Eh. They have converters for that sort of thing, but the quality can be hit or miss depending on what you’re trying to convert
falling back to my extensive recording studio experience here…there are converters out there true…but what it comes down too is what hardware is being used to synthesize the actual midi file. most devices that offer midi playback fallback to GM (General Midi ) which has a set amount of 128 banks. each bank represents a synthesized instrument. sounds are synthesized by software or hardware synths using 1 to 3 oscillators. the actual sound of produced a from a bank will vary from device to device using the same midi file. another note, is that some higher quality devices use samples ( i.e. wavs per note) to for midi playback instead of synthesized sounds, for more faithful sound reproduction. vocal tracks do not convert well to midi, as per the many variables that affect ones voice, but can be hacked with sounds from one of the choir banks. most music in 16-bit games and the generations before that are all midi. sound effects from mario on nes? midi. srks and other sounds in the street fighter games on snes, midi. if you remember playing sf2:ww in the arcade and then getting it on super nintendo, and hearing the difference on how it sounded, that can be attributed to capcom having to use the hw synth on the snes and not triggering custom samples (dont quote me on that last one but im almost certain.) GM midi allow for up to 16 tracks(channels) for triggering up 24 voices from banks (instruments) at a time. an example would be track 1 percussion, track 2 piano, track 3 guitar, ect. I think nes used to 8 tracks and snes used 16 tracks but i could be wrong there. some sounds may be easier replicated using 2 or more banks. gm midi spec also allows for some nifty effects like on the fly timbre adjustments, aftertouch, and others. the gm midi spec can also send midi “notes” to the target device to trigger echo, reverb, ect.if its supported on the said device. gm midi is a pretty robust protocol and is used many places where people wouldnt figure. take games like guitar hero and rockband. all those games are doing is checking your inputs via input device against a midi sheet (not too sure about the vocals tho). so in theory any music in those games should have a midi version that can be rendered in any device that plays back midi. polyphonic ringtones are also midi. most sheet music can easliy be converted to midi as well. if you want to author you own midi music, i suggest trying fl studio, a cheap and extremely robust DAW (digital audio workstation). more midi info for those people who are curious:
Musical Instrument Digital Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General MIDI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MIDI BASICS: Part 1 | MIDI BASICS: Part 2 | MIDI BASICS: Part 3
@32 teeth, this is a great idea! this is right up my alley minus program the arduino part. what kind of midi support does this thing have? standard gm banks? that thing doesnt have enough memory to store user created banks with samples does it? maybe a future incarnation could have some sort of user supplied memory where a user can create a bank with their own samples and send it to the said memory module to be triggered by the stick operation. man there so many ways you could go with this. even using a standard gm set, you can do so much with it! i’d love to have my stick power up with the akuma music from sfa2! a lot of my studio music can be exported to midi for playback on other devices as well. you may have something big here…
So, I bought a set of 8 pre-assembled from Gummowned and plan on using an fgwidget. Is there anything I am not going to install on the fg or anything I need to de-solder from the arc-eyes(resistors or anything)?
Umm… i believe fgwidget comes with an optional resistor network, in which case you would need to bypass the resistors on arc-eye… but since your arc-eyes are already assembled, you have the option not to install the resistor network on the fgwidget pcb…
never having worked with it, you’ll have to consult the fgwidget instructions or thread to figure out how to bypass the resistor network… i dont recall if its common anode or cathode, so your arc-eye setup will obviously be a factor… maybe someone here who has worked with it can provide an answer?
Leave the resistors on the arc eyes for certain. Assemble the FGW LED controller using the resistor arrays that come with it. From what I’ve seen, it’s plenty bright. That’s how the yellows on Strogg’s stick were setup.
Okie dokie. Thanks Toodles!
hey purps i kno you afk for a couple weeks…i just wanted to let you kno that i got the package and thanks you so much for the suprise! 
Not the best video, but I recently programmed my Arduino to change the RGB levels randomly of an Arc Eye to create a transitioning rainbow effect. I still have some kinks to work out at a later time, since blues and green shades happen to show up more often than others due to the way the RGB levels work. Probably would help too if I had a better RNG than random() also.
[media=youtube]IuP4Yo0bw70[/media]
Nice work
If you are using your arc eyes in common anode. Assign each color to a PWM pin. you will have to check the pins that have PWM available on you model. I know it changes in the UNO version. But the standard 328 supports it on 6, 9,10,11 I believe
The PWM pins was how I changed the RGB levels to get the different colors and transitions. It could probably be written more cleanly as I am not a programmer by any means, but I included the code I used below. The ledState array is used in telling if the RGB analogWrite levels are ascending or descending. The ledTarget is the RGB level that was generated via random(). ledLevel is the current analogWrite level for the LEDs that are plugged into the pins that support PWM.
Hello, I have a question regarding some LED setups… though my understanding in this is still new, so far I have manage to only do light up on activation. I was wondering if is there a tutorial on doing the opposite of light up on activation, and do I need master strike for that if so, and also something like my buttons are green on default but on push it turns into another color, would that also need something like master strike?
See post here:
http://shoryuken.com/f177/project-gouken-project-arc-eye-226103/index6.html#post8495921
Hey just to let everyone know, i’m back!
Hello. :party:
welcome back! congrats and all that good stuff!
Hmm that is a bit outta my level right now, but I was skimming through posts, does this work? diagram-1.jpg picture by TenshiAoi - Photobucket
It’s easier for me to understand, I’m using a TE stick with LEDs on it already, and I took it apart but some reason either red or blue doesn’t work, I’m guessing it’s the led board itself? or am I missing something? I only tried it with one of the LED boards so far. Sorry still pretty new at this stuff -_-
Hmm… you can directly connect +5v and ground to the board to test each color first, if you like… you can quickly set a test circuit, then test all the boards and all the colors quickly… what specifically are you trying to achieve with the leds? green when button is pressed, and red is on all the time regardless of button press?
Well yea but I don’t quite understand the post spenzalii linked me to, my understanding is still very low, and needs to be translated into a dumb down version for me lol. and as for the LED, i wired the red and blue to test it but some reason when i test red it just lights up green still, and blue just doesn’t work, im guessing it’s the led board since green works perfectly, and the guy that sold it to me looked like he did something to it -_- (in a bad way)
Post an image of your arceyes. It will help in guiding you.
The green is always the middle. Whereas the red and blue are reversable depending on orientation of the led
Alright will do when I get back frm school, another question though, what does it mean red and blue are reversable?