laptoprockers.eu is a hip tech blog aimed at digital music producers. They have published an interview with us. There you can find out more about the history of The Wiinstrument—and how it works :)

Here is a guide for all Windows users that explains how to connect your Wiimote to the BlueSoleil stack to use it with The Wiinstrument.

If you have an Intel mac and Mac OS X Leopard, we've got a new release of The Wiinstrument for you.

Download The Wiinstrument 0.2b1151 for Intel macs with Leopard here.

Like the last Windows release, this version is an in-between release on the way to version 0.3, aimed at people who switched to MacOS X Leopard lately. It's not working on PowerPC processors, but the next release should work on PPC again.

This build includes a new, experimental UI for the DrumStiicks (MIDI) mode, shown on the image above.

Have fun with it! :)

Sebastian / screenfashion.org

Update: It seems that this version works only on Intel machines with Leopard installed. We're working on a fix, till then, try one of the old versions that are mentioned in the comments...

Good things come to those who wait.

Well, unfortunately it took us a lot more time to port "The Wiinstrument" to Windows than promised, but polishing the UI for the Microsoft OS required some extra work. Thanks to Sebastian, who has created some nifty bitmaps and UI changes. The Wiinstrument UI looks equally great on all platforms now. Credits fly also out to Julian, who has put some extra effort into a redesign of the Gosu library, which now supports OpenGL under Windows.

The Wiinstrument 0.2.1 is an in-between release, so you'll get to experience some nice features originally planned for version 0.3 (see the changelog for more infos), but many of the really great things are still missing.

Visit SourceForge and download the first Windows release of The Wiinstrument!

Hi,

It's finally done. You can download the latest version of The Wiinstrument for Mac OS X and Linux as well as the C++ sources at SourceForge.

The Linux version can be found here and the Mac OS X version here (the application) and here (source code as Xcode project folder).

(Update: Release 0.2b745 fixes a bug and should now work on Intel macs!)

Playing drums with your Wii remote in GarageBand? No problem. Here's how you do it…

Hi,

We are back from IFA 2007 fair in Berlin. We were not really prepared for the interest that The Wiinstrument has produced, but everything went very well—The software appears to be really stable once a Wii remote is connected. As I was forced to practice eight hours per day while demonstrating The Wiinstrument's capabilities, my rhythm skills seem to have really improved… :)

Thanks to all visitors of our stand at IFA fair, your feedback is invaluable! If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

A release of version 0.2 for MacOS X, Linux and Windows will be available in a few days on this page. Meanwhile you could try the old 0.1 release (OSX only)…

If you consider buying a Bluetooth dongle for connecting a Wii remote on Windows, please consult the WiiLi wiki first—some Bluetooth devices seem to be incompatible to Wii remotes.

External material

The Wiinstrument as background music: Short video clip of cczwei (ex WDR computerclub) visiting IFA

An interview with ‘Handelsblatt’

An interview with techvideoblog.com

Some images of the event

(Thanks to Robert, a fellow student at University of Potsdam, who took the photos)

Bye,
Sebastian and Tobias / screenfashion.org

We've uploaded a short video with me playing The Wiinstrument's Drumstiicks mode:

I'm not a drummer, but I think the instrument is real fun if you practice a bit.

We're still working on 0.2 – expect a release soon!
0.2 will be released with the following features (among others):
- Use pitch and roll rotation axes of Wii remote and Nunchuk as MIDI controllers
- A better graphical frontend
- a tiny sampler (load own WAV files into the Wiinstrument instead of a MIDI setup)

Hi fellow wiinstrumenters,

Yesterday I finally finished the major work on the Linux version of The Wiinstrument. So just a little more bug hunting before a release will be done.

Stay tuned! ;)

Hi everybody.

Ever wanted to have a cheap external MIDI controller that's wireless? Or to play a groovy drum loop in your sequencer without having to set note delays manually? Then the following blog entry may be for you.

Having released the Wiinstrument on Breakpoint '07 in Bingen am Rhein, we decided to share a preliminary version of the software with you.

The Wiinstrument is basically a MIDI instrument that is controlled by a connected Nintendo Wii remote (with a Nunchuk controller, if available). The controller is available separately and can be connected to your computer via Bluetooth.

It features:

• A graphical interface with OpenGL graphics.
• Two modes (with awful puns in their namings! \o/)
• Percussion mode: Smack both controllers to trigger MIDI notes (with velocity recognition)
• Keyboard mode: button presses are mapped directly to MIDI notes. Various scales (chromatic, blues, minor, major) are available so that you're even able to play melodies on it.
• Open Source: It doesn't cost anything and everyone can implement new features!
• It's designed to be portable, so it should be easy to port it onto other platforms like Linux or Windows.

Application examples:

• Record groovy MIDI drum patterns directly in your software sequencer! (using a loopback MIDI device)
• Control your MIDI compatible VJ or lighting setup with it!
• Tape it onto your e-guitar and control your guitar effects hardware by tilting your guitar!
• Use it for whatever you would use a hardware MIDI controller - but cheaper (a Wii remote costs about 40 EUR/USD)—and it's wireless :)

It's currently available for MacOS X 10.4.9—We're already porting it to Linux...

Known Issues:

• The Wii remote may not always be recognized, as it identifies itself as Bluetooth HID device, but doesn't follow the HID specs. Apple's Bluetooth department seems to be working on making the Bluetooth implementation compatible to Wii remotes so that the OSX kernel driver doesn't try to make a concurrent connection to the Wii remote to an application. The result has been announced to be included in Leopard, so stay tuned :)
• If you don't get a connection to the Wii remote when starting the Wiinstrument, don't panic: Just go to your Bluetooth system preferences, remove the connection to "RVL-CNT-01" manually and retry the connection (We're working on a simpler connection procedure...)
• The graphical user interface is preliminary, a better looking one is in development.
• Sometimes the MIDI output lags. We're working on a fix for that.
• Mapping acceleration sensor axes to MIDI control change instruction isn't implemented yet.
• If the application closes unexpectedly, please report it together with the content of your ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/The Wiinstrument.crash.log file so we can fix the problem.

Just download it and enjoy.

To connect it to your sequencer/sampler, start Apple's Audio/MIDI Setup tool (you can find it in the Utilities subfolder of your Applications folder), activate the IAC device (Apple's loopback MIDI device) and drag it to the first place of the shown device list. You'll see a new IAC MIDI input device in your sequencer then.

Any comments and reports are appreciated :) If you have a problem that's not addressed in the known issues above, please write us which platform you are working on.