I've been creating a Usine-centered band and, as I'm sure many of you can attest, the first really lengthy task is installing drivers, configuring settings, and, worst of all for me, re-installing innumerable VST plug-ins.
I started with a clean system install. Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64-bit. I'd been using the Developer Preview but, sadly, unlike migrating from Windows 7 to Consumer Preview, there's no such "path" from Developer to Consumer Preview versions, so I had to re-re-install a bajillion things.
Also, I'm using a large number of peripheral devices as HMI controllers. MIDI devices include: an AKAI EWI USB, CME VX5 keyboard (worst rip-off I ever fell for!), Suzuki QChord and MadCatz Rockband Fender Mustang MIDI guitar.
HID devices include: A Rosewill Windows Media Center Remote Control, Logitech RumblePad2 wireless gamepad, an Ecomani wireless touchpad/keyboard combo, a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch, a (wired) trackball mouse, a 3DConnexions Space Navigator 3D mouse, an Agama infrared webcam, an M-Audio NRV10 digital standalone mixer/Firewire sound card, and more...
runagate's Easine Logitech RumblePad2 to MIDI Experiment patch & workspace files

click to download image above from Skydrive
What I've done as seen in the schematic image above is:
[q]1) Load a "Joystick" Usine module and set it to correspond to my Logitech RumblePad2 at Game Port #1
2) Connected Interface Controls to the Joystick module: a Button to "Show Setting," a Listbox to "Game Port," and a Fader to "Interval."
3) Connected the Joystick module's X, Y and Z positions to the X and Y positions of an X-Y Pad module and the Z position to a Vertical Fader, so the User gets visual feedback as to what values the RumblePad2's two analog joysticks are causing to be generated in Easine. Interestingly, the Joystick module interprets both axes of the second analog joystick as half of the resulting "Z position," which is obviously unintended behavior of the module, but useful since it doesn't recognize 2 separate X-Y joysticks.
4) Similarly, I connected the Joystick module's "Buttons" outputs to four corresponding "Button" interface elements, which serve solely to "light up" when they detect a button press on the "1," "2," "3," and "4" buttons on the RumblePad2. There are 6 more available buttons on that particular gamepad, but the modules is only designed to recognize four, which I presume is deciding which to receive based on the Windows HID API's scheme, much like the "3 axis joystick" bug/feature describe above.
5) Next, I connected the Joystick module's Pos X, Y & Z and Buttons 1, 2, 3 & 4 outlets to "MIDI Interface Controls," thinking that they may interpret the internal Usine data and conveniently translate that into a MIDI CC# output. I couldn't find any reference to "translate Data into MIDI" module or function in Usine's online references.
6) I then added more Interface Controls to allow the User to set the desired MIDI CC#s for the "MIDI Interface Controls" to output, but as Step 5 above didn't work, they're there only to show the conceptual misapprehension I was motivated to design the patch as I have so far.[/q]
My ultimate goal was to "Save as VST" for each of the Easine patches I'm planning on creating to act as interception and translation plug-ins between my outboard peripheral hardware controllers and other DAWs which can load Easine as a VST/VSTi and/or "Saved as VST" plugin so I can share my efforts, but made little headway in this first attempt.
At least what I've thrown together is largely all I'll need to utilize in Easine, which is what I intend to use in live performance, without the need to resorting to Data-to-MIDI conversion frustrations.
I am curious to how one might go about customizing existing modules to be able to utilize more of the Windows HID APIs, but I'll get into the specifics of that later as this post is already quite long.
Anyone care to steer me towards the proper information which will allow my to progress beyond this impasse? Note: I am not a programmer or I wouldn't have spent the last 3 years on the "giant project" some of you may remember me retiring from making music in order to concentrate upon!
- runagate















