this - almost full pc power in the size of a matchbox

[MiL0]

yeah hopefully my RPi will arrive in June then I'm gonna start working on a cdj-style controller again (if I can get Mixxx to work )

[zestoi]

it *may* be too underpowered for mixxx - tho it runs fine on netbooks. i need to check the spec of the RPi again. i entered my email address into the RS website today actually - to hopefully get one sometime. tho just remembered now that u posted some link the other month for pre-ordering or something? i was out of cash at the time. any clue the best way to try and get hold of one?

today i wrote my first bit of code for mixxx - implemented a spinback and brake effect for the mixxx core the last couple of weeks have just been writing mappings in javascript - to hopefully get in the 1.11 release.

if you have issues with mixxx - then there's the bug tracking system, mailing list and irc channels to let people know about them

[MiL0]

hmm if you order one now you probably won't get it until July at the earliest. I've actually paid for two so when my 2nd one turns up I'd be happy to sell it you at cost price.

and yeah, i saw that you're contributing to the mixxx development now... nice one

if mixxx runs too slowly on the Pi, I wonder how hard it'd be to write/modify an existing media player so that it could be used as the basis of a cdj-style midi controller...

[zestoi]

hmm if you order one now you probably won't get it until July at the earliest. I've actually paid for two so when my 2nd one turns up I'd be happy to sell it you at cost price.

that would be awesome if at all possible not sure how i managed to miss this post

and yeah, i saw that you're contributing to the mixxx development now... nice one

if mixxx runs too slowly on the Pi, I wonder how hard it'd be to write/modify an existing media player so that it could be used as the basis of a cdj-style midi controller...

as a guess mixxx in it's current guise with waveforms, audio processing and library stuff may be too much for the pi - but that doesn't mean that a stripped down version wouldn't work. i think it's a safe bet that quite a few people would be interested in something like mixxx running on a pi... i could possibly then even turn my djtech cdj101's into a full standalone media player with a small lcd display i'd love the option of being able to just plug two standalone cdj type controllers into a mixer sometimes...