The Wiinstrument
GosuPlaying drums with your Wii remote in GarageBand? No problem. Here's how you do it…
(You need The Wiinstrument 0.2+, a Mac with Bluetooth and Apple's GarageBand installed, and a Nintendo Wii remote. For a better feeling, a Nunchuk extension controller is recommended.)
Step 1: Start and configure GarageBand
First, start GarageBand. In the lower right corner of the GarageBand window, you should see a small button with an "information" symbol:
Clicking on this button opens the track information panel. Choose “Drum Kits” on the left panel (1), then click on one of the available drum kits (2). I recommend “Rock Kit”, as this kit features a high quality drum set that sounds almost like a real one:
Step 2: Configure MIDI
To be compatible to typical electronic musical hard- and software, The Wiinstrument outputs MIDI. To reroute this MIDI output signal into GarageBand's virtual MIDI-in jack, you have to set up a so-called “loopback device”. Luckily, MacOS X already has a MIDI loopback device built-in.
Find the Audio/MIDI Setup application (e.g. via Spotlight) and open it. To enable the loopback device, double click on “IAC Driver”:
Then enable the device by activating the “Device is online” checkbox:
Click on “Apply” and close the Audio/MIDI setup windows.
Step 3: Delete Wii remote connections
Connecting Wii remotes to a Macintosh is sadly not officially supported by Apple and Nintendo—therefore, the following procedure is sometimes necessary to make sure that the connection really works.
You have to delete existing Wii remote Bluetooth connections. Go into System Preferences and click on “Bluetooth”:
To put the Bluetooth kernel gods in a merciful mood, look for devices with the name “Nintendo RVL-CNT-01” in the appearing list (1) and delete 'em all (2):
Click on “Disconnect and delete” if you get a message like this:
You're almost done…
Step 4: Connect the Wii remote
Now you're ready to start The Wiinstrument. Be sure to have your Wii remote at hand, as you have only 20 seconds to connect your Wii remote after the application starts. Follow the instruction and press 1+2 on your Wii remote at the same time. After some LED blinking, The Wiinstrument should receive the first data from the remote and change to the Confiiguration screen. If you have a Nunchuk extension controller, be sure to connect it to your Wii remote before pressing 1+2.
If you're unlucky and the connection fails (because you have waited to long or because the Bluetooth gods didn't receive your prayers), repeat step 3. If you've got a single processor machine, this may even be necessary multiple times, but don't panic: if you get a connection, everything is stable (at least as long as your Wii remote batteries last).
Step 5: Using The Wiinstrument
As mentioned, you should see the Confiiguration screen now: Here you can setup how the Wiinstrument works. You can use Up, Left, Down and Right on the D-pad to navigate between the graphical elements and Plus, Minus, or the A button to change the values. By pressing the Home button, you can change between the different modes of The Wiinstrument:
But let's keep an eye on the Confiiguration screen first. On the right side, you see the data that the accelerometers supply. Navigate to the MIDI device field and press A until the field displays “IAC driver bus 1” (if not already chosen by default). Don't touch the other settings yet.
Press Home to get into the Drumstiicks (MIDI) screen. In this mode, The Wiinstrument recognizes drumming gestures and sends appropriate MIDI notes. If everything went well, you have a new percussion instrument in your hands: Just beat into the air with your controllers. If you beat harder, the sound intensity increases.
The screen also displays how to change played notes. You can assign each controller individually. If you want to know which MIDI note means what in GarageBand's drum kit, consult this listing.
Have fun!
Sebastian
Comments (51)
Wiili.org ?
Posted by Mike | September 10, 2007 4:47 PM
Posted on September 10, 2007 16:47
I don't understand the question… Could you be more precise? Thanks ;)
Posted by Sebastian | September 10, 2007 9:14 PM
Posted on September 10, 2007 21:14
When I get info from the app, it's says PowerPC...
Is there an universal version?
Thanks for your GREAT work.
Posted by robocop | September 14, 2007 2:37 PM
Posted on September 14, 2007 14:37
it doesn't work on my Intel Mac :( it is PPC only!
Posted by fletcher | September 15, 2007 12:32 PM
Posted on September 15, 2007 12:32
Thanks for the feedback, robocop. The next release will be Universal Binary.
fletcher,
Thanks for the crash report (if it's yours), this helps us a lot. The crash happened in some part of the DarwiinRemote code, but I will try to fix it anyways—the bug is on my todo and I hope we can fix it in for next release.
Posted by Sebastian | September 15, 2007 8:29 PM
Posted on September 15, 2007 20:29
I'm getting an error immediately when starting the program:
Begin pairing...
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
what(): Error on line 141
Abort trap
Is it just that this won't work on Intel Macs yet? Can I compile it myself with Xcode to make an Intel version?
Posted by Craig | September 16, 2007 9:52 AM
Posted on September 16, 2007 09:52
Craig,
I've tested the previous release on an Intel mac and it worked, but did not test the 0.2 release yet.
The bug you describe here is already reported by other people, but I could not reproduce it yet—if you're a developer, it would be great if you could report where the error is thrown. A stack trace would also be perfect :) If you should be able to fix it, a patch would be really welcome!
Here's the XCode project folder:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/wiinstrument/The_Wiinstrument_0.2b717_source.zip?use_mirror=osdn
Posted by Sebastian | September 17, 2007 9:50 PM
Posted on September 17, 2007 21:50
Hi.
I have tried doing the wiimotes and garageband thing, every step works fine until i get to the step 4..it just wont workd i can pair the wiimote to the wiinstrument.
I have the latest version and the weird thing is that i can connect the wiimote to darwiinremote so i dont understand whats happening.
Ive tried several times but it wont work.
I have an Imac bought like 4 months ago.
Please help i really want to use the wiimotes as drumsticks.
Thanks
Posted by Alejandro | September 18, 2007 10:37 PM
Posted on September 18, 2007 22:37
Maybe it's really not working on Intel machines yet. As soon as I get hold of an Intel mac (maybe this weekend) I'll try to reproduce and fix this.
Can you tell me which version of DarwiinRemote worked for you?
Posted by Sebastian | September 19, 2007 12:24 PM
Posted on September 19, 2007 12:24
Hi.
The version of darwiin remote im using is 0.5
The weird thing also is that the wiinstrument beta version 0.1.1 IS working for me but since it has very few keys i wanna try the new one.
Thanks.
Posted by Alejandro | September 20, 2007 2:17 AM
Posted on September 20, 2007 02:17
None of my wiimote progs work anymore.
The Wiinstrument 0.1.1
The Wiinstrument 0.2b
OR
Darwiin Remote
And darwiin remote keeps saying:
===== WiiRemoteDiscovery error (-536870185) ===== help
Posted by Gbadvance | September 24, 2007 2:35 AM
Posted on September 24, 2007 02:35
Have you deleted all Wii remote connections in Bluetooth preferences like shown in step 3 above?
Posted by Sebastian | September 24, 2007 8:49 AM
Posted on September 24, 2007 08:49
I can confirm that it won't work on Intel machines. My new Power Book Pro I get no joy, but my old Mac Mini it works perfectly. Deleteing Wii remote connections are not needed on any other Wii application on any machine (OS 10.4.10) and doing so only causes other Wii apps not to work. I have found it is also not needed with the Wiinstrument on the old PPC processor. Great application I made me go out an buy a Wii remote this weekend.
Posted by Mike Cook | September 24, 2007 11:09 AM
Posted on September 24, 2007 11:09
the only wii to midi stuff that works well on intel macs is http://www.steim.org/steim/junxion_v3.html
and is not that expensive ...
Posted by felix dan | September 25, 2007 1:15 PM
Posted on September 25, 2007 13:15
Wiinstrument 0.1 also works well on Intel macs (at least my tests did ;)). We're still on a fix for 0.2 for Intel macs. Thanks for your patience in this matter…
Posted by Sebastian | September 25, 2007 1:42 PM
Posted on September 25, 2007 13:42
Well it did too for me, until I installed v .2. Then none of them would work! I did delete the connections, though.
Posted by Gbadvance | September 26, 2007 12:25 AM
Posted on September 26, 2007 00:25
Ok, darwiin remote works now. But I am soo exited for v .2
Posted by Gbadvance | September 26, 2007 12:28 AM
Posted on September 26, 2007 00:28
Ok, darwiin remote works now. But I am soo exited for v .2 to work!
Posted by Gbadvance | September 26, 2007 6:46 PM
Posted on September 26, 2007 18:46
Hi,
I have downloaded the source code and compiled it on my Mac Book Pro and it works !!!
How do I get the compiled version to you so you can distribute it.
Posted by Mike Cook | September 26, 2007 8:00 PM
Posted on September 26, 2007 20:00
Mike,
this was really a silly "bug" :) Thanks for your information. We have released an official version (0b745) that should work on Intel machines here
SourceForge download link: http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=190975&sel_platform=4332
Local mirror: http://screenfashion.org/releases/The_Wiinstrument_0.2b745.dmg
Posted by Sebastian | September 27, 2007 8:32 PM
Posted on September 27, 2007 20:32
It seems the 0.2 version still doesn't work on my Intel Mac Mini. It boots up, crashes and then nothing.
Are you sure it will work on Intel Macs?
Posted by Kirby | October 6, 2007 11:09 PM
Posted on October 6, 2007 23:09
Thanks for your report.
I have tested 0.2b745 on a MacBook Pro and a MacBook before releasing it and it worked well.
Have you looked for error messages in the Console? The content of your "~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/The Wiinstrument.crash.log" file would also be helpful to fix the problem.
Posted by Sebastian | October 7, 2007 3:36 PM
Posted on October 7, 2007 15:36
when launching on my macbook pro...
Begin pairing...
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
what(): Error on line 141
Posted by thesponge | October 9, 2007 9:57 AM
Posted on October 9, 2007 09:57
First of all... GREAT APP... Haha!!
It's awesome to play drums with it!!!
Now, on with the problem:
Everything works great, except for DrumStiicks (MIDI) sound... The volume is way lower than the rest (KiiBoard and Sampler) and I really don't know how to fix that... Maybe it's a problem in Garageband...
Well, any help would be appreciated...
Thanks again for this amazing, fun and free app!!
Posted by Emma | October 10, 2007 9:36 PM
Posted on October 10, 2007 21:36
The Wiinstrument can't do much about the volume of a MIDI instruments like GarageBand: The software already uses almost the whole MIDI note velocity range.
But if you can't play louder by beating harder, you can still turn up the volume in GarageBand: Both the drum track and the Master track have a volume control where you can turn everything louder.
You could also change the Drum Kit or apply GarageBand's compressor effect on the track. To achieve this, just click on the "Details" arrow at the bottom of the track information panel on the right, where all track effect settings are located.
Posted by Sebastian | October 10, 2007 10:37 PM
Posted on October 10, 2007 22:37
This program rocks. I've used it to control NI Reaktor and it worked great. Today I reinstalled my OSX and it no longer works. It crashes immediately. I've read others seeing this also. PPC, 10.4.10. Hmmm.
Posted by Andy Harper | October 11, 2007 9:29 PM
Posted on October 11, 2007 21:29
Thanks for your quick response Sebastian!
But the fact that I wanted to point out is that the sound between the :
DrumStiicks (MIDI) and Kiiboard
modes are VERY different!
I mean, i play the same notes using the Kiiboard and the volume is top notch... GarageBand registers it very well and the volume of it is on par with anything...
But if I play these notes in the Drumstiicks MIDI mode, the sound is REALLY much lower... it barely registers on the volume scale in GarageBand... Even if I beat the hell out of my Wiimote...
So it really is problem with Wiinstrument (i think) since the same notes, with the same arrangements are registered with different volumes in GarageBand depending on the mode chosen in your software...
I hope I've better explained the problem...
Keep up the GOOD work!
Posted by Emma | October 11, 2007 9:31 PM
Posted on October 11, 2007 21:31
I found something.
The thing is: When you use the DrumStiicks MIDI mode, the velocity of the notes you play is REALLY low... So you don't really hear yourself playing.... But, afterwards, you can pump it to a respectable volume if you recorded yourself...
That brings my new question (Heheh):
Would there be a way of increasing the velocity of the sounds you do LIVE??
In GarageBand or in Wiinstrument...
We're making progress here.
Thanks again
Posted by Emma | October 11, 2007 10:02 PM
Posted on October 11, 2007 22:02
The Wiinstrument does not send any volume information to GarageBand or any other MIDI capable software, but only MIDI instructions like "set status of midi note C-4 to ON with velocity 100". Possible MIDI velocity values lie between 0 to 128—the software uses values between about 40 and 128, so the full range is covered.
Normally, playing loud should be possible with GarageBand by turning up the track volume.
If you're really sure that you already have set everything as loud as possible in GarageBand and there's an error with the MIDI velocity range that The Wiinstrument sends, just record some of the loudest notes you manage to play in GarageBand, save the GarageBand song and send it to us (wiinstrument@screenfashion.org) so we can try to fix it :-)
Best regards,
Sebastian
Posted by Sebastian | October 14, 2007 9:38 PM
Posted on October 14, 2007 21:38
Hi I'm using version 0.2b745 on my Mac Mini (1st gen) Intel. I'm still getting the
Error: No devices found.
Begin pairing...
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
what(): Error on line 141
I've checked my Bluetooth preferences and can't see a previously paired Wiimote.
Posted by booyaa | October 21, 2007 7:23 PM
Posted on October 21, 2007 19:23
The first line ("Error: No devices found.") shows that there are no MIDI devices found, but this should not do any harm (except you won't be able to play MIDI with The Wiinstrument). The problem should be fixed when you set up the IAC device like explained above.
As some other blog comments point out: Find, download and install the font "wingdings.ttf" and the application should start correctly. We overlooked that the font is not part of MacOS X—In the next release, the used symbols are replaced by our own bitmaps so the problem is solved :-)
Posted by Sebastian | October 21, 2007 9:38 PM
Posted on October 21, 2007 21:38
I'm having the Exact Same Problem as Emma and Andy.
Also, I discovered in the preferences pane of Garageband that there is a midi velocity adjuster, which changes the sound from unhearable to just barely hearable. Please fix this, Guys! This app will be awesome if you could get it to work.
Posted by Klyick | October 22, 2007 5:55 PM
Posted on October 22, 2007 17:55
Thanks for your feedback. Sorry for this—we've already found the error. The bug was sort of collateral damage of a code cleanup. The next version will come with a fix for this!
Posted by Sebastian | October 23, 2007 7:41 AM
Posted on October 23, 2007 07:41
This is terrific ... made my day ... I can here sound when I play in sampler mode but when in Drumstiicks mode and with Garageband open no sound ... I see the little midi dot light up on downward hits but if I record no data is captured .... Thanks!
Bill
Posted by Bill | October 25, 2007 7:30 PM
Posted on October 25, 2007 19:30
I was using the WiiInstrument application and it worked. However, when I do build and go, it doesn't create the executable, it says something about the path. Also, can we have more than 1 Wiimote input to generate sound with one application or do I have to run more than 1 application to run multiple sound inputs.
Thanks.
Vineeta
Posted by Vineeta | November 15, 2007 6:50 PM
Posted on November 15, 2007 18:50
You have to use more than one instance of the Wiinstrument to use multiple Wiimotes at once, but multiple Wiimotes are on our ToDo list :)
Posted by Sebastian | November 16, 2007 7:14 AM
Posted on November 16, 2007 07:14
aw ******! is there darwiin remote for windows!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
ty
Posted by toogers | November 19, 2007 6:05 AM
Posted on November 19, 2007 06:05
Nope, but if you need The Wiinstrument for Windows, look here :)
Posted by Sebastian | November 19, 2007 11:26 AM
Posted on November 19, 2007 11:26
My wiimote connected, but nothing happens when i try to play. Can u please send me an email on how to fix this?
Posted by Corbin | December 1, 2007 10:36 PM
Posted on December 1, 2007 22:36
Could you provide more information?
Posted by Sebastian Burkhart | December 2, 2007 2:28 AM
Posted on December 2, 2007 02:28
Is it possible to send midi events using the other 2 axis besides pitch? (yaw and roll)
Posted by confused | December 5, 2007 5:20 AM
Posted on December 5, 2007 05:20
As seen on the screenshots, you can use pitch and roll for MIDI CC.
Yaw is not supported, as the Wiinstrument has no IR support (which would only allow a very small range of yaw anyway), and as the yaw rotation axis is the gravity vector (which we use for calculating roll and pitch).
Posted by Sebastian Burkhart | December 5, 2007 9:13 AM
Posted on December 5, 2007 09:13
Thanks for the response. I wasn't as specific as I should have been...I'm using the drumsticks MIDI + garageband. Is it possible to send noteOn noteOff midi events with the other axis to Garageband?
I see the options for pitch and stick x,y, but how do i use those midi cc events to tell garageband to play a note?
The basic drum gesture works great, but I'd like to also be able to do different gestures...
Thanks again.
Posted by confused | December 5, 2007 7:15 PM
Posted on December 5, 2007 19:15
confused,
I'm sorry that this is not possible at this point of time, at least not with GarageBand.
Using the other axes for MIDI note-ons will definitely be in one of the next releases, though :)
Regards,
Sebastian
Posted by Sebastian Burkhart | December 5, 2007 7:57 PM
Posted on December 5, 2007 19:57
hi guys any info on how you connect wii instrument to Reaktor? anyone? Thnks
Posted by marco | December 13, 2007 4:35 PM
Posted on December 13, 2007 16:35
Hello,
unfortunately, every version of Wiinstrument I tried shut down immediately.
I'm using a MacBook Pro with OSX 10.4.11, and I've tried the builds b745, b713 and n1151.
I followed all the steps you mentioned, deleted the Wiimote from the Bluetooth connections... no luck.
Looking forward to the next builds... thanks for your efforts!
Posted by ElRhodeo | December 23, 2007 11:28 PM
Posted on December 23, 2007 23:28
This is a lot of fun - thanks for putting it out there.
I did have a problem with the program quitting immediately at start-up, but I eventually figured out that this was because it couldn't find the "Drum Samples" folder. In a future version it might be nice to mention more explicitly the need to put this folder at the same level as the app itself, package the files inside the app folder, or give some kind a more visible message if they can't be found at start-up.
I'm having the same problem with very low volume as others report.
By the way, I can confirm compatibility with my MacBook Pro running Mac OS 10.5.1
Posted by Alistair Jones | January 14, 2008 12:50 AM
Posted on January 14, 2008 00:50
Just try a newer version of the app: http://screenfashion.org/releases/The_Wiinstrument_0.2b1151.dmg
Hope that helps :)
Posted by Sebastian Burkhart | January 14, 2008 12:22 PM
Posted on January 14, 2008 12:22
Hey!
Thanks A LOT! for making this software its the best fun and i've shown all my friends how cool it is.
you guys deserve to get paid or something hahaha
i was wondering if you have any idea as to when the new version is coming out?
i had an idea.
i was thinking maybe you could set up a small program for the drumstiicks where it has an Auto switch. like. say you're playing Snare(nunchuck) and Kick(wiimote). and then you want to switch immediately to a TomTom(nunchuck) and another TomTom(nunchuck) you could make the program so that you press B or A on the wiimote and it switches both of your hands to the tomtoms straight away. so its more like your playing a real drum kit and to switch both hands you just have to push one button.
Just thought of it. Duno if you're really looking for more ideas. but yeah :)
also the design work on the leopard version looks sweet.
wish i could use it on my Mac Version 10.4.1 but ill be patient and wait :D
Posted by Tim | January 29, 2008 3:35 PM
Posted on January 29, 2008 15:35
another idea!
make the program use-able by 2 wiimotes.
then you can strap the wii mote and the other nunchuck to ur feet and play kick and clap the high hat!
FUNNNNN!! :D!
Posted by Tim | January 30, 2008 11:32 AM
Posted on January 30, 2008 11:32
Has anybody tried using the Guitar Hero Wiimote configuration with this? The guitar controller just plugs into the nunchuk port on the wiimote. I haven't set this up yet on my DAW but I can't wait to try....
Posted by Ted Kritzler | April 30, 2008 7:22 PM
Posted on April 30, 2008 19:22