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FingerPlay MIDI

FingerPlay MIDI is a MIDI controller for Android. Any changes made to the controllers on your phone are transmitted over the WIFI network to a receiving computer using either OSC messages or its own FingerPlay format. The MIDI messages can then be sent to any music software capable of receiving MIDI input.

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Download FingerPlay MIDI from the Android Market

Get the source code from Google Code.

FingerPlay in Windows with LoopBe1

Download and install Java.

Download and install a virtual MIDI driver like LoopBe1.

Download the FingerPlayServer zip-file and unpack it somewhere on your hard drive. Start it from the command line with:
java -jar FingerPlayServer.jar

The server will display the IP address and port number you need to connect to it from your phone.

Once you’ve connected, select LoopBe1 from the list of available MIDI output devices.

Start Ableton and make sure LoopBe1 is enabled for input in the MIDI settings.

Any changes made to the controllers in FingerPlay will be sent over the network to Ableton as a MIDI Message.

OSCulator

Click the top right button in FingerPlay to go to the settings screen, choose “OSC Server” as the “Server Type” and in “Server Address” enter your computer’s IP address followed by “:8000″ (which is the default port for OSCulator).

So if your IP address is 192.168.0.4, enter “192.168.0.4:8000″.

If the phone manages to connect you can back out of the settings screen and play around with the MIDI controllers in FingerPlay which will send messages to OSCulator.

If you see the messages coming through to OSCulator, you can click one of them and set its event type to “MIDI CC” and give it a control change value in the “Value” column. This should be enough to send it to Ableton as long as you’ve enabled OSCulator in Ableton Live’s preferences (enable “track” and “remote” for OSCulator under the “MIDI Sync” tab).

Custom layouts

If you create a folder on your sdcard called FingerPlayMIDI and put a file in it called layout.xml, FingerPlay will use that file instead of its own default layout.

Here’s the original layout minus one XY Pad:

http://thesundancekid.net/FingerPlay/layout.xml

Remember to turn off USB storage before starting FingerPlay or it won’t be able to access the file on the card.

Comments»

1. Mark - June 9, 2009

This is a bit confusing for people like me that doesn’t use computers much. I’m unsure on what to do.

2. flat20 - June 9, 2009

Yes, I feel that there’s too much to install and setup and I’ll try to simplify the process as much as I can. Is there anything in particular you’re struggling with?

3. babyuniverse - June 9, 2009

no support for mac os x? what’s the story?

4. flat20 - June 9, 2009

You should be able to use OSCulator on the mac as long as you set the server type to OSC. http://www.osculator.net/wp/

I’m not a mac user myself but I’ll do some tests in the morning.

5. Divide - June 10, 2009

Server doesn’t work on linux, ie. it seems to, but no sound is played. I checked with SimpleMidiPlayer and java seems happy to play midi alright, so I guess the problem must be somewhere in the server.

6. flat20 - June 10, 2009

The server doesn’t play any sounds itself, it will only relay the MIDI messages sent from the phone to an MIDI port on your computer.

I can get the server to run and receive messages from the phone, but I’ll see if it works with ALSA later this week.

Here’s a how-to on MIDI sequencers with softsynths for linux:

http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/MIDI-HOWTO.html#ss10.1

7. Divide - June 10, 2009

Oh, I get it now! This is not a complete instrument, but only a controller! Now only to find out what to drive that with…

8. empe - June 11, 2009

nice app! worked ok with reason :) )
can you add more controller windows? more sliders would be great
also maybe one screen could display 1,2 xy controllers.
bestest gphone app ever!!!

9. flat20 - June 11, 2009

Glad you like it! :)

I’m definitely planning on adding more controllers, just not sure how to squeeze them all in there. But I’ll see what I can do.

10. flat20 - June 11, 2009

Divide, did you get it to work with linux? Really interested in hearing how you set it up in the end.

11. jsprclimber913 - June 11, 2009

when I type
“java -jar (I then drag the file into terminal)”

I recieve this Error:

Exception in thread “Thread-0″ java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Bad version number in .class file
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:675)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:124)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:260)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:56)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:195)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:316)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:280)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:251)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:374)
at FingerPlayServer.run(FingerPlayServer.java:33)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:613)

If it helps, Mac OS X 10.5.7

Any help would be appriciated. I’ve unpacked all the the contents of the folder (two .jar files and a .bat file) directly on my Hard Drive. No subfolders.

Thanks!

12. flat20 - June 11, 2009

Thanks for letting me know. I’ve updated the zip file with a new version which works on OS X, so please re-download FingerPlayServer.zip and try again.

It should say its version number, v0.5.1, when you start it. Let me know if you have any problems getting it to run.

13. jsprclimber913 - June 11, 2009

Thanks for the update. The jar file now opens and displays

‘java -jar /FingerPlayServer.jar

FingerPlayServer v0.5.1

Listening on 192.168.1.100:4444
Waiting for connection from phone..”

And that’s as far as it gets. When returning to the phone application, I select

Server Type: FingerServer

put in that address, and hit connect. It will say connecting, but then disconnect. When I try on OSCServer, it works, but nothing seems to happen on the computer side, and the terminal does not show a connect string

Thanks for your help!

14. flat20 - June 11, 2009

Off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is that you’re not connected to the same network or the phone wifi isn’t switched on? I’ll add some more helpful errors to the application over the weekend.

15. flat20 - June 11, 2009

.. or it could be the firewall on OS X?

16. jsprclimber913 - June 11, 2009

it seems to be a firewall issue. I’ll try it when I get home to a none-firewalled metwork

17. flat20 - June 11, 2009

I’ve tried it on two different macs and it worked on one but not the other. I’m pretty sure it’s firewall related. Let me know how you get on.

18. jsprclimber913 - June 12, 2009

Thanks for the ongoing support. I got the chance this morning to try it on my home network where there is no firewall. It worked perfectly (as far as a connected message through terminal).

I then changed the server type to OSCServer and connected, set up osculator, and osculator recognised the messages perfectly as well.

This confirms its firewall related to my network at work. My question is, is there a way to change the port FingerPlayServer listens on from the (what I’m assuming is) default port of 4444? Also, if I switch to oscserver, do I need to still run the FingerPlayServer java file?

Feel free to email if you’d rather not crowd up your message board, but I thought this might be good info for other users to learn as well

Thanks for you help!

19. flat20 - June 12, 2009

I’ll make sure to add some way of changing the port for the server tomorrow and update it but if you’re using osculator you won’t FingerPlayServer, so you can remove it.

I agree, I think all these comments will be helpful to others as well. Thanks for the feedback!

20. Jack - June 13, 2009

Hey, I’m really looking forward to trying this but is there anyone way you could write a really simplified guide to setting it up on OS X? I’ve got the OSCulator thing and the FingerPlayServer as well as Ableton Live but I’ve got no idea how to get it working.

Thanks.

21. tekrytor - June 14, 2009

Just found FingerPlay on the market and I’m excited to try it in linux.

I would like to see G1 trackball used for modulation and/or pitch control.

I’ll be back with results.

22. tekrytor - June 14, 2009

To Divide,

You may need to use Jack as the virtual midi connector in linux.

23. flat20 - June 15, 2009

Jack, All you need to do is start OSCulator and set FingerPlay to connect to the OSC server type and enter your computer’s local IP and port 8000, the default port for OSCulator. So if your computer IP is 192.168.1.4, enter “192.168.1.4:8000″ in the server address field and press connect.

Here’s how to find your computer’s IP address on Mac. http://bit.ly/1Hl2D

Now when you touch any controller on the phone it will send a message to OSCulator which can pass it on to Ableton as a MIDI message.

If nothing happens then your firewall might be blocking the connection between the phone and OSCulator. I’ve tried it on two different Macs, one worked and the other didn’t, but unfortunately I don’t know enough about OS X’s firewall to help you with this.

24. flat20 - June 15, 2009

tekrytor,

Let me know how you get on. I’ve tried the server on a linux machine but haven’t been able to test it properly with any MIDI software yet.

25. thesundancekid » FingerPlay Youtube Demonstration - June 15, 2009

[...] FingerPlay MIDI jump to navigation [...]

26. beejay - June 17, 2009

Yeah, nice =)
Haven’t tried it, due to the lack of an android-phone, but already looking for some nice software.
Plan to use it for controlling my Traktor-Software (especially the effects-section), when it’s possible (should be, because i can configure every MIDI-Controller to work with it). I hope, that there’ll be some BUTTONS in your software soon, too!

27. Vik - June 18, 2009

cool bit of kit, would love some BUTTONS, maybe 12, that would be amazing,!!!?????

amazing work none the less?
vik

28. Create Digital Music » Android MIDI Controller, Musical App Updates with MIDI Over Wifi - June 19, 2009

[...] FingerPlay MIDI [...]

29. Android 手机作为键盘遥控电脑演奏音乐的程序 FingerPlay MIDI 来了 &raquo 谷奥——探寻谷歌的奥秘 (http://google.org.cn) - June 20, 2009

[...] 以前我曾经报道过首款Android虚拟钢琴程序Musical,感谢1.5系统的到来加入对实时音频API的支持。今天新出来的一个叫做FingerPlay MIDI的程序更厉害啦,它可以让你通过WiFi来发送OSC控制信息到电脑,通过Android手机上的虚拟推子和触摸板,来控制电脑上运行的虚拟乐器软件演奏。尽管都是可以演奏的音乐程序,但之前的Musical是自己发声,只有简单的钢琴音色。这次出来的FingerPlay MIDI则是发出OSC控制信息,控制你的电脑发声,发出什么声音,控制声音如何变化,都取决于你电脑上运行什么虚拟乐器软件。 [...]

30. MaXVaX » Blog Archive » Android MIDI Controller, Musical App Updates with MIDI Over Wifi - June 21, 2009

[...] FingerPlay MIDI [...]

31. toren - June 21, 2009

i do not connect to server http://www.nerds.de/ and do not download driver for windows.
please upload LoopBe1 to another server, please

32. flat20 - June 22, 2009

toren, if you can’t connect to nerds.de you can try with MIDI Yoke instead:

http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm

33. ch - June 22, 2009

i really want this to work but have no clue what so ever? tried to follow the guide but no luck. i’m on an intel imac 10.4.11.

Can some one please upload a guide for dum-asses like me lol
Thanks
Cheesehead

34. flat20 - June 22, 2009

ch,

Have you tried OSCulator? http://www.osculator.net/wp/

Download and run it. Then set server type to “OSC Server” on your phone and connect to your IP address and the port OSCulator says it’s listening to (default is 8000).

You can find your IP address in “Apple -> System preferences.. -> network”, choose your active connection, click “Advanced..” and finally the TCP/IP tab.

I’m not a Mac user myself but there’s one here at work and that’s how I found the IP address.

Server address on the phone should read something like “192.168.0.80:8000″ for port 8000 and a server address of 192.168.0.80.

Click “Connect to Server”.

35. ch - June 22, 2009

Thanks Flat20,

I’m getting closer, i’m now getting a connection between my phone and osculator but it won’t pick up in ableton. i ‘ve selected osculator in midi prefs and tried to assign control data from the phone.
I’m so close!!!!! COME ON WORK!!!!!!!

H E L P ! ! ! !

36. flat20 - June 22, 2009

If you see the messages coming through to OSCulator, you can click one of them and set its event type to “MIDI CC” and give it a control change value in the “Value” column. This should be enough to send it to Ableton.

37. Threv - June 22, 2009

I’m in the same boat as some others. Not Mac user cant use OSCulator. Server starts up waits for connection. Cannot connect to Fingerplay server. Change to OSCulator mode. makes connection. Nothing happens. Any suggestions? (On same networks, firewall is off).

38. ch - June 22, 2009

YES I”M IN!!!!!

Great work! : ) I’m gonna show of in the studio with this little baby!!

It’s not too smooth but i think that might be the wifi connetion.

Needs more faders and dials. One huge knob for filter sweeps.

Thanks for the support online, keep up the great work.

10/10

39. Tom - June 25, 2009

After turning the app off and on again, the controls won’t work anymore. Seems like they have new Control-IDs. I have to configure my Midisoftware everytime I start the app on my phone

40. dapharmacist - June 27, 2009

Ok this is live as hell when can we get drum pad(trigger and or sequencing like in fruity loops maybe) support…that will make this the beez kneez

41. JKL - July 3, 2009

MAN … awesome….

I AM BEGGING YOU… please add 2 NO – 3 MORE control pages – 1 – TRANSPORT… jeez that’d kick real nuts if one could control TRANSPORT through this app… i just imagine womdering around the studio and pressing play … that would seriously ROCK..

PAGE no 2 … as already suggested – mpc type pads maybe 4×4 or 4×6 depends on how this would look…

PAge no 3 …. ROTARY controls … like little rotor thingies as you would have that are similar to the 4 line controls only round. ..

i mean the whole programming i imagine wouldn’t be much different to what you have done so far but just need to add more midi channels and pages with different VISUAL implemetations of the same thing you already have …

i’d totally pay money for that…

so yes .. thanks for the work so far anyway…

P.S. if you don’t mind (and you decide to expand the app of course) , i can make the graphics for the app …
got some sweet ideas in mind….

jeez, i am totally excited…

42. tekrytor - July 6, 2009

I got CCs working on XP and Vista, but nothing in Linux yet. I think it can be done though. I’m just getting things clear on the dark (windows) side, and then I’ll give it another go in Linux.

In my case, I had trouble because FingerPlay on Android indicated I should connect to 127.0.0.1:4444 or 0.0.0.0:4444 for the server, despite my host being 192.168.2.4. So I ran “ipconfig” in a command prompt on my Windows box, it returned “192.168.2.4″, which I entered on the G1 with :4444 added and it then connected. This connection was confirmed on the XP/Vista box in the FingerPlay Server window, after which I could see the midi commands getting across. This is the first step, then I selected LoopBe or Maple on the G1 as the MIDI Output Device and selected LoopBe or Maple as the input device on my softsynth. Then the fun begins linking the midi controls in the softsynth, which depends on the software how it’s done. So I won’t go into that here.

For new midi users, there are many good sites with midi info that you might need to use this stuff, midi is not plug-n-play. One site (many out there) with info on midi commands is:
http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php

It might also need to know how to count and convert between hex, binary and decimal formats. Try wikipedia if you get stuck on this.

43. JKL - July 6, 2009

Hey – just got the update and the 16 pads are nice … they are prefect for launching clips in ableton live ..

Now we only need a page to control Impulse (i mean the pads work the same as the 16 page control only they have to send midi on and off signal as soon as you let it go… …

similar to a keyboard key …

maybe that can be added as an option for the 16 pad page that already exists…

yeah ,,

and seperate page for transport controls as I mentioned in the previous post would be so cool …

44. flat20 - July 6, 2009

jkl, Adding a simple step sequencer is something I wanted too, I was planning a button for each slider which would open up a sequencer window so you could automate the sliders. If you have any design ideas I’d love to hear/see them – the UI is getting a bit cluttered.

I’ll make sure the buttons work like proper pads with pressure and not just simple switches :) .

45. flat20 - July 6, 2009

tekrytor, thanks for posting the info. I’ll sit down and make a proper tutorial with your info in it and take some screenshots as well.

I installed ubuntu on my old laptop yesterday so I can test it with linux now.

46. JKL - July 6, 2009

hey flat20 that’s a nice idea to have a simple step sequencer…

yes – i can sketch out some ideas how to have a sequencer with the faders.

anyway just drop me an email to jklsound@googlemail.com and i will send you some design ideas …

cheers..

47. JKL - July 7, 2009

hello flat20 , it’s me again – jeez you are hard worker – i mean second update in like one and a half days…..

i see you changed the 4×4 pad grid to act as piano keys contrary to the previous style where each time you press the pad, it gets on or off signal…

the idea is great – love it but the little glitch with it is that there is this random way that the pads assign their midi signal….

let me tell you what i am getting at…

in most drum plugins the drum pad sounds are assigned to the preconfigured midi notes …. (also known as a piano roll) … so in almost all plugins for example kick goes on the C1 snare on c2 or c3 etc.

well the pads don’t have this configuration and the only way to make a sequencer like ableton live to map this midi input to a drum pad is to use an external program that remaps given input signal from for example pad 1 to a note C1…. (because altough some plugins do, most drum plugins and daws don’t allow you to remap the piano roll because it is sort of an industry standart)

it would be nice if the drum pads would already be configured to map notes from c1 upwards to whatever it gets ….. BUT then we have another problem – there aren’t enough pads to cover the whole piano roll… so in my opinion it would be awesome to be able to configure the notes under settings/configure midi controllers… also for the sake of not confusing people i can suggest renaming the two big pads to X/Y pads or xy axis pads…. and the 4×4 pads to mpc or drum pads…

so i think it would work perfectly if in the end you would be able to go into settings and set any piano roll note to any pad so you could even play simple melodies if your plugin would be a synth… sorta like mpcs work….

also it’d be great if you would make the 4×4 pads a tad bit bigger because sometimes if you are performing with it, you can miss the pad accidentally … so yeah i think for the drum pads it is safe to use as much screen real estate as possible.
I already tried to use this app last night in a performance and it just blows people away … but i had few glitches with not being able to hit the pads… (i used them to launch live clips….

Also i know i already ask a lot but please bring back the old pads as well – maybe it is possible to have both … because the just on or off pads that were in version 0.6 are just PERFECT for ableton Live clip launch feature…

actually please crop me an email so i have your email address – i did some sketches and i have some neat ideas about a step sequencer …

48. JKL - July 7, 2009

i meant drop :)

49. aUs10v - July 7, 2009

Im still having a little trouble working the OSCulator with Ableton on Mac OS X … can anyone post some step by step directions?

Having problems with:

- Finding where to input my computers IP into the G1 FingerPlay

- Understanding the basic config of OSCulator (How to set it up to work with Ableton)

…Because I get Ableton to understand that OSCulator is running, but cant get the mapping commands to follow through.. I get ableton in mapping mode but cant get it to read the commands.

50. Codey - July 7, 2009

I’m loving this. I’d like to create such an app myself. Are you willing to release the source code? If so, I’d love to take a look and see what you’re doing and how.

51. flat20 - July 7, 2009

aUs10v,

1) Click the top right button in FingerPlay to go to the settings screen, choose “OSC Server” as the “Server Type” and in “Server Address” enter your computer’s IP address followed by “:8000″ (which is the default port for OSCulator).

So if your IP address is 192.168.0.4, enter “192.168.0.4:8000″.

2) If the phone manages to connect you can back out of the settings screen and play around with the MIDI controllers in FingerPlay which will send messages to OSCulator.

If you see the messages coming through to OSCulator, you can click one of them and set its event type to “MIDI CC” and give it a control change value in the “Value” column. This should be enough to send it to Ableton as long as you’ve enabled OSCulator in Ableton Live’s preferences (enable “track” and “remote” for OSCulator under the “MIDI Sync” tab).

I hope that helps!

52. flat20 - July 7, 2009

Codey, I’m planning to release the source code for it, but it needs a clean up first :) .

53. codey - July 7, 2009

Beautiful.

I completely understand and appreciate the need to clean up your code before release, although I think much can be learned from viewing subversion logs and viewing a programmer’s refactoring.

Might I suggest Github?

54. tekrytor - July 8, 2009

Good news on the Linux side, using UbuntuStudio 9.04 with the Audio package, I run a terminal and navigate to the folder with FingerPlayServer, then enter the following string:

java FingerPlayServer.jar %1 %2

It didn’t like the %1 %2, so I dropped them and it worked. It responded with the ip address, which I checked using the following command in another terminal:

ip addr

Then look for the ip address in the output.

The server runs, now I’m working on the midi interfaces in Jack. I’m trying to connect to ZynAddSubFx or LMMS.

Anyone else get this far in Linux and can tip me on the virtual midi interface stuff?

55. tekrytor - July 8, 2009

About the UI on the G1, I would like to see the X-Y pads programmable, so I can set one to midi notes on one axis and modulation on the other, with velocity according to pressure – for example. And, I would like to have one large X-Y pad for playing notes, and the two smaller pads for other CCs. But basically, if I could set the CCs on the G1 or in an XML file and load it onto the G1, that would be cool. Just brainstorming a bit. But to play notes, a bigger pad would be great. As is, I’m using Bome’s MidiTranslator to conver the CCs to the ones I want. It adds a layer, and that’s a Windows program, I want to do this in Linux if I can. Keeping it compact for the G1 is also a priority for the kid I’m sure. This is soooo coool a toool! Thanks Kid!

56. flat20 - July 8, 2009

tekrytor, I want to add as many features as possible without over-complicating things for the standard user. Having an XML file for the advanced user is certainly a possibility. I could create a default layout and anyone who wanted to could create his own.

I installed ubuntu on my other laptop so I can try it out on linux.

Cheers!

57. flat20 - July 8, 2009

Codey,

Github sounds like a good idea. And you asked about why I use openGL, I tried using native controls for it but switching between tabs, for example, was too slow.

I use FingerPlay to add effects in DJ software so I tried to make the controllers as quick and easy to access as I could.

58. gabe - July 9, 2009

I’m trying to connect wiht Mac os10.5

when I run the java applet in terminal I get this message:

Listening on 192.168.1.8:4444
java.net.BindException: Address already in use

when I connect to that IP on my phone, I get these options for midi devices:
Real Time Sequencer
Java Sound Synthesizer

I can’t seem to get OSCulater or the java applet to recognize my midi inputs

59. samBiotic - July 11, 2009

FingerplayMIDI v0.6.3 set up to send to an OSC server:

I’m not getting any arguments just /fingerplay/control1 /fingerplay/control2 etc and nothing following it with the current data

I have the slider/button but not the state.

Using Pd version 0.41.4-extended from http://bit.ly/muLyl
and a simple patch based on a “dumpOSC 4444″ object to test.

As an aside:
Which osc library are you using?
I was getting constant garbage collection on device when using the javaosc library from http://bit.ly/Vfbyy which was then causing glitches in the ui thread.

Had it compiling pre cupcake but haven’t looked at my code in a while.

Would be keen to see your code as I was using xml based layouts not opengl.

Good work.

60. filthy mack - July 11, 2009

How do you map the pads to trigger notes say for instance dr. Rex or fruity loops fpc?

61. flat20 - July 13, 2009

filthy mack, I’ll update fingerplay tonight so it sends notes rather than standard midi control change messages.

62. Joe - July 13, 2009

Hey i’m getting there but i’m wondering if you can suggest a perminant piece of free software as Ableton is only a 14 day trial? Sorry for being a cheapskate. Cheers

63. pcstalljr - July 14, 2009

it is saying the server is listening localy. (127.0.0.1:4444) think it could be my firewall? im useing eset nod 32

64. Alejandro Fernandez - July 22, 2009

Hi,

Just to say I just had a look, and I don’t think this is ready yet to try on Linux (cos I don’t have loads of free time to try it out at the moment). Still though, I give it a month, I’m sure by then someone will have gotten through the whole process and posted instructions.

Meanwhile though, I’d really like to see your source code… Is that something you are planning to release? I really want to write a midi tracker app for android, and seeing the jet functions in use, (if you use them at all that is) would really help…

Thanks for writing it!

Ale

65. Chris - July 28, 2009

Hi there,

I was hoping I could get a little help, which I’d really appreciate. I’ve installed the Fingerplay client on my android phone (which looks awesome), but I can’t seem to get my PC to run the java file for the server? I’m probably missing something incredibly obvious, but any time I try to run the command line you give (or run the batch file), command prompt just says it doesn’t recognise it. I have Java 6 installed, but I can’t quite figure this out.
Do you have any ideas?

Thanks!
Chris

66. Chris - July 28, 2009

Don’t worry, I sorted it out (needed to tweak the Windows Environment Variables to recognise the “java” command in Command Prompt). :-)

Chris

67. flat20 - July 29, 2009

Alejandro, I’m definitely planning on releasing the source code and I’m currently trying to clean up the code a bit.

The app doesn’t use JET, it simply sends MIDI control change messages over a network socket to the server.

Let me know if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in seeing from the code and maybe I can send you parts of it.

68. Adam Wrzeski - July 29, 2009

You rock dude. I am going nuts playing with Fab Filter Twin2 and your FingerPlay MIDI

So awesome.

A thousand thank yous. I look forward to seeing even more insane work from you, and I’ll happily pay for it! You deserve it!

69. Adam Wrzeski - July 31, 2009

The only problem I’m having is converting OSC -> MIDI CC
What are the values of your X/Y Pad Continues Controllers?

I can’t seem to get the OSC parameters right (using osculator). Is the X/Y controller 0-127? or is it like the pitch bend parameter?

Thanks!

70. Lito - August 1, 2009

im having problems stting it up on my mac. when i try to open the “fingerplayserver.jar” nothin happens

71. flat20 - August 1, 2009

Adam, If that’s all you get I need to make sure I haven’t broken anything in the last release. You should get values between 0 and 127 but perhaps I missed something. I’ll look into it as soon as I’m near a Mac.

72. flat20 - August 1, 2009

Lito, If you have java installed you should be able to start the server from the command line:

java -jar FingerplayServer.jar

If you’re in the same folder as the jar file. If that doesn’t work you can try with OSCulator and setting the server type to OSC on the phone.

http://www.osculator.net/wp/

73. Adam Wrzeski - August 1, 2009

Got your email. Yeah it might be finger play. Now it’s having problems connecting to the OSC host at all. (my configuration issue probably, I probably installed some crap-ware on my android).

Let me know if you find anything in the code. It should be sending 0-127 like I assumed it would, but I think your OSC messages might be mis-configured. It’s definitely sending Touch On/Off correctly.

In fact it even appears that the X/Y CC values look like touch On/Off as well. I’ll send you a link to a youtube video I record a little later today so you can see what’s happening.

Again, let me reiterate the great work you’ve done here. If I were a programmer I would be elated to help you work on the bugs but all I can do is just test the crap out of it as an end-user.

Thanks,

Adam

74. Adam Wrzeski - August 1, 2009

Here are my experimentations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io0GUlN2IcY

75. Adam Wrzeski - August 2, 2009

LOL! FingerPlay crashes my Router. I can’t explain it, but after using it a lot. There’s something about my router that doesn’t like the packets FingerPlay sends!

It’s totally on my end. But I don’t get why the OSC messages aren’t sending 0-127.

Anyway. Last post! I promise! I’ll email you incessantly from now on… just kidding.

:)

76. Lito - August 2, 2009

ok im stuck on setting up OSCulator. ive never had to settup midi values and stuff.wat would be some common values for these controls? or how would i know exactly wat to put? im using reason4

77. Adam Wrzeski - August 2, 2009

Here is my OSCulator file.

http://archives.djfreaq.com/projects/osculator/fingerplay.oscd

With the MIDI mapping set up *correctly* (I think).

I’m still having trouble getting anything but 0 and 1 from FingerPlay. Use the quick look feature and tell me what you’re getting from the X/Y pads (controllers 0-5).

78. Adam Wrzeski - August 2, 2009

Lito, read post 77 (sorry forgot to quote you)

79. Lito - August 3, 2009

Adam

What do i do w that link? When i click on it it just pens a page of garbled text

80. Lito - August 3, 2009

how do u get the values to send from 0-127? i can only get it to send like “on/off”

81. flat20 - August 3, 2009

Adam, I’m back at work today so I can hopefully test OSCulator later. Have you tried setting the event type to MIDI CC and giving it a control change value in the “Value” column?

82. Lito - August 3, 2009

yea i did that. like i set a slider to the value of “1″ for mod wheel and it would send the midi but the mod wheel just jumps from all the way up to all the way down as if im pressing a button.

83. flat20 - August 3, 2009

Lito & Adam, thanks for the help guys! I think I’ve found the problem and I’ve fixed it. I’ll get an update out ASAP and let me know if it doesn’t solve the problem for you.

cheers!

84. Dj Nemesis - August 3, 2009

Will this app, work on the mac pro books? i’m not to up to date on technology…!LOL so if anyone can help me i would really appreciate Thankz

85. Lito - August 4, 2009

Flat
Kool! ill b waiting on that update. Great app by the way! Havnt quite got it working right yet but w that update im sure its gonna b my favorite app. hope u plan 2 keep adding more to it. i like the idea of a transport n maybe some knobs

86. Adam Wrzeski - August 4, 2009

Flat: Awesome. I can’t wait for the update. Glad to help. Audio geeks unite.

Lito: Are you familiar with Control + Clicking links to save them to your hard drive? Try that. Once you download that file, open it with OSCulator.

87. Ian - August 4, 2009

Hey flat20. Awesome app.

I’m also having trouble running it under linux. The phone connects to the server just fine. The server receives events just fine, but I have absolutely no clue how to use the output with JACK, or (much less-so) with my DAW, Renoise

Any help would be much-appreciated. I imagine that an ALSA MIDI interface would do the linux world wonders.

88. samBiotic - August 4, 2009

Nice one flat20.
v0.6.5 now sends arguments to an OSC Server correctly.

89. Lito - August 5, 2009

Got the update but it only seems about half fixed. the sliders and x/y’s seem to b sending between 0-127 now but its still jumping around. like when i move the sliders now instead of jumping from 0 to 127 (like it was b4 the update) it jumps around in between too. it also appears to be in reverse. like up goes down n down goes up.
Im not sure what the problem is tho because when i go to “quick look” in OSCulator the midi appears to b working fine. im using reason 4.0. any idea what my problem is?

90. pelle - August 7, 2009

Looks great! A fantastic thing would be to have a good audio application running on the Android device itself (like Bahjis Loops on PalmOS), being able to switch to FingerPlay to control things live (change pattern, filter sweeps, etc).

I don’t think I will have much use connecting to a computer, but I’m keeping FingerPlay installed waiting for a nice OSC capable Android app to play with.

91. flat20 - August 10, 2009

Lito, It seems very strange that reason or OSCulator would flip the values coming from FingerPlay, but what do you mean by “it jumps around in between too”?

92. flat20 - August 10, 2009

alejandro, tekrytor, divide,

I got the FingerPlay server to see virtual MIDI devices in linux using the ALSA VirMidi module.

http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/VirMidi

Unfortunately I had to change some code to get FingerPlay MIDI to list the MIDI ports properly, but I’ll upload an update to the app and the server in the next coming days. This update should make it work on linux.

93. Ian - August 10, 2009

*tips hat* 5 star rating for you, good sir ;)

94. noah martinez - August 14, 2009

hi im having trouble conecting to my serve from my phone… the phone sais conecting but then imidiately disconects is it maybe because im using the t-mobile mytouch???? please help thank you

95. noah - August 14, 2009

hi… im having troubles conecting to my server when ever i try to conect the phone sais conecting please wait but then imideatly disconects..my firewall is down i also tried the osc setting in the phone but wouldnt conect either…is it because im using the tmobile mytouch instead of the g1???? please help….

96. flat20 - August 15, 2009

noah, I’m not sure why it doesn’t connect with the mytouch. I would have thought it would work just fine on it? What IP and port numbers are you using?

97. flat20 - August 15, 2009

In the latest version there’s some pretty basic support for customizable layouts using an XML file.

If you create a folder on your sdcard called FingerPlayMIDI and put a file in it called layout.xml, FingerPlay will use that file instead of its own default layout.

Here’s the original layout minus one touch pad:

http://thesundancekid.net/FingerPlay/layout.xml

Remember to turn off USB storagebefore starting FingerPlay or it won’t be able to access the file on the card.

98. flat20 - August 15, 2009

Here’s a VERY brief explanation on how to get it to run on linux with http://www.mixxx.org/ – I tried it with ubuntu:

Run this command on the terminal to install the virtual midi module:

sudo modprobe snd-virmidi

Start mixxx.

Use “aconnect -i” to list available inputs and aconnect -o to list available outputs. If the snd-virmidi module is working it should list a few VirMIDI ports and one called Mixxx.

Use aconnect to link a midi port to mix. In my case Mixxx is 128 and I have one MIDI port with id 20 so I use:

aconnect 20:0 128:0

Now start FingerPlayServer and connect to it on your phone. It should list a lot of VirMIDI ports but pick the one matching the port you’ve connected to Mixxx. On my machine it’s “VirMIDI [hw:1,0,0]”

Now try the MIDI learn function in Mixxx for your MIDI port and it should pick up the controller changes from the phone.

99. aUs10v - August 15, 2009

Thanks for your help previously .. I finally understand where I was mixing the installation process…

But now..

Everytime i click the MIDI Channel in settings … Fingerplay crashes.
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling .. no luck..

Any advice?

100. flat20 - August 16, 2009

That’s strange.. Are you using the latest version of FingerServer? It should be version 0.7.0

101. Ian - August 17, 2009

Hey flat20….it seems everytime I attempt to connect to the server, I get this, now:

Phone connected.
S: Error
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 20
at com.flat20.fingerplay.Midi.getDeviceNames(Midi.java:275)
at com.flat20.fingerplay.socket.ClientSocketThread.handleRequestMidiDeviceListCommand(ClientSocketThread.java:111)
at com.flat20.fingerplay.socket.ClientSocketThread.run(ClientSocketThread.java:53)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Phone disconnected.

Hope this helps….

102. beatfix - August 17, 2009

Excellent application. All of your updates so far have been right on point, too. Keep up the great work – can’t wait to see where it goes next!

103. flat20 - August 17, 2009

Ian, that should only happen if you’re using the old version of the server. Does it say it’s version 0.7.0 when you run it?

104. Ian - August 20, 2009

That’s strange, it works now…I can’t reproduce it.

I really could’ve sworn it was the latest version.

Oh well.

I got bored and connected it over WAN.

Ended up being quite entertaining. :P

105. Ian - August 20, 2009

Wait no….(Sorry for hogging posts)

It only happens when I have the virmidi module loaded.

106. flat20 - August 20, 2009

Ian, are you saying it’s not working when virmidi is loaded? And the server says it’s 0.7.0 when you run it?

It could be that the midi device list is too long and the message gets split up in two when FingerPlay reads it. I’ll look into it.

107. Ian - August 21, 2009

Yes exactly that. If I do a “sudo modprobe -r virmidi” it connects just fine

108. mr.n!ce - August 26, 2009

Hey I got an error when I start the fingerplayservice.java:

Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: FingerPlayServer/jar
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: FingerPlayServer.jar
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(Unknown Source)
Could not find the main class: FingerPlayServer.jar. Program will exit.

I am using Windows 7 Ultimate (no Beta)

Anyone knows what to do?

109. mr.n!ce - August 26, 2009

I have —64 BIT —- Version of Windows 7 Ultimate

110. flat20 - August 26, 2009

mr.n!ce,

It looks like you tried to run it without the “-jar” parameter.

Start the server on the command line like this:

java -jar FingerPlayServer.jar

111. Nick - August 29, 2009

Is there any way to get it to run through usb rather than wifi? AMAZING app! my phone is now permanently next to my keyboard! any help would be great, thanks!

112. fruitbat - August 30, 2009

Trying to run the server under linux I get the same error as Ian, but all the time. I do have two soundcards in this machine though, maybe that’s making the list of MIDI devices too long?

Any way to use OSC under linux with FingerPlay?

113. flat20 - September 1, 2009

Nick, It wouldn’t be impossible to run it via USB but it would require some changes and you’d have to install the Android SDK for developers. Basically, it would be a bit of a hack to get it to work.

114. flat20 - September 1, 2009

fruitbat,

I’ll try to fix that bug once and for all in the coming days. You can use http://puredata.info/ to receive OSC messages, but it can be a bit tricky to set up.

115. tVal - September 2, 2009

congratulations, great app.
can you make use of the accelerometers, too?

116. Dan - September 14, 2009

When trying to run the server on Ubuntu 9.04, it keeps telling me to use 127.0.1.1:4444.
Even when i use ifconfig to find the true ip, i dont get a connection the my pc.
What is wrong?

117. flat20 - September 14, 2009

dan,

Use the true IP from ifconfig with port 4444. Server doesn’t know which interface to get the IP from and on linux it seems to default to 127.0.0.1 unfortunately.

118. flat20 - September 14, 2009

tval, I will definitely look into using the accelerometers too.

119. pelle - September 15, 2009

Some new(?) requests, in no particular order:

Step sequencer, something like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUEACXQo_Sw
Guess the pads would be very small, but no worse than the onscreen keyboard keys are in portrait mode.

Seeing this device, an shown on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEueddeR98o made me think that maybe if it would be possible for fingerplay to also receive OSC events then the computer (running for instance SuperCollider) could send back events to toggle the pads. The pads could just send up/down events or something and let the computer worry about if/when they should light up. That would open up to some more complex and interactive GUIs to use with applications that could support it.

… and if that is possible, the next step could be to allow the application on the computer to send entire configurations over OSC. One obvious solution (although maybe not the prettiest one) would be to accept an OSC message containing the XML data that would otherwise be on the SD card. So depending on what softsynth you run you could automatically get fingerplay to display a matching GUI for it.

Simple matter of programming? :)

120. JazzSayzz - September 17, 2009

Fingerplay is a great and innovative app with huge potential. A little rough round the edges, but still…

Anyway, I tried to get it to work with FL Studio, but with limited result. FL Studio picks up the signal, but the sliders and controls fly all over the place. I think Fingerplay is using some kind of MIDI protocol that isn’t compatible with FL studio.

Any suggestions? I’m dying to show off the Fingerplay Fl Studio combination to my musical buddies!

121. dep - September 17, 2009

Thank you for this app! If anyone’s interested, I made a patch vvvv patch for Fingerplay: http://vvvv.org/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=1990
You can contact me through the vvvv site (in the URL) if you have any questions :)

122. DJkronique - September 18, 2009

So im trying to set this up so I can try and run it with my traktor scratch pro, and im having some issues I have everything saved and when i go to command line. When I enter the command line this is what i get
‘java’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file any help would be kool thanks in advance

123. flat20 - September 18, 2009

@jazz Have you tried it with any other software? I’ll download a demo version of FL Studio and try it myself.

@dep That’s great! I’ll update this page later with some more tutorials and add a link to your patch as well.

@DJkronique You haven’t got java installed on your machine. You need to download and install it. Get it here:

http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp

124. flat20 - September 18, 2009

@pelle Thanks for the suggestions! Step sequencer and receiving MIDI events is definitely features I want to add. I haven’t got a network at home so updates have been a bit slow lately, but in two weeks everything should be set up in the house I just moved to. As soon as I got wifi going I’ll get back to FingerPlay.

125. DJkronique - September 20, 2009

I have java dl’ed again just to be safe and no go still any help apreciated thankx

126. JazzSayzz - September 21, 2009

I have not used any other software, because I have no other MIDI software installed. But I guess the problem is related to FL studio.

Thanks so much for the efford!

127. nick c. - October 5, 2009

Hey flat20,great app. I’m havin a little trouble getting it to work with windows vista. Is it vista compatible? I’m havin trouble with the command line. In vista, would I enter that in command promt or somewhere else? How wouldi get to vistas command line. Wen I entered what u said to endter into the coommand promt, it gave me an error message. Can u help me?

128. drkmagus - October 6, 2009

hey flat20, got some trouble with app…
I’m on HTC hero got an error when i try to conect to server.
“The application FingerPlay MIDI (process com.flat20.fingerplay) has stopped unexpectedly. please try again”

Any clue?

Thank.

129. zilog - October 13, 2009

Can’t seem to make it connect to my computer. Trying on two non-firewalled machines running OSX and Windows respectively. On the same subnet triple checked. Once the phone app fails to connect it doesn’t let me retry, leaving the app and coming back to it again has no effect, but I guess this is because of the execution model of Android. An error message of some sort would be nice.

I’d be happy to fix it myself, but there’s no source. :(

130. BD - October 13, 2009

Hi flat20..thanks for the app.. i use fingerplay to control synthsizer settings on max/msp

I am building a subtractor synth for the android, and, if possible, would like to use your GUI controls for controlling filters, envelopes and such.. . Please let me know if you’d be willing to share/release parts of your source code. Thanks.

131. Filthydisco - October 17, 2009

Hey man, Love the app but still trying to wrap my head around connecting it.

I’m not sure what you mean by ” Start it from the command line with:
java -jar FingerPlayServer.jar” Not quite positive what to do here. have everything downloaded, extracted, and what not. Any help would be nice heh. Oh and I’m on vista. Thanks

132. Sam - October 18, 2009

great app!
works great over wi-fi, but a little “bursty” over 3g, as to be expected.

what’s the button under the settings button for?

133. CraigD8 - October 20, 2009

Great app, thanks a bunch. Got it working in Reaper can control master and track Volume/Pan and start/stop play and record, all from my phone. Still plenty of room for more buttons to be programmed. Is there anyway for you to allow us to name the buttons, that would really be useful.

134. Sam - October 21, 2009

The random midi assignments each time the app loads are a little annoying :P

135. D-LoC - October 28, 2009

I am also having the same problem as DJkronique. Has anyone found out if it’s a vista problem ?

136. flat20 - October 28, 2009

You need to download and install java and make sure the path to your java install directory is added to your PATH in windows. Hopefully this page can help you out:

http://www.astahost.com/info.php/Setting-Java-Correctly_t18201.html

137. flat20 - October 28, 2009

Sorry for the lack of updates to the application but my laptop’s hard drive broke down and I’m waiting for a replacement.

138. Sam - October 30, 2009

all good man!
btw, i demoed the app for a competition :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4DfOcv60u4

139. Zach - November 1, 2009

I still can’t java to run from the command line. I’ve installed the latest java update and I added it to my PATH variable. Any suggestions?

140. pelle - November 6, 2009

This is really cool:

http://cylob.blogspot.com/2009/11/tiny-music-system.html

If Fingerplay had that ability I asked for earlier to be configured in real-time by OSC messages you could sort of get a GUI like that one.

Of course in the video the softsynth is also running on the phone itself, in the background being controlled by OSC, rather than remotely on a PC. Unfortunately there is no Android port of SuperCollider like there is for the iphone. :(

http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/

141. flat20 - November 6, 2009

pelle, Yes, Adding a simple step sequencer in the app is my highest priority for FingerPlay. I’ve just got a new hard drive, so this weekend I’ll start working on the app again.

142. flat20 - November 6, 2009

Zach, are you getting any errors? Is it saying something about “java is not recognized as an internal or external command” ? In that case windows can’t find the java.exe in the PATH variable. What does your PATH variable look like? And where is your java.exe?

143. flat20 - November 6, 2009

Sam, I love the youtube video! Really should have done one myself a long time ago..

The button you asked about clears the ‘held’ buttons. If you press a controller and press the menu button on your phone, it won’t send the release MIDI event when you take your finger off the screen.

I need to make a video showing these features and how I use them.. :)

144. Ali - November 8, 2009

Hey, i’ve been doing Midi controlling with a whole bunch of different interfaces, and i can tell that this one is going to be nice, but as a mac user, i am supremely confused on how to use this with the mac. there are no resources on Osculator’s website for how to set this up properly to work with Fingerplay, and even though I can tell you’re being helpful to people by answering individual questions, i think we would all benefit greatly from a few tutorials.

My question is how to properly setup the Osculator host server and how to get that synced up with Fingerplay. I cannot seem to get the two to communicate with each other at all. I don’t understand Osculator at all.
(although, i found this and it might be useful to some:
http://archives.djfreaq.com/projects/osculator/fingerplay.oscd
check that out!)

I set up the server and start Osculator up, and then go to Fingerplay, and after multiple attempts at getting it connected, it finally does, but that’s the end of it: there’s no communication even though i’m told they are connected. what could be causing this problem?

I am obsessed with turning things into midi controllers, so i would love any information i could get about how to make this work.

-Ali

145. tVal - November 12, 2009

Hey Ali,
Who tells you that they are are connected? Osculator or Fingerplay? Do you have your WiFi configured to recieve Data from devices?
-tVal

146. gabe - November 12, 2009

just a simple question, what does the button underneath the settings, with the downward facing arrow and a line do? I can’t seem to figure it out.

147. Digital Shiv » FingerPlay MIDI: an Android MIDI controller UI - November 13, 2009

[...] I went in search of MIDI and OSC applications.  Here’s a freeware MIDI UI controller, FingerPlay MIDI: “FingerPlay MIDI is a MIDI controller for Android. Any changes made to the controllers on [...]

148. flat20 - November 13, 2009

@gabe if you press down on a slider, for example, and press the menu button on your phone. it will stay pressed when you let go. you can do that on more than one controller but when you press the arrow button it will ‘release’ them.

it’s a bit difficult to explain. i’ll make a video when i get the wifi at home to play nicely again :)

149. dep - November 15, 2009

I would like to request a feature: please add the ability to send data from the phone’s sensors (accelerometer, compass, etc) via OSC/Fingerplay packets.
Are you still going to open the source? ‘Cos if you do, I could possibly help out with fulfilling the first request ;)
Thanks!

150. Ali - November 16, 2009

@Tval;
fingerplay tells me i’m connected, but osculator picks up no messages to interpret.

151. red giant sol - November 16, 2009

I got it up and running on Windows, and I was amazed at how easy it was. Thanks for a great app!

I’m a little bit still confused about the midi mapping, however. I see in the command-line messages that the controller is sending on “channel 0″, and then there are messages about data1 and data2, etc. How do I work with that info?

thanks!

152. eps - November 25, 2009

pretty stupid question – how to download fingerplay package onto the phone device? i haven’t found it anywhere on the web (including this site), neither on android market (search returns no matches).

i’ve got htc touch diamond winmobile phone, just installed android 1.6 onto it (specially for running fingerplay), but simply cannot find the client/phone part to run

153. kme - December 1, 2009

Nice work, thanks for a great first step for MIDI/OSC on Android! I am using PD (as some others have recommended) and find it very smooth and easy to use. It also makes for easy routing to MIDI CC’s, etc.

One problem I have is in the buttons interface (4×4 grid) the messages are rather arbitrary. Rather than a toggle of 0 and 127 I get random values that appear to be roughly below 30 when “off” and above 40 when “on”. Using these thresholds works reliably well but it’s seems these buttons should send simper values. I’m also unclear as to why the “on” state remains if you press-hold-drag on the buttons.

Anway, it’s working well, would LOVE to see multitouch in this app. If/when the code goes up, I would be happy to code this myself (for devices that support it).

154. flat20 - December 1, 2009

@kme thanks! I’m a few days away from releasing the source code. I’ve spent the last few days fixing the code but I don’t think I’ll ever make the code “perfect”, so might as well release it.

On state on the buttons is a bug and is fixed in my local copy.

The values sent is the pressure applied for the button press. It was a feature someone requested. Ideally the button behaviour would be configurable in the XML.

155. flat20 - December 1, 2009

@eps It’s only available in the Android market right now. I’ll put the .apk file online for the next version.

156. tVal - December 6, 2009

@Ali,
Sorry I was off some time, did you fix it by now? I had problems finding out, how do connect the devices (setup the network), which is hidden in the Preferences “Internet Sharing” – when activated you can create a “computer-to-computer”-connection. I assume OSCulator should find the device automatically (as mentioned I dont use OSCulator)

157. aku - December 8, 2009

It would be great to have bluetooth option in this. Now there has to be a router around all the time. HTC hero doesn’t play with ad hoc networks without rooting.

158. William - December 12, 2009

great app, thank you :)

i can see the midi data is coming in smoothly in OSCulator, but when i map it to a controller in Live it goes totally erratic (the Live controller jumps all over)

Any ideas why?

159. flat20 - December 14, 2009

@William Have you changed the event type to “MIDI CC” ?

160. flat20 - December 14, 2009

@aku I want to add bluetooth as well but there’s no standard way of doing bluetooth on the computer as far as I know. Will look into it.

Or if anyone else wants to add it, the source code for FingerPlay MIDI is online at http://code.google.com/p/fingerplaymidi/

161. William - December 15, 2009

@flat20

Yes, the event type is MIDI CC

(+ thanks for releasing the source :)

162. William - December 15, 2009

P.S. Maybe you could add the source link in the post?

And a mention that the app is available on the store (bonus points for a QR code link!)

163. DrGonzo - December 23, 2009

It would really be great to have multitouch support for this.

I also tried to make a layout file for my milestone, but when I set the coorect display size everything becomes just huge.

164. flat20 - December 23, 2009

I’m trying to fix the bug on Android 2.01 which makes the app crash as soon as it starts, when I have that working I’ll take a look at the screen size thing.

@William I added a a download link to this page. Should really redesign it and remove most of the comments.. :)

165. Ian - December 26, 2009

Hey I was wondering if this app is working on the android MyTouch and if it has been updated for it? Thank you!

166. Giuseppe - January 7, 2010

Hi.

I tried placing your config file

http://thesundancekid.net/FingerPlay/layout.xml

in FingerPlayMIDI folder on the sd (Motorola Milestone), but everything is the same (I can still see two X/Y controllers).

Is there a way to check whether the app attempted to load the file?

Thanks.

Giuseppe.

167. flat20 - January 8, 2010

@Giuseppe

With the latest version of FingerPlay MIDI it will list all the .xml files it finds on the settings screen. The xml files should be on your sdcard and inside a folder named “FingerPlayMIDI”.

I’m going to upload a new version tonight with a better default layout for higher resolutions. Although if anyone has a good one, please email me!

168. 4D - January 9, 2010

Is FingerPlay still available? Have just got HTC Hero and this is something I definitely want to try! Can’t find app on market & links on AndroLib don’t work. Am based in UK on Orange. Any help would be most appreciated

4D

169. flat20 - January 9, 2010

@4D It’s definitely still available and should work just fine with your phone. Try searching for FingerPlay MIDI in the market app on your phone.

170. 4D - January 10, 2010

Thank you for your reply. When I try searching Android Market it returns result that no matches are found for FingerPlay MIDI. If I try to use barcode link on this page and use “open browser” it returns result that “requested application could not be launched. The barcode contents may be invalid”. It’s very strange. I’m new to Hero, but have successfully installed various other apps. As long term MIDI user, your app looks like a must have!

171. flat20 - January 11, 2010

@4D I’ve enabled support for any device type and uploaded a new version on the market. If this doesn’t do it then I don’t know what will!

172. 4D - January 11, 2010

@ flat20 thank you again for your efforts. Unfortunately I still can’t get to the download page from my Hero. If I use link on this page it returns “web page not available”;if i use barcode or search within market I get results detailed above. Is it to do with version of Android (1.5) that Hero runs? Does phone need to be rooted? Not sure if carrier (Orange UK) has any effect on what apps you can view/download. Am very confused as to why it doesn’t appear when I search market. Will persevere this end to try & solve this puzzle, as out of all the apps I’ve seen, yours is one I can’t wait to experiment with. Thanks & regards, 4D

173. 4D - January 11, 2010

@ flat20, I’ve posted a thread on Hero forum over at Android Forums. Have read some threads regarding a problem that Orange UK had last year affecting visibility of certain copy-protected apps in market. Have asked if any other Orange customers can check to see if they can see FingerPlay MIDI in market. Thank you again for your help, 4D

174. 4D - January 11, 2010

@ flat 20 FYI I’ve had two replies from Orange UK customers & neither of them can view FingerPlay MIDI on market. I know there is specific firmware version for Orange handsets. Is it possible that this is causing problem. One of the people who replied to me asked if your app is only for Android 1.6? Regards, 4D

175. 4D - January 11, 2010

@ flat 20 Just had reply from orange user at android forums who suggests problem with Market Version 1.6. He says that there are some apps he purchased months ago that he can no longer view on market,& so cannot update. Does this mean anything to you? Have been on steep learning curve with phone & hadn’t appreciated differences in Market. Regards, 4D

176. seamus - January 14, 2010

I’d love to see some USB support for my droid. It has a built in miniUSB port, and it’d be nice if I could just plug it into my USB hub instead of running another process on my already swamped laptop.

Also, how about a 1 octave keyboard as part of the layout options?

Very nice so far though.

177. seamus - January 14, 2010

Oh, and also, how about a Monome-style interface option? Like, 4×8?

178. Alexandre - January 15, 2010

heya, any chance you could post an externally-hosted version of the installer for FingerPlay? That way I can circumvent it not showing in the Market and just install it using the HTC Sync software on my PC for the Hero.

Please! I REALLY wanna use this.

179. flat20 - January 15, 2010

Ok, 4D you were right! The problem was that HTC Hero doesn’t run Android 1.6 so I’ve posted a new .apk file online for you guys.

http://thesundancekid.net/FingerPlay/FingerPlayMIDI.apk

Let me know if it works!

180. flat20 - January 15, 2010

@seamus That would be cool too! I just need more time to add all these new ideas! :)

181. Daniel Perna - January 15, 2010

I have just installed it and really like what I see, although I’m not at home, so I’ll test that later.

But from my first impression – using a Motorola Milestone – there are two annoying things:
1. if I don’t hit a slider precisely I move the whole screen. I would limit the movemnt of the screen to the scrollbar.
2. the scrollbar should be ob the opposite side since someone with “touch-buttons” like on the droid/milestone could accidently press the home-button etc. while sliding through the pages.

And finally:
implementing Multitouch (which Milestones/Droids are capable of) would make the app far more useful. :)

Thanks anyway for the effort. Good job! :)

182. flat20 - January 15, 2010

@Daniel All good suggestions! I’ll definitely look at implementing multi-touch – which is a must – but I’m not sure I understand the slider problem. Is it too small on the Motorola?

It’s meant to focus on one screen at a time, so it will always snap to the closest screen when you let go.

183. Daniel Perna - January 17, 2010

No, the slider’s aren’t too small. Basically everything is working as it should. But if a slider has to be moved fast, the possibility of not hitting it exactly rises, and therefore the whole screen either moves up to the pads or down to the x-y-controllers. In that case you have to really quickly get back to the sliders.
If the screen wouldn’t move while swiping across the sliders etc. but just using the scrollbar, one could quickly just tap the slider again to make the desired action.
So I would like to see at least an option to turn on/off the page-changing by swiping across the screen. Maybe an extra button at the scrollbar. At first I even thought the button with the arrow would du just that – “locking” the screen.

184. 4D - January 18, 2010

@flat20, sorry for slow reply have been away. Thank you for uploading .apk. Have downloaded & installed successfully. Am using with XP PC system. When I run server on PC it returns that it is listening on 192.168.1.100:4444. I then open FingerPlay on Hero & enter the server address. When I try to connect to server from phone it immediately returns “The application FingerPlay MIDI (process com.flat20.fingerplay) has stopped unexpectedly.Please try again” & displays “Force close” button. Have disabled firewall on PC. I’ve got plenty of experience with PCs & MIDI but am very new to Android, so any suggestions would be gratefully received! Thanks & regards,4D

185. 4D - January 18, 2010

Hi again, please ignore last post! Have reinstalled FingerPlay & it’s now communicating. At work at present so am only using old copy of Rebirth on work laptop but it’s working brilliantly. Can’t wait to get home home for some more experiments! This looks like a very cool application. Thank you again for your help,4D

186. Freak - January 19, 2010

hey flat20,

i installed fingerplay on my hero today. there was no problem so far. i also connected to my PC, but everytime i click on Midi Out Device the program makes a force close. Any idea?
btw: sorry for my bad english

187. MystBoy - January 19, 2010

hey i love your great app
it worked for me the first time i tryed !!!
i love it!
i’m going to write my own layouts soon…

the only problem is that the buttons doesn’t work for me…
but i don’t need them ^^

188. tVal - January 28, 2010

I also cannot use 1.6 so when I updated to Fingerplay with the File, it is nice, but very slow. Can I do something to make it faster, or is the Version 0.7 still availible somehow.

Btw is anyone still working on the implementation of the accelerometer? Or does anyone know an App that sends sensor values via OSC?

189. flat20 - January 28, 2010

@tVal Is the user interface not responsive enough or is it sending the messages over the wifi which slows it down? I’ve had problems with FingerPlay on certain routers.

Matias Wilkman has written some code for the accelerometer but I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet. His code is available on github if you know how to compile an android .apk yourself.

http://github.com/matiasw/fpsensorfork

190. tVal - January 29, 2010

I didn’t try the connection to the server via wifi yet, the user interface needs some time to respond (~0.25 sec).

Thanks for the link.
Actually I have no idea how to compile an android .apk myself, but as I’m desperately looking forward to being able to use it, I’ll be keen to find out (and appreciate any hints how to find out).

191. miguel - February 5, 2010

hello, i have windows vista and my problem it’s that every time that i run .jar file as you said so… the ip address won’t appear… i’ve tried with ms dos and command line… i don’t know what else to do.. and when i do it from ms dos it says “java is not recognized as an internal or external command” help…

192. Steve - February 6, 2010

Is there a way to download the .apk file not from the market?
Or can someone send me the application because i cannot download it onto my device from the market.

193. tVal - February 7, 2010

@Steve
have a look further above on this page (No 179) There’s a link.
@flat20
Best regards to Mathias Wilkman. You two are heroes! Its working on my Samsung Galaxy. Not exactly as I expected, but for me very useful. (Also the UserInterface is a bit faster)
I can recommend *****

194. ckgreenman - February 9, 2010

Hello. First off I gotta say, great idea and from what I can tell, great app.

Now for my question. I’ve gotten everything to connect and it looks like everything is working on Linux but what I’d like to know is whether it’s possible to use FingerPlay to toggle the Jack transport. Also I have a friend who uses Sonar under windows and would like to be able to use FP as a remote trigger to start and stop recording and/or playback. Is this possible?

Thanks.