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Using Midi as a control surface


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This thread has been started to present a alternate control surface/method to consider.

 

 

I have been fascinated by midi for years.For those who do not know what midi is, a link to explain,

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI

 

 

 

As a amateur musician, I have been using midi to control my home recording studio.

 

 

I was browsing the web and found there are small programs which can convert midi events, be they notes or cc commands, into keystrokes.

 

 

A light bulb went off!

 

 

So I took a small midi controller keyboard, plugged it into the pc usb port and it was instantly recognized as a midi control device.

 

 

I downloaded a convertor program, (They were all free), and tried it out.

 

 

It works just as described!

Depending upon the program used, multiple keystrokes can be programed per key or cc event.

It may be possible to program the knobs to control cockpit functions.

 

 

 

See here for a example program,

 

 

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/midikey2key-translates-midi-events-to-key-shortcuts.590/

 

 

There are others as well.

 

 

Control surfaces need not have keys.

There are pad controllers which may be a better choice.

See here,

 

 

https://www.gear4music.com/DJ-Gear/Controllers/Pad

 

 

 

I have used this method successfully.

I also used a Roli controller,

Like this,

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/ROLI-LIGHTPADBLOCK-Lightpad-Block/dp/B01N0FI0R6

 

 

I hope this opens up the control possibilities to pilots!

If you have a old keyboard, why not try it out?

 

 

It may not look realistic, But when I have my Rift on, I can not see it anyway!

 

 

Enjoy!


Edited by Hawkeye60

"Yeah, and though I work in the valley of Death, I will fear no Evil. For where there is one, there is always three. I preparest my aircraft to receive the Iron that will be delivered in the presence of my enemies. Thy ALCM and JDAM they comfort me. Power was given unto the aircrew to make peace upon the world by way of the sword. And when the call went out, Behold the "Sword of Stealth". And his name was Death. And Hell followed him. For the day of wrath has come and no mercy shall be given."

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  • 1 year later...

Yes! Yesterday the thought came to my mind, so I used Midi Translator Pro to assign my AKAI APC 40 buttons to use as keyboard inputs - trying it out now as MDI buttons in hornet. Works awesome, though i need to come up with someting to make it easier to remember which button is which.

 

I am wondering though - is there any way to assign rotary encoders to say altimeter and stuff?

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I have done more fooling around with this. What you ask is possible.

Even if using a work around.

 

 

A few more ideas, https://www.bome.com/products/mtclassic

This is the free version, which works a treat.

And, http://www.midiox.com/

A useful utility.

 

 

With the Boone app I think multiple keystrokes may be sent per press.

So if there is a key command for each direction, assign multiple key commands to be sent each press.

 

 

There are other type controllers that will work well for sims.

I have successfully used this as a button pad in sim. It just works.

https://roli.com/products/blocks/lightpad-m

 

 

And, it lights up!

 

 

Hope this helps!

"Yeah, and though I work in the valley of Death, I will fear no Evil. For where there is one, there is always three. I preparest my aircraft to receive the Iron that will be delivered in the presence of my enemies. Thy ALCM and JDAM they comfort me. Power was given unto the aircrew to make peace upon the world by way of the sword. And when the call went out, Behold the "Sword of Stealth". And his name was Death. And Hell followed him. For the day of wrath has come and no mercy shall be given."

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Interesting!

 

However, I must say, I've given up on hardware button boxes. I fly different planes and choosing one button layout for all is futile. I went with software / smartphone/ teblet option and never looked back.

 

Sure would be nice to have tactile feedback, but you get used to it + vibration haptic feedback.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

MATRIC developer

Check out MATRIC and forget about keyboard shortcuts

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  • 2 months later...

I managed to get this working many years ago with FSX. Was pleased with the results however ultimately I gave it up as for me the immersion was ruined by trying to use my BCF2000 in a sim. Using a mixing desk layout to control throttles, props and mixtures just ruined the immersion.

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Brings a new interpretation to "playing" DCS!

I'm Softball on Multiplayer. NZXT Player Three Prime, i9-13900K@3.00GHz, 64GB DDR5, Win 11 Home, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 24GB, TrackIR 5, VKB Gunfighter III with MCG Ultimate grip, VKB STECS Standard Throttle, CH Pro pedals

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  • 6 months later...

Hey !!! I just realise that yea, Midi controllers have tons of Rotary and sliders, and most of Flight Sim controller panels have very few and they're crazy expensive !! :D

 

 

im really interesting about converting a midi for DCS : once you have converted the Midi into just a rotary panels, will you always need to have a program open to make it work in DCS??

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