SpookGoblin
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In the not-so-near future, I plan on performing live with my Electronic project, Automatic Chance.  Our music, lyrics, and visual style are strongly influenced by low-technology, cyberpunk/sci-fi, and retro gaming.  It seems to me that much of our work will merit a relatively thorough understanding of MIDI controllers, sequencers, etc. to replicate the studio sound we've settled so adamantly on.  That bit of exposition aside, I was curious if there is anyone on here that considers themselves well-versed in the technical guts of music hardware.  I've only scratched the surface where physical hardware is concerned (most of my time is spent composing and producing), but I would like to understand it better.

Since I know I'm being fairly vague, I'll get at the real heart of the matter.  Another post on here has cultivated in me an interest to turn a power glove into a controller of sorts that could be used in our live gigs.  The most likely implementation of this hardware would either be for the percussionist to trigger various drum sequences and samples or for the vocalist to modulate effects.  Alternately, it would be interesting to put a DMG's hardware inside and use it as a sort of on-hand synthesizer that could send MIDI data out to an external controller or something.

Please forgive my ignorance and indulge my noobish curiosities.  It would just mean a lot if I could make this concept a reality.  Any recommendations on where to begin or how to proceed?

herr_prof
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The power glove is a shitty controller. It sucks even worse as a midi controller. But if you really want the looks, you can always wear it and one of these at the same time:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/ … er-review/

uXe
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Melbourne, Australia

This is what you want:

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=52

Says it's discontinued, although it looks like it is just their standard kit but with different firmware:

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=44

So maybe just ask nicely to have one programmed for you?

And here is the glove's communication protocol etc if you are interested:

http://nocash.emubase.de/everynes.htm#c … powerglove

SpookGoblin
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herr_prof wrote:

The power glove is a shitty controller. It sucks even worse as a midi controller. But if you really want the looks, you can always wear it and one of these at the same time:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/ … er-review/

That looks like a lot of fun!
Your assurance leads me to believe you tried something with the power glove and were met with success albeit inadequate?
Thanks for the suggestion.  Yours is a solution which preserves the visual appeal and doesn't sacrifice functionality.  Additionally, I hadn't entertained the thought that I could use the glove as a prop and then assimilate the glove into my collection without removing its innards.
My only concern is the cost.  The power glove (which I don't own... YET) could set me back $50 - $100 plus the $115 for the Hot Hand.
But then again, I don't know what sort of money would be required to retrofit the glove as I described.

SpookGoblin
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uXe wrote:

This is what you want:

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=52

Says it's discontinued, although it looks like it is just their standard kit but with different firmware:

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=44

So maybe just ask nicely to have one programmed for you?

And here is the glove's communication protocol etc if you are interested:

http://nocash.emubase.de/everynes.htm#c … powerglove

Whoa...  Apparently my idea was far from original.  This is fortuitous, though!  It makes troubleshooting so much easier...
That being said, this looks right up my alley (although, after reading the description, I worry about being able to get accurate control on-stage (perhaps this is the shittiness of which herr_prof spoke) given the likely presence of microphones, stage monitors, and other audio peripherals.

uXe
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Melbourne, Australia
SpookGoblin wrote:

Whoa...  Apparently my idea was far from original.  This is fortuitous, though!  It makes troubleshooting so much easier...
That being said, this looks right up my alley (although, after reading the description, I worry about being able to get accurate control on-stage (perhaps this is the shittiness of which herr_prof spoke) given the likely presence of microphones, stage monitors, and other audio peripherals.

Yes, trying to use its directional sensing would probably be painful and troublesome - but that still leaves the finger flex sensors and all of the buttons to play with!

SpookGoblin
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uXe wrote:

Yes, trying to use its directional sensing would probably be painful and troublesome - but that still leaves the finger flex sensors and all of the buttons to play with!

Which is honestly what I was most interested in.  Yes, it would be pretty sweet to have motion sensing capabilities that modulate this thing or that, but our vocalist is a really high-energy character and I doubt she would be thrilled about having to rehearse and repeat the same arm motions that may or may not work in the first place (unless I went with herr_prof's original suggestion, that is).

herr_prof
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Im basing my experiences on using the power glove as an actual game control, and trying to use a virtual reality glove. Its just weird and fatiguing to hold your hand in space, for not that much control.

SpookGoblin
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herr_prof wrote:

Im basing my experiences on using the power glove as an actual game control, and trying to use a virtual reality glove. Its just weird and fatiguing to hold your hand in space, for not that much control.

It might be different if one could control when signal was actually being sent out that way holding an arm awkwardly in the air isn't necessary all the time...  But at least where the power glove is concerned, it sounds like this would be unavoidable.

kitsch
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matt's mind

i'd suggest you look into building a custom midi controller rather than using the power glove as your platform.  they are pretty bad, cool concept but terrible performance. 

i think you could do this in two ways with relative ease.  the first would be to alter arduinoboy code to reflect your custom controller's input 'stuff'.  so, if you took a normal glove and stitched in an analog bend sensor into each finger, you'd have 5 analog inputs right there.  you'd assign what that analog input would do in the code, just let your imagination go with that one...  you could take the same glove and stitch on any number of input devices.  analog and/or digital.  even make your own switches with stuff like aluminum foil or copper sheeting, or etch your own inputs (PCB style) that have funny shapes or whatever. 

the other alternative would be to take a step back from this, leave arduinoboy as-is, and then use one of the many available 'make your own MIDI controller' kits and, well, make your own!  same thing...  bend sensors, switches, whatever you want.  each kit has its pros/cons (and its been a while since i looked into that stuff) so it might be easier to start by making a list of features you'd like for the controller and then see what is available which fills those shoes.  hopefully the kit allows for adjustments of the MIDI parameters so you could change CC# stuff or whatnot to fit your needs exactly.

tbh there are a lot of things you could do, i think those are maybe the simplest (in my mind at least).  the second one especially.  i'd just drop the power glove altogether and spend your energy on something which will turn out better results, with the same amount of labor and whatnot. 

also, google: http://www.bing.com/search?setmkt=en-US … ller+glove

i had a P5 setup years ago.  it was sort of cool, but more frustrating than anything...  but just keep in mind a lot of stuff like that isn't straight standalone and needs a computer.  max/msp a lot of times.  there are battery-powered MIDI kits available too i believe,

check out the lilypad type of arduino board.  its made for e-textile stuff and you'd find some interesting materials/ideas in that community.  sparkfun.com has some pretty interesting e-textile things last i looked

infradead
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Tacoma WA

Have you looked into eowave?

http://www.eowave.com/sensors.php

lots of different types of sensors you can use.

SpookGoblin
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These are wonderful suggestions, everyone.  Thanks for the feedback.
It's especially refreshing that everyone has been so thorough.

Though I won't be performing live for a while, it's great to have so many options to explore in the meantime.

yogi
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Jelly Stone park, MD USA

If you'r DIY inclined I would steer you towards the Teensy. Littlescale has a boat load of how-tos on his blog to walk you through all manner of input interfacing and the Teensydino extention makes midi very easy for both 5 pin din and USB. The size of the board is so small, it is a cinch to embed in all kinds of cases, devices and what have you.
Yogi