0xtob’s coding blog

A lot has happened with DSMI lately, so today I’m realeasing quite a bunch of updates:

• DSMI Server for OSX v1.02
  Fixes compatibility problems with Snow Leopard.

• libdsmi for DS v3.1
  Important bugfix: Re-enables sending of beacons (necessary for DS apps that receive MIDI)

• pulseDS v1.6, kaosDS v1.5, DS MIDI Keyboard v1.5, OSC Example v1.2
  PulseDS is now finally working again (tested!) The problem was that I accidentally disabled sending of beacons, so the server didn’t know which IPs to send MIDI messages to. Sorry about that!

All example apps are now compatible with libnds 1.4.3 and devkitARM r30 (latest versions as of April 2010) and have been updated to the latest devkitpro nds templates. KaosDS, DS MIDI Keyboard and the OSC Example now use the default ARM7 binary, which means they are much less code now. Thanks to Wintermute who kindly provided patches to libdsmi and the OSC Example!

Have fun!
Tob

That’s right, a lot is happening with DSMI lately! I’ve ported libdsmi, KaosDS, PulseDS and DSMIDIKeyboard to the new libnds v1.3.1. This library introduces a lot of simplifications, making the code shorter and more readable. For developers, the libdsmi API has stayed the same, except that dsmi_setup_wifi_support is no longer necessary and has thus been removed. For end-users, nothing has changed.

To make collaboration easier, I set up a Google Code project for DSMI, which is now the official place to download the library and applications. Google Code features a nice source browser so you can check out the source code more easily. Also, there is an issue tracker that you can use to inform us of bugs.

One more thing: Collin Meyer has ported DSMI to the iPhone and released the first DSMI-enabled iPhone application! iXY is a Kaoss Pad style MIDI controller that lets you control your synth parameters or light effects with the touch of your fingers. iXY is available from the App Store for 99US cent / 79EUR cent. The library itself is work in progress and will be released soon, so everyone can write MIDI-enabled iPhone apps!

It turns out DSMI keeps facing trouble regarding its name. It first started off as DSMIDIWiFi. After I added hardware MIDI support through the DSerial, the “WiFi” part of the name was no longer appropriate, so I changed the name to DSMI. I didn’t call it DSMIDI in order to avoid the name collision with Collin’s DSMIDI hardware hack. It turned out this was the right choice, because fishuyo came along and added OSC support which would have made the MIDI part of the name inappropriate anyway. Now that Collin has ported DSMI to the iPhone, the DS part of the name would have to go. Nevertheless, we decided on keeping the name in order to avoid confusion. If anyone has an idea for a new meaning of the DSMI acronym, please let us know :-)

Thanks to Tim Wood (fishuyo) DSMI now supports the OpenSound Control (OSC) protocol!

OSC is an emerging standard for exchanging music control signals that is much more flexible and modern than MIDI. For example, OSC can directly communicate via network, so the PC-side DSMI server is not required.

fishuyo also made a nice demo of the new OSC capabilities with a Kaoss pad and sliders. It comes with a pd patch that is a nice little synth. Check out the demo’s source code! OSC is really easy to add to your application. And it’s the future! So, get libdsmi v3.0 now!

I want to highlight a really fun music application called MIDI Jammer by Andrew Buch, which uses DSMI for sending MIDI events. The touch screen is divided into horizontal/vertical bars which are mapped to notes of a scale that can be configured by the user. You can jam around just by sliding the stylus over the bars. The fun thing is that it’s pressure sensitive, so the volume depends on the pressure you apply. In another mode the program can also be used as a Kaoss Pad (which is more flexible than KaossDS). Andrew is planning on a standalone mode that uses the PSG for live chip-style jamming!

Sure wireless MIDI is awesome, but it still requires a PC if you want to connect your DS to your MIDI keytar, MIDI modded NES or whatever weird MIDI gear you might have. So far, the solution to this dilemma has been TheRain’s DSMIDI. But unfortunately it requires some skill to build and only supports MIDI output.

Now, with natrium42’s, DSerial it’s possible to connect MIDI devices to the DS easily (instructions here). This method supports both MIDI in- and output.

So, DSMIDIWiFi has now become DSMI (DS Music Interface) and supports both MIDI over WiFi and DSerial - whichever of the two is available. You can even use both connections at the same time, for example to use the DS as a wireless MIDI bridge.

The example apps are DSerial-ready now as well. The current version is a pre-release that doesn’t yet support MIDI input via DSerial, which I will implement once I have the hardware :-)

NitroTracker will soon get support for MIDI Keyboards and other controllers connected via DSerial as well. Given sufficient demand, natrium42 can probably be persuaded to mass-produce the MIDI-cables for DSerial :-)

Cheers!
Tob