Wiimote Synthesizer

Here's a quick version of how this works. This is by no means a complete guide. You are expected to be able to read documentation and experiment for yourself. This guide is for Windows, but see the bottom if you have a mac.

You do not need a Wii console to do this. I do not actually own a Wii console, I just went out and bought the controller as soon as I heard it is bluetooth enabled. You will however need a bluetooth adapter. (A lot of laptops have one already)

First get BlueSoleil (www.bluesoleil.com) to pair your computer with the wiimote over bluetooth.

Get GlovePIE (http://carl.kenner.googlepages.com/gl.... It recognizes the wiimote and you can turn the sensor data into midi output. There are some sample scripts on there, but you'll really want to write your own script. The program has excellent documentation, and with the sample scripts provided it is relatively easy to write your own script for whatever you are doing.

You will need to install the Maple Virtual MIDI ports (http://www.hardnote.com/maple.htm). This allows you to send MIDI data between programs on your computer. One program uses port 1 as an output, and another listens on that port.

At this point, you can use the Wiimote to send midi data to any program you want. I used Reaktor.

In my video, I have two tilt axes controlling the frequency cutoff on two low-pass filters. The arrow keys control the pitch of the melody, and the rest of the buttons choose from preset chords. The A and B buttons turn on and off the two voices.

You might also notice that the LEDs on the Wiimote change. They change depending on the chord that is selected. You are able to use GlovePIE to also send MIDI data back to the Wiimote.

Quick note to mac users:

You can do this using Max/MSP. There is an object for Max written to connect to the Wiimote. See the instructions here: http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~aka/max/#aka_...