P5midi



What is P5midi ?

P5midi transforms the P5 glove from Essential Reality into a MIDI controller. This allows you to control synthesizers and other MIDI programs from a movement of the hand.



How does it work ?

P5midi converts the information coming from the P5 glove sensors into MIDI messages. Here are the technical specifications of the P5, as given by Essential Reality:

Finger Sensor Specs

  • 5 independent finger measurements
  • 0.5 degree resolution (0-90 degree range)
  • 60 Hz refresh rate

    Optical Tracking System Specs
  • 3-4 foot range from receptor
  • 45 Hz refresh rate
  • 6 degrees of freedom (yaw/pitch/roll/x/y/z)

    XYZ Specs
  • 0.125 inch resolution @ 3 foot range from receptor
  • 0.5 inch accuracy @ 3 foot range from receptor

    Yaw/Pitch/Roll Specs
  • 3 degree resolution
  • 3 degree accuracy

    In the current version, P5midi translates the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the glove, as well as the bending of the 5 fingers into MIDI Control Change messages. Each parameter has minimum and maximum values, as well as a mapping curve. The P5 has 4 buttons. P5midi uses 3 of them to send MIDI Program Change messages. The last button is used to switch the glove on / off. A total of ten configurations can be edited.


    How to use P5midi ?

    Directly with a MIDI synthesizer
    P5midi lets you select the MIDI port to which the messages are sent. You can connect a synthesizer directly to that MIDI port. For example, I have been using the Nord Modular from Clavia. Its modular architecture allows you to create elaborated patches that will evolve in time, and every parameter can be assigned to a MIDI controller.

    Through a virtual MIDI device
    You can also route the MIDI out port selected in P5midi to the MIDI in port of any other MIDI program (sequencer, softsynth, etc...). A way to do that is to use a virtual MIDI device such as Hubi Loopback Device. For example, I use P5midi to drive the parameters of two other programs I wrote, Granulator and DiVA. Granulator is a real-time, fully MIDI-controllable, granular synthesizer. The position of the hand defines the pitch / pan / amplitude of the grains, while the fingers adjust the filter. DiVA (Digital Vocal Artist) is a vocal synthesizer. I also use the position of the hand to define the pitch / pan and volume of the voice generated. However, in that case, the bending of the fingers modifies the frequency of the 5 formants, hence moving from one vowel to the other.


    Download

    Click here to download P5midi. You just need to unzip the file and the program is ready. Make sure you read the documentation (the P5midi_doc.txt file).


    What's new ?

    New in version 1.1

  • added mapping curves for controllers.

  • added handling of multiple configurations.



    • What is next ?

    The current version is 1.1. The following features could find their way into the next version(s):

  • the buttons of the glove could trigger MIDI sequences or arppegios.

  • other MIDI messages could be sent instead of control changes (pitch bend, aftertouch...).

  • the MIDI channel could be different for the various control messages.