Controllers
In which I try to make the case that PlayStation controllers are superior in nearly every way.
MIDIpad names controls by what they do - the left stick Left stick, the right trigger R2 - since every controller family letters its buttons differently and I'd only end up writing four names for the same thing. The selector at the top of the manual switches every glyph and note on these pages over to your pad.
MIDIpad is primarily built for PlayStation controllers, the DualShock 4 and DualSense specifically. The touchpad and the motion sensors aren't extras; the touch strum, brightness and the shake motion are core to how the Chords instrument expresses, and those pads carry all of it. I've worked hard to bring as much of the instruments as possible to other pads - the strum stick exists so every pad can strum from a stick it does have - but there are real constraints, so I wrote them down here so you can check for yourself.
Supported controllers
| Controller | Connection | Touchpad | Motion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony DualShock 4 | USB or Bluetooth | Yes | Yes | MIDIpad is completely built around one of these, from the initial idea upwards, it's the only one that's guaranteed to work in all ways as intended. |
| Sony DualSense | USB or Bluetooth | Yes | Yes | One of these days I will get one of these and refine to what it's capable of, but for the moment I know that it works well. |
| Xbox controllers | Bluetooth | No | No | For some reason, Bluetooth connection works fine, but Microsoft made it do weird things when it's plugged in to non-Windows devices, so Bluetooth works, USB connection is completely haywire. |
| Nintendo Switch Pro Controller | Bluetooth | No | Yes | The triggers on these things don't recognise speed or depth, so they're on-off mechanisms - please get in touch with ideas if there's anything you feel I can do to improve the experience here, these are the least tested pads. |
| Other gamepads | USB or Bluetooth | No | No | I've tested it on an 8BitDo SN30 Pro and it works quite well, and I've tested it with a Razer Kaiju Ultimate and it was an absolute no-go. I reckon most things with two analog sticks that declares itself to macOS as a DualShock 4, which is most of them, should be at least somewhat usable - again let me know if anything weird happens. A pad that doesn't declare itself as anything MIDIpad knows gets no trigger readings, so nothing on L2 or R2 works on it. |
Most third-party pads present to macOS as a Sony controller, which can make things a little confusing. For instance, the 8BitDo SN30 Pro in macOS mode will be read as a DualShock 4, but it doesn't have a touchpad or motion sensors. It'll still work, but without those inputs it's not the whole thing.
If a controller misbehaves, Help → Send Feedback… attaches the diagnostics needed for me to investigate and help fix it.
What the touchpad adds
There are two ways to strum Chords: on the touchpad, or on the right stick, which every pad has.
Without a touchpad everything else still works. The chord wheel, the Dominant and Parallel wheels, the suspensions and sevenths, the strum stick, the block chords, softening and muting on the left trigger, Stretch, and the shake if you've got motion sensors. Drums plays on any pad with two analog sticks and analog triggers. On a Sony pad the touchpad is a crossfader on CC 16 - see Drum notes and channels.
Connection behaviour
MIDIpad reads controllers at the system (HID) level, so it keeps playing while your DAW has the focus. It watches for pads coming and going the whole time - unplug one and its notes drain to their Note Offs on their own, plug it back in and it gets picked up straight away. Other apps can still see the pad while MIDIpad is reading it, so if any other app is open that expects gamepad control while you're using MIDIpad, things might well glitch.
MIDIpad only plays one controller at a time. You can have a second one connected without upsetting anything, it just won't do anything. Yet. I'm working on multiplayer. Shh.