By now you’ve all probably seen that excellent video of Kid Beyond illustrating his usage of Ableton Live. Pretty cool, right? If one had such a system, you could loop yourself playing guitar, beatboxing, etc., all perfectly in sync with programmed drum/MIDI tracks and other performers.

Here’s how to set up your own system in a similar hands-free operation style, for about US$10, without having to solder anything. It’ll take you about an hour once you gather the parts required, or less. No joke.

You will need:

• A QWERTY keyboard, preferably with a USB connector. Otherwise, you’ll have to buy an adapter to fit your laptop, which costs extra. You can get one for $7.50 at AllElectronics.com, but you can find them even cheaper at your local thrift store’s “technology pile.” I got mine for $2.
• A flathead screwdriver.
• Ableton Live. Ed.: Live is a perfect choice here, but you may find this useful with other music apps, as well — or even in a VJ set. -PK
• A free keyboard-mapping utility called Autohotkey (if you’re running Windows). If you’re running Mac, the program to use is calledIKey.

  That’s it. Here’s how to make it go:

  
  

  Above: Steps 1-2. Simple enough.
  

Tobias, the talented creator of the NitroTracker homebrew software for Nintendo DS (see our DS homebrew roundup), sends us a new project: wireless MIDI control.

The MIDI implementation is pretty clever: tap keys with the stylus to play them, and get vibrato/modulation by rubbing a key. You can send MIDI data from the DS, which makes it a powerful wireless controller; it’s seen in the video controlling Quartz Composer, the free Mac developer tool / 3D graphics synthesizer.

Using your stylus to control music software is all well and good, but even cooler is the ability to send MIDI to the DS, giving you control from your computer of the DS’ vintage GameBoy-esque synth sounds. 8-bit, here we come!

This is just an experimental version, says Tobias, though we could see a public build as soon as a few days from now. You’ll see it here first, of course. For more on DS music making:

Nintendo DS on Create Digital Music

Go Wireless on Other Platforms

Palm lovers who don’t want to be left out, an anonymous commenter on Music thing points to a Bluetooth-based MIDI controller for Palm from the good people of Bhajis. And don’t forget the wireless Sony PSP controller for Ableton, or cell phone control of music software with Sailing Clicker (including Palm, I might add).

[tags]DS, gaming, homebrew, MIDI, wireless, controller, software, hacks, 8-bit[/tags]