I'm completely hooked on using the launchpad as a midi controller to play my old hardware synth. Right now, I go through a laptop to convert midi over usb to midi over din.

The problem is that the launchpad needs a driver and power from the computer, and it's not midi compliant.

I'm thinking the only way is to buy some sort of brain that has a midi din output. and solder the button contacts of the launchpad to it. thus circumventing the entire launchpad circuitry.

Livid has diy kits, but man they are expensive !!!

I had this idea of finding an old keyboard with midi din and no key velocity and gut it for the parts to complete the project, but no luck so far...

Any ideas ??? I don't want to pay $400 for an 8x8 midi controller !

I hope you can help me figure this out. Thanks in advance

At the risk of committing sacrileg, I would recommend trying something like the iConnectMIDI before going the DIY route for something like this. It acts as a host for class compliant USB MIDI devices and passes MIDI data to and from via 5-pin DIN I/O.

That said, I don't know how much experience you have with DIY involving micro-controllers and such. I've never looked at the insides of my Launchpad, so I can't say if this kind of mod would even be possible without making changes to the Launchpad's firmware.

Sorry. That wasn't particularly helpful, considering this is the DIY forum.

Check these out:
http://www.doepfer.de/ctm.htm
http://store.highlyliquid.com/collections/midi-controllers/p roducts/midi-cpu

Thank you so much for your replies... I didn't know about doepfer even though I googled the crap out of keywords I thought would lead me to it. That is definitely what I'm looking for.

As far as the iConnect midi solution, normally it would work, but the novation launchpad is not midi compliant :( Very shortsighted of them, they could sell so many more if they added a couple of things.

but anyways, thanks again for the quick response and helpful tip !

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however acting as a USB host isnt something barebones Arduinos are good at, and the shields that exist seem to predominantly target HID devices (ie mice and keyboards)

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I'm interested in the arduino solution too. I'll google it some more. In the past I was under the impression that they came in kits and that they were primarily USB equipped whereas I'm looking for a midi 5 pin din out. If you happen to have any links handy can you point me in the right direction, if not thanks for the tip nevertheless!

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First, I think that this is as stupid as DIY ideas get. Ok, that out of the way, what exactly are your expectations of the launchpad once you have it all wired, do you still want the leds to work?

If so, then this is completely non-tirvial. If not, then it's still non-trivial but at least possible, but, I can't imagine that it makes any sense at all.

Find yourself the cheapest 76 key cassio that you can find with a midi out. Pray that the circuit board isn't long as hell and that you can take it out and put it in a box. Each of the keys will probably have a similar capacitive contact as the launchpad so you can probably wire it one-for one, you hope, to the launchpad keys.

Now, that said, both are almost certainly scanned in a matrix form so it may not be that trivial, in fact, I suspect that it won't and you'll have to make sure that the layout matches in some way. After you've done this, unless the rows/columns of one match the other, you will most likely have gaps in the midi note sequence. Nothing that you can do about that.

Really, the livid controller is cheap compared to what this will end up costing you assuming that we don't even consider time as a factor.

I'm not sure why you called it a stupid idea, there is obviously demand for it otherwise all these kits wouldn't be selling etc...

I'm not after LED on the launchpad. I'm merely trying to use it as a matrix of button pads and contacts... beats spending more money unnecessarily.

I had the idea of the keyboard already, and it would work. The only challenge I ran into which proved to complicate things is the velocity mechanism on the keyboard. instead of having just a pair of contact points to complete a circuit, I have two pairs, one to initiate the sound, and another to start the velocity clock and release the note.

If I could figure out how to disable the velocity on my oxygen 8 midi controller, I could hook everything up in no time.