MIDI Controller Support

[H-var]

Dear Eagle Dynamics,

 

After reading about MIDI, I learned that it is integrated into the Windows Operating System, and there is a very extensive documentation available on the Microsoft website, and many other places on the internet on how to implement the data received from MIDI devices into an application.

 

It's funny to think that all the joysticks were once actually MIDI controllers, and now we are coming back around to find them maybe useful being as MIDI devices once again.

 

The advantages of a MIDI device over a joystick:

- a MIDI can have thousands of buttons, or hundreds of sliders, and rotaries

- very easy to buy anywhere, in any place on the planet

- very cheap when compared to joystick companies

- you can buy used ones for any taste and likeness anywhere

- building home-made cockpits is much easier, and straightforward

 

Any MIDI device is working in a very simple, and always the same way:

 

Buttons:

- every control\button\rotary has 128 positions (0-127)

- pressing a button will send a pulse, two unique codes (addresses) - one address says it's pressed DOWN, other that it is RELEASED

- holding a button will send the pressed DOWN unique address only to anyone interested in it

- releasing the button will then send the "this button has been RELEASED" unique code

 

Rotaries:

- rotaries also have 128 positions

- as you rotate it, it will quickly send a range of unique addresses

- to create a rotary you have to combine these addresses into a group in your application. In DCS you can call it Rotary1. When someone's rotating it, the DCS would register the Rotary1, and bind it to the axis.

- all the addresses are the same between all the MIDI control surfaces meaning that a rotary on Roland, or a rotary on Yamaha will be registered as the same rotary by Windows.

 

All you need to do is to tell DCS to capture the MIDI signals and it's really easy because it's already in the Windows since forever, and no additional files, or drivers needed; and then teach DCS what range of addresses is a slider, a rotary, a button etc.

 

Or, you could tell DCS to wait for the player to use a slider on their midi controller, and then offer them to choose, if they want to use that as a slider, rotary, or a button.

 

 

The reason why MIDI would be so incredibly valuable for us is because you can easily purchase a MIDI controller for very cheap, and they offer millions of combinations - rotaries, sliders, buttons - anything you wish.

 

That would be such an amazing thing for the DCS communtity! I hope it could be implemented!

 

Warm Regards,

H-var

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by H-var

[The LT]

Not needed in vanilla DCS, imo. Devs have their hands full. If you're interested, you could code something similar to DCS-BIOS but for MIDI. Most controllers are optimized for music so it doesnt make much sense unless you fly in your studio room. :) Check out DCS-BIOS, it pretty much solves all the IO problems.

[Sprool]

I'm using a Korg Nanokontrol2 for additional buttons & knob control in DCS. It runs fine via 2 free plugins - FreePIE and vJoy, then shows up as 2 additional control sets in DCS when you assign controls in settings. I now have 8 sliders, 8 rotary knobs, 35 additional buttons to assign as I wish, far more than I could get with an expensive joystick upgrade. Biggest problem is remembering what control I mapped where, I tend to map non-critical functions like console/instrument light levels, F2, F5, F10 views, then flaps and gear, which leaves my joystick buttons to focus on weapons control. I also use one of the sliders for zoom since my joystick rocker switch for zoom is really cranky.

The midi controllers are a really cheap option for people who dont mind a bit of scripting, and when Im not flying, it controls a load of VCV Rack virtual synth settings for me.

[MAXsenna]

This was a brilliant thread! Thank you!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[wilbur81]

This was a brilliant thread! Thank you!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

Agreed! This would be really cool...think about the ridiculous price of a legato stream deck.

[The LT]

ED provides an export API. It is up to you people how to use it. They should not and will not implement such functionality, but they provide means for developers to write software that will provide such functionality.

 

There are a few export routers available, such as DCS-BIOS. I don't believe MIDI is such a good idea, frankly. Arduinos & custom panels make more sense. But someone could build on DCS-BIOS to provide such an interface.

[MAXsenna]

ED provides an export API. It is up to you people how to use it. They should not and will not implement such functionality, but they provide means for developers to write software that will provide such functionality.

 

There are a few export routers available, such as DCS-BIOS. I don't believe MIDI is such a good idea, frankly. Arduinos & custom panels make more sense. But someone could build on DCS-BIOS to provide such an interface.

What you on at?

Two posts back there is already

way to do this. But DCS-BIOS probably more sexy though.

Here's another.

 

https://github.com/c0redumb/midi2vjoy/blob/master/README.md

 

But sure, making your sim pit with Arduino and what not is awesome, but the point of this thread as I see it was to re-use/use existing inexpensive hardware in an easy way!

Go green! Re-cycle!

 

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[The LT]

What you on at?

Two posts back there is already

way to do this. But DCS-BIOS probably more sexy though.

Here's another.

 

https://github.com/c0redumb/midi2vjoy/blob/master/README.md

 

But sure, making your sim pit with Arduino and what not is awesome, but the point of this thread as I see it was to re-use/use existing inexpensive hardware in an easy way!

Go green! Re-cycle!

 

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

All those solutions are:

1. Too kludgy

2. Lack 2-way connectivity

 

We need a solution which will provide feedback, as a lot of midi controllers have LED-feedback on pads and pots.

Adapting DCS-BIOS for midi seems like the logical way forward here.

[MAXsenna]

All those solutions are:

1. Too kludgy

2. Lack 2-way connectivity

 

We need a solution which will provide feedback, as a lot of midi controllers have LED-feedback on pads and pots.

Adapting DCS-BIOS for midi seems like the logical way forward here.

Ahhhhh, okay. Probably misunderstood you.

Well, if anyone would volunteer for that it would be fanstatic. But I'm off to find a cheap second hand device to test this. I don't see it as kludgy. Seems really easy actually. Had a feeling vJoy could solve this, did it for my trusty ol' MS Strategic Commander. No need for DCS BIOS there

But now you've given me ideas.

Thanks and cheers!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[The LT]

Ahhhhh, okay. Probably misunderstood you.

Well, if anyone would volunteer for that it would be fanstatic. But I'm off to find a cheap second hand device to test this. I don't see it as kludgy. Seems really easy actually. Had a feeling vJoy could solve this, did it for my trusty ol' MS Strategic Commander. No need for DCS BIOS there

But now you've given me ideas.

Thanks and cheers!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

I've got tons of midi stuff myself, I'll look into it too.

[Hawkeye60]

There are many ways to do this.

 

 

See here,

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=221268&highlight=midi

[Bravo020]

I'm using an X Touch Mini from behringer, in conjunction with Bome Midi Translator which does the job of translating to keystrokes. Works great, and when I'm not in DCS, then I use it Photoshop which was the original reason why I got the X touch in the first place.

[Canard]

Old topic but I also use the X Touch Mini with a licensed copy of Bome Midi translator. I looked into using some of the helpful tips above but found them not for me by various reasons.  I use vJoy to convert the output from Bomes rules/scripts to controller buttons and controller sliders instead of keystrokes. Kind of fidgety at first but works great with some work-arounds in both vJoy and Bome.

 

I also got a Akai MPD218 pad controller. It looked great but I didn’t like the large and soft ”finger-drum-pads” in game . It is now replaced by Total Controls Multi function Box. 

[Tenebrae Aeternae]

On 10/11/2021 at 1:40 PM, Canard said:

Old topic but I also use the X Touch Mini with a licensed copy of Bome Midi translator. I looked into using some of the helpful tips above but found them not for me by various reasons.  I use vJoy to convert the output from Bomes rules/scripts to controller buttons and controller sliders instead of keystrokes. Kind of fidgety at first but works great with some work-arounds in both vJoy and Bome.

 

I also got a Akai MPD218 pad controller. It looked great but I didn’t like the large and soft ”finger-drum-pads” in game . It is now replaced by Total Controls Multi function Box. 

Any chance you would give some extra info? I am currently looking at both programs, but can´t think of any reasonable way to make sliders work. 

[parasxos]

 This thread needs more attention !!!

[Canard]

7 hours ago, ChainsawAkimbo said:

Any chance you would give some extra info? I am currently looking at both programs, but can´t think of any reasonable way to make sliders work. 

Hi ChainsawAkimbo, I'll add my rules from Bome (for XTouch). They do the job but it is after some trial and error and can probably be a lot smarter. In short: I use Bome to clean and modify the Midi-signals to be used in Vjoy. I found that Vjoy was not able to react to all types of midi-signals so Bome converts the signals to something that can be used. 

So, My flow is:  Xtouch sends signals in to Bome and I use Bome to send modified Midi-signals out in a virtual midi-channel as output. In vjoy I convert the virtual midi-channel to control-inputs as a controller would do. Some tinkering was necessary there also (like axis to button if I remember correctly).   

The slider-part should be the easy one. In VJoy just trap the MIDI signal Axis (midi) to Axis (virtual vjoy-controller). In Bome I just converted the CC-value for some conflict-reason that I had. Probably not necessary for sliders. 

The knobs increase/decrease-rule below is the most complicated and I have trouble reading it myself now  . I wanted to convert movement to button presses for use in DCS. 

 

-------------------------------------

[x] Preset 0: X-touch All buttons

[x] Translator 0.0: Button push
Options: swallow
Incoming: Note On on ch. 11 with any note set 'qq' to note with velocity:127 (0x7F), on port X-TOUCH MINI
Rules: 
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 12 with CC#:qq and value:127 (0x7F), to port Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual Out

[x] Translator 0.1: Button push
Options: swallow
Incoming: Note Off on ch. 11 with any note set 'qq' to note with velocity:0 (0x00), on port X-TOUCH MINI
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 12 with CC#:qq and value:56 (0x38), to port Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual Out, delay:30 millisec

_____________________________________________________________

(this one is for slider values - I use the slider and one volume knob as axis input, the rest of the knobs for ccw/cw values)
[x] Preset 1: X-touch Slider 9 and Knob 8

[x] Translator 1.0: Slider 9 to passtrough
Options: swallow
Incoming: Control Change on ch. 11 with CC#:9 (0x09) set 'pp' to CC# with any value and 'oo' to value
Outgoing: Use 99 instead of 9 to avoid conflict with button 9

[x] Translator 1.1: Knob 8 to passtrough
Options: swallow
Incoming: Control Change on ch. 11 with CC#:8 (0x08) set 'pp' to CC# with any value and 'oo' to value
Outgoing: Use 98 instead of 8 to avoid conflict with button 8

_____________________________________________________________ 

(This on converts knobs to button presses ccw/cw)
[x] Preset 2: X-touch Relative to simulated button on (1)

[x] Translator 2.0: Knob CCW
Options: swallow
Incoming: Control Change on ch. 11 with any CC# set 'qq' to CC# with any value and 'x1' to value
Rules:
  
  rr=qm
  qm=x1
  if x1>=rr then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
  qq=qq+50
  
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 12 with CC#:qq and value:1 (0x01), to port Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual Out

[x] Translator 2.1: Knob CW
Options: swallow
Incoming: Control Change on ch. 11 with any CC# set 'qq' to CC# with any value and 'x2' to value
Rules:
  if qq==8 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
  if qq==9 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
  rs=qs
  qs=x2
  if x2<=rs then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
  qq=qq+50
  
  
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 12 with CC#:qq and value:127 (0x7F), to port Bome MIDI Translator 1 Virtual Out

[x] Translator 2.2: Clean up after 60ms
Options: swallow
Incoming: Control Change on ch. 11 with any CC# set 'uu' to CC# with any value and 'xj' to value, on port X-TOUCH MINI
Rules:
  if qq==8 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
  if qq==9 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action
  uu=uu+50
  
Outgoing: Control Change on ch. 12 with CC#:uu and value:62 (0x3E), delay:60 millisec

Edited October 17, 2021 by Canard

[Tenebrae Aeternae]

13 hours ago, Canard said:

Hi ChainsawAkimbo, I'll add my rules from Bome (for XTouch). They do the job but it is after some trial and error and can probably be a lot smarter. In short: I use Bome to clean and modify the Midi-signals to be used in Vjoy. I found that Vjoy was not able to react to all types of midi-signals so Bome converts the signals to something that can be used. 

So, My flow is:  Xtouch sends signals in to Bome and I use Bome to send modified Midi-signals out in a virtual midi-channel as output. In vjoy I convert the virtual midi-channel to control-inputs as a controller would do. Some tinkering was necessary there also (like axis to button if I remember correctly).   

The slider-part should be the easy one. In VJoy just trap the MIDI signal Axis (midi) to Axis (virtual vjoy-controller). In Bome I just converted the CC-value for some conflict-reason that I had. Probably not necessary for sliders. 

The knobs increase/decrease-rule below is the most complicated and I have trouble reading it myself now  . I wanted to convert movement to button presses for use in DCS. 

Thanks a lot! I'm sure that should help a few people.

 

Turns our Bome didn't like my Akai device (or vice versa), and crashes it quite regularily forcing me to re-plug it. Oh well..

[H-var]

This is an old topic that I created a few years ago, but I would like to bring it back into the light, and hope that the developers could see it.

[Mike77]

I've been using the extremely cost effective X-touch Mini for X-plane 11/12 and MSFS2020.  

Came here looking for info on using it in DCS so I greatly appreciate those who contributed here.  I'll check out Bome Midi Translator/Vjoy and hopefully there will be more activity in this area

[Bravo020]

For what it is worth, the latest version of Bome Midi Translator Pro (BMTP) version 1.9.1 includes a very useful feature called "Perform", this allows for multiple actions to be performed.

For example, with the F4-E and you want to perform an Engine Ignition, you would normally expect to press and hold the key-binding, for example RAlt + Home.  The way that I have this defined in BMTP is a single press of a button acts like a toggle, press/release once within 1 second and the button LED is set to ON and triggers 2 actions, RAlt Key Down, Home Key Down.  Then if I press/release the same button again, the LED is OFF, and it triggers both RAlt Released and Home Released.

I added a further option to the same button, in that if I press and hold the button > 1sec, then the button LED Flashes instead and sends an Engine Idle Detent instead using RAlt + End, this being just a press and release of the combo rather than an hold down.

So one button and 3 possible actions.  If the button LED is Flashing, a single press of the button will return it to LED off, but no keystroke(s) are sent.

Of course, you could also just setup a single button to send a sequence of keystrokes when it is pressed, and another set of keystrokes on release.  But you can program the buttons as you see fit for the purpose you want.

What is quite nice also with this setup on the X-Touch Mini, is that it is quite cheap, the BMTP s/w is also very reasonably priced given the functionality that it offers. You can get overlays to write your mappings down etc. 

So you would think that with just 16 buttons that there is a low limit as to what you can do.  Not really, there is a Layer A (16 buttons, 8 encoders (each with a click), same again if you switch to Layer B.  But what is also quite cool, is that I have the first button setup so that 1) LED off = Shift State 0. 2) LED on = Shift State 1, 3) LED Blinking = Shift State 2.  So I can press the first button twice rapidly and if goes to Switch State 1, press it 3 times rapidly and it goes to Switch State 2, press it once and it goes to Switch State 0.

That means that on LayerA with the 3 different states for Button 1, all the buttons in each different state can have a different purpose.

15 buttons, 8 encoders, 8 push encoders: Multiplied by 3 different States, Multiplied by 2 Layers = 90 buttons, 48 encoders, 48 push encoders at a minimum.  I say a minimum because some buttons could have 2 states (Press/Release), some could have 3 states (LED ON, LED OFF, LED Blinking), or more.

I plan to make a vanilla template which includes these capabilities and put together some documentation on how this all comes together, hopefully it will be of use for those that are trying to use their midi controllers with DCS.

 

Well I got round to making a template for an X-Touch Mini, in combination with Bome Midi Translator Pro ver 1.9.1

You will need version 1.9.1 of BMTP as it leverages functionality that is only present in that version.

Hopefully it should be easy enough to follow. But in a nutshell. The following should help.

Use the Layer buttons to switch between Layer A or Layer B.

Pressing button 1 (once) will set the shift state to 0 for whichever layer is active.

Pressing Button 1 (twice) with each press within 500ms, will set the shift state to 1. for the active layer.  If you switch layers then the shift state is saved for the previous layer, so you can have different shift states for layer A and B.

Pressing Button 1 (three times) with each press within 500ms, will set the shift state to 2 for the active layer.  Again, each layer can have its own different shift state.

Shift States are visible based on the LED of Button 1, (OFF = Switch State 0, ON = Switch State 1, BLINK = Switch State 2).

Buttons 2 - 16 can be in 3 different states.  OFF, ON or BLINK.  All these buttons have been setup with the following behaviour.

Press any of these 15 buttons once and release, and the LED goes to ON.  A keystroke or set of keystrokes can then be assigned to that function.  This can be a keystroke or combination, or could be a combination of keys held down.  The choice is up to you on how you want the button to behave.

Press any of these 15 buttons once more and release, and the LED goes to OFF.  Again a keystroke can be assigned to this behaviour as well.  This could be a different set of keystrokes, or it could be setup to release the keys previously held down. Again, the choice is yours.

Finally, holding any of these 15 buttons pressed for 1second or longer, changes the LED state to BLINK.  No keystrokes associated for LED ON or LED OFF are sent, but instead a different keystroke combination can be sent for this 3rd state.

Whatever the state of the buttons are in when switching Layers are retained, and the LED state is restored upon returning to the previous layer.

Of course, you'll need to make sure that keys are not kept in a pressed down state if that is not the behaviour that you want.  For example, if on Layer A you assigned button X to perform a Ralt+Home (down) when it is in an ON state.  If that button is left ON, and you switch to another layer, the button keypress is still active..So take care on what you want etc.

I guess, what would be nice, but I haven't implemented yet are things like.  Use a joystick pinkie switch to change between the shift states, or use another button to switch between Layer A and Layer B etc.

Final note is that the encoders are also supported, and again depending on the shift state of button 1, they also can have different functions.  Although the LED state of the encoders isn't retained across different shift states unlike the buttons.

Anyway, have fun for those that have a X-Touch mini and Bome 1.9.1

DCS_BMTP_Template_v0.bmtp

Edited July 9, 2024 by Bravo020
Add example template