Using the Sparkfun Arduino Midi Shield to Control Virtual Synthesizer

I was able to get the Sparkfun midi Shield to work fairly easily without any major complications... The basic code (see below) simply setup the integrated pushbutton to trigger a note while pitch bend control with the first integrated potentiometer and cutoff with the second potentiometer. I would like to investigate how difficult it is to reassign the shield controls to alter different parameters of virtual synthesizers.

// SparkFun MIDI Shield and MIDI Breakout test code

// Defines bare-bones routines for sending and receiving MIDI data

// Written 02/16/10

// defines for MIDI Shield components only

//  Reason 6 MIDI implementation chart:

//  http://dl.propellerheads.se/Reason6/Reason%206%20MIDI%20Implementation%20Chart.pdf

#define KNOB1  0

#define KNOB2  1

#define BUTTON1  2

#define BUTTON2  3

#define BUTTON3  4

#define STAT1  7

#define STAT2  6

byte ccVal;

int pot;

int ccPot;

int note;

int lastNote = -1;

int lastCcVal = -1;

void setup() {

 pinMode(STAT1,OUTPUT);   

 pinMode(STAT2,OUTPUT);

 pinMode(BUTTON1,INPUT);

 pinMode(BUTTON2,INPUT);

 pinMode(BUTTON3,INPUT);

 digitalWrite(BUTTON1,HIGH);

 digitalWrite(BUTTON2,HIGH);

 digitalWrite(BUTTON3,HIGH);

 for(int i = 0;i < 10;i++) // flash MIDI Shield LED's on startup

 {

   digitalWrite(STAT1,HIGH);  

   digitalWrite(STAT2,LOW);

   delay(30);

   digitalWrite(STAT1,LOW);  

   digitalWrite(STAT2,HIGH);

   delay(30);

 }

 digitalWrite(STAT1,HIGH);   

 digitalWrite(STAT2,HIGH);

 //start serial with midi baudrate 31250

 Serial.begin(31250);     

}

void loop () {

 //*************** MIDI OUT ***************//

 pot = analogRead(KNOB1);

 ccPot = analogRead(KNOB2);

 note = pot / 8;  // convert value to value 0-50 // changed value from 0-127 to 0-50 for less drastic note range

 ccVal = 127 - ccPot / 8;

 //  send notes

 if(button(BUTTON2) || button(BUTTON3))

 {

   if (lastNote > -1) Midi_Send(0x80,lastNote, 0x0);

   Midi_Send(0x90,note,0x45);

   lastNote = note;

   while(button(BUTTON2) || button(BUTTON3));

 }

 //  send last note off

 if (button(BUTTON1) && lastNote > -1) {

   Midi_Send(0x80, lastNote, 0x0);

 }

 

 // send cc

 // only if the value has changed

 if (ccVal != lastCcVal) {

   Midi_Send(0xB0, 74, ccVal);

   lastCcVal = ccVal;

 }

}

void Midi_Send(byte cmd, byte data1, byte data2) {

 Serial.write(cmd);

 Serial.write(data1);

 Serial.write(data2);

}

char button(char button_num) {

 return (!(digitalRead(button_num)));

}