BMC the Badass MIDI Controller Library Beta Released!

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BMC Preview

BMC is an all-in-one Scalable MIDI Controller library with a companion Desktop/Browser Editor App specifically designed for the Arduino-Compatible Teensy development Boards. BMC allows you to build your own MIDI Controllers with a mixed number of Buttons/Leds/Encoders/Pots/Relays etc with only a few lines of code!

BMC includes support for:

  • Buttons (momentary/non-latching switches)
  • Leds (standard, Bi-Color and/or RGB Leds)
  • Pixels (WS2812/NeoPixels)
  • Rotary Encoders
  • Potentiometers/ExpressionPedals
  • Relays (latching and non-latching)
  • Up to 7 MIDI IO Ports that can be used simultaneously
  • Port Routing/Soft-thruacross all ports
  • MIDI Clock (Master/Slave)
  • MIDI Active Sense (Master/Slave)
  • MIDI Triggers/Translation
  • Custom System ExclusiveMessages
  • Libraryof MIDI Messages (that can be assigned across BMC)
  • Presetsof Library Messages
  • Tempo To Tap (send timed MIDI CC based on BPM)
  • Some built-in Beatbuddy and Helix support
  • Some built-in Axe FX II and AX8 support
  • Messenger (send strings back and forth between editor and sketch)
  • String Library (editable array of strings to be used in sketch)
  • SetList
  • Up to 64 Mux inputs using the MCP23017/MCP23018/74HC165 and/or 74HC4067/74HC4051
  • Lots More!

Since 2015 I wanted to build my own MIDI Controller but I wanted something I could easily edit via an app and this is what brought BMC to life.

Many of use guitar players enjoy making our own Guitar pedals that we can tweak and make them sound the way we want them to, now in the age of digital processors that offer tons of editing options we find ourselves looking for a foot controller that does everything we want them to as well exactly the way we want them to.

Today we can buy a cheap Arduino clone, wire some MIDI circuitry and a few buttons and upload a sketch with code to send MIDI messages out to our devices, however we still have to update the code everytime we want to change what MIDI CC or PC we're sending out.

This is where an editor app comes in handy as all data used by the device is store in editable memory and easily updated with an app.

The BMC library offers a collection of code that handles hardware without you having to write their code, technically you do NOT need to write a single line of code to build a BMC MIDI Controller (unless you want to use hardware not supported by BMC) and you will have access to features on many MIDI controllers out there.

I chose the Teensy family of boards by PJRC.com because to my they are hands down the best Arduino compatible boards out there, their MCU are much much faster, they have tons of RAM and FLASH and their software and support is incredible.

If that wasn't enough you can buy a real Teensy for $20.00 to $30.00, you don't have to worry about installing USB drivers and PJRC and their community are constantly improving their Software.

I consider Teensy's to be the Apple of the development boards world, there are only a few models available and when software is available it's available for all of them, hence why I chose to write BMC only for Teensy boards.

This is the first time I'm releasing Open Source Software of this magnitude so it will not be perfect from the start, however, it is solid and should be ready for a stage.

If you want to build Custom/Boutique MIDI controllers you can use BMC with them and your customers can access the editor, all I ask for is for them to be labelled "Powered by BMC" as a courtesy, however, this is not required by the license.

You can see the offical page with download info @ http://www.roxxxtar.com/bmc

Here are some of the places you can buy Teensy board from (I'm not affiliated to any of them or receive any money for listing them):

Tags: arduino, bmc, midi, diy
Nero

About Nero

I'm a Musician, Web Developer, Graphic Designer, Sound Engineer and the list goes on!
View all posts by Nero


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