Today I figured out how to easily turn the rock band drum set for Wii into a MIDI drum controller:
I did this with Junxion, a program that allows you to transform USB and wireless game controller input into MIDI data. I’ve seen demos of other MIDI rock band instruments online, but with the Wii instruments already in USB form this has to be the easiest setup yet. This also seems to have the lowest latency. Junxion is not free but a demo can be downloaded here:
http://www.steim.org/steim/junxion_v3.html
I’ve also used Junxion to turn other game controllers such as DDR dance pads into instruments. I’m using the old PowerPC version 1.4, but version 3 should work fine. Junxion 3 also now works with Wii remotes.
I just used the Studio Tight Kit preset in Ultrabeat in Logic for the drum sounds. Junxion automatically makes an input port which Logic recognizes and listens to.
My setup for this demo was this:
The steps are basically this:
- Plug in the drum controller.
- Launch Junxion.
- Turn off the other devices (USB Optical Mouse, Apple Keyboard, and Apple IR default to enabled at startup)
- Start hitting the pads and watch which sensor status is triggered. Your MIDI app should be sounding or at least receiving input. If not, select Junxion Port 1 as a MIDI input.
- Drag the value of the sensor’s “Dat1″ up or down to change it to the note value you want; for example I set the bass drum to 36 (C2) which triggers the bass drum in Ultrabeat.
- I muted sensor 8 because it was always sounding on any hit.
That’s it! Details may have changed in the new versions. If you have the full version you can save your configuration.
The Rock Band guitar works with Junxion as well! Just plug the USB receiver into the computer, turn on the guitar and follow the same steps. Now I’m even happier that I bought Rock Band!
[...] Full instructions at his blog: Turn Wii Rock Band Instruments into Real Instruments with Junxion [...]
[...] found it on this blog which has general instructions on how to use it. I would have emailed it but I could not find [...]
[...] Wii Version of Rock Band. Sure, the lack of DLC is a huge factor, but if you’re looking to use the instruments with MIDI software, [Jordan Balagot] has found what may be the easiest way. Since the Wii instruments are connected [...]
[...] This is particularly useful because you don’t need to build or buy a board that outputs MIDI signals. You can use your broken down 10 year old IBM keyboard and modify it into your own Monome or arcade-style controller. It’s also great for turning Rockband instruments into instant MIDI controllers. [...]
I’ve written a little program that makes the Xbox 360 Rock Band 2 drumset really easy to use for MIDI, sadly only for Microsoft Windows based DAWs.
http://www.mattgrounds.com/rb2midi/
It detects four velocity levels on the pads, and also works with the optional Mad Catz cymbals.