The Zero System custom giant robot MIDI controller
Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:09 pm
Hello everyone,
Producer and controllerist The Asterite here, over the past year I've been making music and playing parties and even a charity fashion show with my custom setup, the Zero System. Originally inspired by classic video games and mecha anime , the Zero System has changed a lot since I first set it up last year. It currently consists of a controller from the original xbox game "Steel Battalion" (now minus pedals due to gear destruction), a Saitek X45 Joystick and throttle, and a 19 inch flatscreen dell monitor which I've removed from it's stand (so that it can either be laid flat on a table or propped upright for use while sitting.
In practice, that ends up like this
I've written a script in a beautiful programmable input emulator called GlovePIE/.
GlovePIE is great because it allows you to easily convert HID (Human Interface Device) data, midi, and keyboard or mouse data from one form to another.
It maps each joystick, throttle, and dial to a unique continuous controller, and each button and switch to a note command.
The Live setup I played this fashion show with is similar to the one I generally use.
A few buttons on the center console are used for navigating and loading tracks onto the right and left decks. Each of these decks has an eq which can be enabled from the saitek joystick. A regular repeat is triggered by pulling the Steel Batallion trigger. Switching values on the grid will also retrigger the sample. Twin triggers of the Saitek control two "superfilters", which use sidechained compression and a sidechained, midimapped autofilter for a rather intense effect.
In addition to these repeats, three of the toggle switches are used to control mix type, on/off, and mute of a fourth repeat- which has detunes with each repeat.
When the thumbstick on top of it is pressed in, it controls the presence of a bitcrusher, the depth of which is mapped to the thumbstick.
When another button on the joystick is pressed, the left joystick also controls the presence of a rhythmic gate, the rate of which is controlled by the right joystick.
The leftmost joystick controls individually selectable things transition chains ( and so you know, most things that are individually selectable achieve that status by use of buttons for mutes, but this uses the gear shifter).
Additional buttons are used for triggering mutes with inverse waveforms on the left and right track to achieve easy rhythmic switches between two tracks, triggering a tapestop, triggering both left and right tracks at once, and selecting which channel is cueing.
But for producing, I tend to leave it blank and map midi as I need/see fit. It's fantastic for recording automation, because it's possible to simultaneously modify 5 paramaters via CC independently with ease.
There's probably more in my go-to bank I'm forgetting about, but I figure if people have more questions, let me know! If there's enough interest I'll try to see about getting some good quality video up later, especially if there are suggestions for things people want to see. In the meantime, to answer some requests I uploaded a demo video of me using the controller for live mixing/dsp to youtube, taken on my laptop's webcam.
Peace, and enjoy!
Producer and controllerist The Asterite here, over the past year I've been making music and playing parties and even a charity fashion show with my custom setup, the Zero System. Originally inspired by classic video games and mecha anime , the Zero System has changed a lot since I first set it up last year. It currently consists of a controller from the original xbox game "Steel Battalion" (now minus pedals due to gear destruction), a Saitek X45 Joystick and throttle, and a 19 inch flatscreen dell monitor which I've removed from it's stand (so that it can either be laid flat on a table or propped upright for use while sitting.
In practice, that ends up like this
I've written a script in a beautiful programmable input emulator called GlovePIE/.
GlovePIE is great because it allows you to easily convert HID (Human Interface Device) data, midi, and keyboard or mouse data from one form to another.
It maps each joystick, throttle, and dial to a unique continuous controller, and each button and switch to a note command.
The Live setup I played this fashion show with is similar to the one I generally use.
A few buttons on the center console are used for navigating and loading tracks onto the right and left decks. Each of these decks has an eq which can be enabled from the saitek joystick. A regular repeat is triggered by pulling the Steel Batallion trigger. Switching values on the grid will also retrigger the sample. Twin triggers of the Saitek control two "superfilters", which use sidechained compression and a sidechained, midimapped autofilter for a rather intense effect.
In addition to these repeats, three of the toggle switches are used to control mix type, on/off, and mute of a fourth repeat- which has detunes with each repeat.
When the thumbstick on top of it is pressed in, it controls the presence of a bitcrusher, the depth of which is mapped to the thumbstick.
When another button on the joystick is pressed, the left joystick also controls the presence of a rhythmic gate, the rate of which is controlled by the right joystick.
The leftmost joystick controls individually selectable things transition chains ( and so you know, most things that are individually selectable achieve that status by use of buttons for mutes, but this uses the gear shifter).
Additional buttons are used for triggering mutes with inverse waveforms on the left and right track to achieve easy rhythmic switches between two tracks, triggering a tapestop, triggering both left and right tracks at once, and selecting which channel is cueing.
But for producing, I tend to leave it blank and map midi as I need/see fit. It's fantastic for recording automation, because it's possible to simultaneously modify 5 paramaters via CC independently with ease.
There's probably more in my go-to bank I'm forgetting about, but I figure if people have more questions, let me know! If there's enough interest I'll try to see about getting some good quality video up later, especially if there are suggestions for things people want to see. In the meantime, to answer some requests I uploaded a demo video of me using the controller for live mixing/dsp to youtube, taken on my laptop's webcam.
Peace, and enjoy!
