Tutorial 1. Controlling Steinberg’s Cubase with a Nintendo Wiimote
Nintendo’s Wii Remote (wiimote for short) is a fantastic controller that has not just revolutionised gaming but has also opened up a vast array of possibilities for controlling home computer systems, thanks to the fact that Nintendo chose to use the Bluetooth communication protocol. In this tutorial I am going to show you how to use the wiimote in the context of music creation, more specifically as a controller for Steinberg’s Cubase running on a Windows PC. So prepare to say goodbye to hours spent hunched over your computer brutishly mousing your mix into shape, as you will soon be able to lie back in your favourite armchair and mix to your hearts content – all thanks to the wiimote.
Step 1. Obtain a wiimote. You don’t have to buy a whole Nintendo games console to get a wiimote – they can be bought individually for around £30 from the likes of Argos.
Step 2. Get Bluetooth. If your computer does not have Bluetooth built in you can buy a Bluetooth USB adaptor. A word of warning here: not all Bluetooth adaptors were created equal and some aren’t compatible with wiimotes. I used the Mikomi adaptor (pictured), which I bought from Argos for £10. You can find a list of suitable adaptors at http://wiibrew.org/wiki/List_of_Working_Bluetooth_Devices. You will also need to install a Bluetooth stack. This is the software that links your hardware USB adaptor to Windows. My adaptor came with a CD containing the Bluesoleil stack and I can highly recommend it.
Step 3. Download Carl Kenner’s freeware application GlovePIE version 3. http://carl.kenner.googlepages.com/glovepie_download. This program will allow us to access the data received by our Bluetooth software.
Step 4. Download and install MIDI yoke. http://www.midiox.com/. This utility will allow us to send data from GlovePIE to Cubase.
Step 5. Download my wiicubase zip file. http://www.colindodds.co.uk/media/wiicubase.zip (copy this address into your web browser, and your browser will offer you the option of saving this file). Unzip the file and you will find a folder containing two files: Cubase_Controller.PIE is a script that we will shortly run in GlovePIE. I wrote this to translate the wiimotes controls into useful MIDI control messages. The second file is WiiMap.xml which shall be explained shortly.
Step 6. Connect your wiimote to your PC. Having installed the Bluetooth software that came with your USB adaptor, and with the adaptor inserted (or having enabled Bluetooth if your computer has it built in), double click on the Bluetooth symbol in your system tray (bottom right of your screen). A window will open displaying Bluetooth devices within range of your computer. Press the wiimotes 1 and 2 buttons simultaneously to put the wiimote into “discoverable” mode (notice the wiimotes LEDs start flashing). Now click the “search” button on your Bluetooth software’s interface – do this in Bluesoleil by clicking the centre of the sun. A picture of your wiimote will soon appear on screen. When this happens double click on the picture to instruct the software to communicate with the wiimote and find out what type of device it is. Next, right-click on the picture of the wiimote and select “connect” from the pop-up menu. Red circles will appear to move from the picture of the wiimote to the sun when the connection is successful. Please note: the wiimote only stays in discoverable mode for a short period of time, so if you notice the wiimotes LEDs have stopped flashing before you have made a successful connection try holding down buttons 1 + 2 for the duration of the connection process.
If you are not using Bluesoleil the connection process will differ slightly but you should be able to find plenty of info on the net if you’re having trouble.
Step 7. Test your wiimote. In GlovePIE select File>Open, then browse to the GlovePIE 3.0 folder and within it select OldScripts>TestWiimote.PIE. Press the run button (near the top of the GlovePIE interface) and you should see numbers changing in the debug box (upper right) as you move the wiimote. If this is the case your wiimote is working correctly. If you don’t see any numbers changing onscreen stop the script running then select TroubleShooter>Bluetooth Fix and run the script again. If this does not do the trick then unfortunately you most likely have an incompatible Bluetooth adaptor or Bluetooth stack. Visit the link posted in step 2 to see if your Bluetooth adaptor can be made to work by installing a different Bluetooth stack.
Step 8. Open and run my Cubase_Controller.PIE script from within GlovePIE. You won’t notice anything happening but the script should be sending out MIDI messages – we just need to set up the receiver now.
Step 9. Setup Cubase.
- Open Cubase and go to Devices>Device set-up…
- Click the + symbol at the top right of the new window
- Select Generic Remote and on the right-hand side of this window do the following…
- Click the Import button
- Browse to, and select the WiiMap.xml file you just downloaded.
- Using the drop-down menu select “In from MIDI Yoke 1” as the MIDI input port.
The purpose of this map is to enable Cubase to respond to the MIDI messages that will be sent from GlovePIE.
Step 10. Open and run my Cubase controller for GlovePIE script. You should now be able to control Cubase using the wiimote. The following controls work when the mix window is visible:
- wiimote A button = mute selected track
- wiimote B button = solo selected track
- wiimote 1 button = toggle pan control on/off. When pan control is on, the rotation of the wiimote controls the pan position of the selected track.
- wiimote 2 button = stop playback
- wiimote up button = increase volume of selected track
- wiimote down button = decrease volume of selected track
- wiimote left button = track selection moves one rack to the left
- wiimote right button = track selection moves one track to the right
- wiimote home button = start playback
- wiimote minus button = go to start
- wiimote plus button = fast forward
Step 11. If it didn’t work…
If you have followed the instructions through thus far and are unable to gain control of Cubase using your wiimote try the following…
- In GlovePIE open my Cubase Controller for GlovePIE script.
- Select GlovePIE’s GUI tab.
- Expand the output device box and look for “(Out to MIDI Yoke: 1)” and note down the name that precedes it e.g. midi1, midi2, midi3 etc.
- Select the Cubase Controller for GlovePIE tab and change all of the references in the script from Midi1 to the number you noted in the previous step. E.g. you would change the line “midi1.Control31…” to “midi2.Control31…” if GlovePIE has detected midi2 as corresponding to Midi Yoke 1 on your system. – There will only be five places in the script where you will have to make this change.
That's all for now, have fun! Please drop me a line if you found this tutorial useful or have any suggestions: CDODDS13@caledonian.ac.uk