Wow I'm so impressed by what you have achieved, with so few components, and at a price that puts it in reach of a large demographic. And with the software, that's the cherry on top. Respect.
I will never not be impressed by a breadboard synth build. I always think of a crochet set when I see one, and getting one to produce sound will always seem like some kind of magic. Awesome video and overview of this device, I learned more from that rundown of features in the UI than I would care to admit!
Thanks for the comment. I do have some prototype PCB's that do away with the breadboard (with some hardware UI) and may eventually find a way to do a production run if the BP Synth ever becomes more popular. Unfortunately the popularity is very poor after almost a month of this videos release. I am working on releasing the first set of Educational Videos that explain how it was programmed by this evening... Stay Tuned!
Liked and Subscribed. I am fascinated by Synthesizers but there is often a high cost of entry, plus a very steep learning curve - I'm hopeful this series of videos will prove both educational and a lead into a better understanding of synthesised music
I must say this looks like a very nice and good project, thanks for sharing this. It teaches how digital synths work, C coding and how microcontrollers work. It also sounds great. Look at for example the KORG Wavestate and many of the KORG synths, its just a beefed up version of this BP-synth running on a Raspberry PI with some knobs, display and a keyboard. Every person who builds and programs this synth will learn a lot that can be used in so many other applications as well as making music stuff. Thanks.
Thanks Mateo. I wish I had more time to spend on the project and create more vids but I average 65hrs a week at work and it leaves little time to do anything fun like code synths and make more vids. I am slowly working on a 2nd Synth Version with Display and Patch Memory on a simple PCB with a few buttons and a encoder to navigate menus. Hope to make a demo vid of it soon..
This is a really inspiring project. I hope you decide to do the full educational series on how the software works as in addition to building this version I would like to know how it works under the hood and maybe also build an expanded version using a more powerful board. 👍
Thanks. I did upload a few Prep info videos about the basic signals the Synth uses and the IDE used to program it.. it's in another playlist on my Channel. So far there has not been a lot of interest in my BP Synth.. I got a lot of views for two days and now it's gone dead. I'll probably end up releasing what education vids I had recorded in the past, which is a lot.. but I may not get anything else completed.. Things just did not turn out like I thought they would...
@@Synthetech Really sorry to hear that uptake has been slow. Maybe its just going to be a slow burner and that the Y/T algorithm will find it at some point and start recommending it more widely. I have seen where other people have done similar projects using Teensy, ESP32 and R Pi Pico boards, but what set your series apart in my eyes was the prospect of it developing into a proper educational series --- a sort of Ben Eater for digital synthesis. Looking at the comments, some people seem to have been disenchanted by your use of a PC GUI to control it in the demos. For demonstration and experimentation purposes this is by far the best solution and really the only option if you are aiming for a low cost of entry. However, perhaps some people didn't appreciate from your comments about MIDI CC commands how easy it would be to interface this to physical hardware and use either a commercial MIDI controller or custom-built dedicated hardware controls.
I finally have the components. I paid much more, even for the solder-yourself-version, but considering how far they've traveled and what I'll get for it, it's worth it for me. It's gonna become a fun project, hope my kids will enjoy it 👍 Thanks for the video!
This looks great! I'm going to add this to my to do list and see if I can make it receive MIDI from my Novation Circuit. That would be a super fun bit of extra synthesis to add on!
Год назад+1
Very impressive! I want to make one... Now I need to learn everything but that's so aspirational !!😊
Thank you. Did you figure out the different DAC's? I could not find your post in here that was notified to me.. if you need info on the two different DACs, look here: ruclips.net/video/JzFKG6iIFms/видео.html
@@Synthetech Yes thank you. I hadn't watched the full vid before I posted my comment so I deleted my comment. I noticed people were having difficulties finding the Black Pill. It doesn't have to be Black Pill brand. Just part number STM32F411. I couldn't find the post where the chap was having trouble getting one. I went to Amazon for mine.
@@Synthetech Is the actual Black Pill faster please? It's just turned up from amazon £7.99 branded Black Pill. Ordered the chips and the DAC converter from ebay. Chips were £3 for 2 and the DAC board £7.99. I have loads of bread boards but can I find them! Might as well order a couple from Amazon. Its easier than trying to find them in one of many boxes. I have plenty of 5 pin din leads so just waiting for a couple of bits from ebay. Not sure if you've heard of Rakit? I'm just about to start their Rakit Drum kit. The kits from this company are amazing quality. I've already completed their Baby 8 step sequencer and an Atari punk kit. Worth checking out. This synth is a true bargain. Many many thanks again for your hard work. Unbelievable ✌️
Great content. Thank you for sharing. I liked and subscribed. I'm recent CS grad and always into coding (mainly Java/Python projects). This will certainly be a great way to familiarize with audio programming.
sounds fantastic, I am a little put off by the requirement of the software controls though, hopefully a hardware midi controller could be developed to go along with it, although, that is a lot of knobs!
No requirement to use the GUI. There is a MIDI CC list in the zip folders if you want to program a MIDI controller's knobs, sliders and buttons. More hardware to the project adds a lot more cost and complexity.
Hi! This video inspired me to buy three 411 chips, finally they arrived and I am going to explore this area) I think I will built this into one of the old midi keyboards as chassis.
As cheap as they are, why not? Once you figure out how to make one, the rest can be built quickly. I hope to someday get back on the project and add more features. There's only 100k of flash used up and ~400k still left for more.. would like to create a gating effect and maybe some wavetables. Have fun!
Very impressive work! I was looking for ideas on building a synth to go with a Pi Pico guitar pedal I designed and this is a lot like I was thinking. I was wondering if there could be a Eurorack/patch-panel like setup where multiple LFOs, envelope generators, oscillators, and such could be connected together in a myriad of ways.
Wow! I'm so glad I came across this video and your channel. Instant subscribe. Now I needto follow the tutorial and build me a couple of these. The sound is absolutely amazing. And your editor software looks great. Kind of 90s retro. I like it. I have a question - I've never heard of the Black Pill. Is it widely available?
Thanks. The Black Pill is readily available on AliExpress for a bit cheaper than when I posted these videos. See my other videos in the Playlist to see where you can source the parts. Enjoy!
Thanks. Actually I already have done a couple small runs of this with lcds, oleds, encoders and a few switches.. but they were planned for selling as a kit.. just kinda ran out of time and effort to iron them all out and go full production with them.
So rad! I've gotta set aside some time to build this. I have dabbled in Arduino + Midi. Can you tell me- would it be easy/possible to implement an lcd readout for the tempo? I would love to be able to set a tempo live at an exact bpm without having to run an external clock source.
it's possible.. using one of those cheap OLED screens that connects via I2C would probably be the simplest way.. and having an encoder to change the beat/value. There may come a day I might go over something like that.. but unfortunately it won't be anytime soon.
additional code would need written to enable GPIO's on the BlackPill so it can have switches added to it. The switches would be the keys.. ideally a scanning switch matrix would be used.
This is awesome! Is it possible to pair this with an arduino midi controller to take the computer out of the loop? I would imagine pairing it with an LCD to display the settings.
Thanks! Absolutely you can use any MIDI keyboard/controller with it. I have a MIDI CC chart included in the Project Zip file. I've already started and slowly (a few hours on Sundays) been working/programming on a version that uses a PCB with OLED Display, 3 buttons and a Encoder with push switch to navigate settings/options, have saved presets/patches and maybe some kind of sequencer. I may try to get a small teaser video up soon... not sure if it can be turned into a fully sellable item, but we'll see...
Are you still holding the final source code until you finish the course? I was trying to add some other things to the code but the last source build from the filter 2 project does not appear to support all of the features of the GUI.
Where does the single voice that makes this a monosynth live? Is it the code running on the blackpill or is it part of the DAC? Can we expand voices on this build get get poly?
Code is running on the BlackPill that streams audio codec to the DAC module. BlackPill only has so much power to process all the DSP code at once. You could create a poly synth with the BlackPill but you would have to leave out things like Delay/Phaser and the Filter.
Awesome!!!! Is there a way to add a sampler to it so the rest of the device uses the sampler as an oscillator? And the sampler could do both 8bit and 12bit? I'm building this anyway, however, is this possible and if so... Will you do a video on that? I can only imagine samples going through them filters add maybe a simple envelope? Thanks for this project.
I did experiment with some DW-8000 wavetables, but had to convert them to 16bit array's first. In a later video I explain how a simple Sine Wavetable is used for the Phaser's LFO. The BP-Synth can't record and playback like a sampler.. The short answer is, it can be made into a Rompler but it'd take more time to program than I currently have to spare anymore.
Looks like it would cost another 30 Bucks to build a haptic interface instead of that virtual plugin-interface. It would be a fully usable monosyth then... For just 48 Bucks... Awesome!
@@sine0 @3:16 you can see the software-interface. It has arounc 38 knobs, seven buttons, and nine select-fields. My thought is, that there should be a hardware-interface, bringing all those functions to your hands. As every physical synthesizer has buttons and knobs, this one should have too, in my opinion
@@florianinside5666 I was thrown by the word haptic interface thinking you meant a touchscreen for the software. I have been looking up how to control the cv stuff using a midi controller interface using arduino with some multiplexers because of the amount of nobs on the software. i agree it would be cool to have this as a virtual analog synth.
Hard Sync has one audio Osc and a second triggering Osc for the 1st Osc to "Sync" to. The 2nd Osc will "retrigger" the 1st Osc to restart it's waveform everytime the 2nd one starts over. Best to google the information about Hard Sync synthesizers for better details.
I was thinking about this too --- a supervisory board that takes the incoming MIDI and distributes cc to all BP Synths and notes to the next available BP Synth in a loop. The supervisory board would also provide the arpegiator function (and maybe a sequencer as well). I wasn't thinking as ambitious as 12 voices though, say only 4 or 5 to keep the total cost within a $100 ceiling. The supervisory board could be a Raspberry Pi Pico to reduce cost and maybe make use of all the PIO goodness that board offers.
Problem I see with that is the common sections like the LFO and effects are not shared, you really don't want 12 phasers, more likely you want one with all 12 voices fed into it. Although polyphonic LFOs are a thing, again you are more likely to want 1 LFO doing modulation maybe another doing PWM
@@craigyjpI don't know, a polyphonic phaser sounds like a cool thing to have. Much like a polyphonic LFO. You could always code the phaser into the RPi pico that's doing the round-robin on the voices I guess, or separately on the mixer section. Or both. You could also make it multitimbral.
@@TheDavidPoole good luck with that, a polyphonic phaser will sound horrendous. Yes, you could turn off the phaser section on each individual voice and build a seperate phaser on the output which is a much more sensible option. And even in multi timbral setups the effects section is comprimised by being global, look at ensoniq synths, common effects section, roland JV/JX/JD/XV synths etc wih common effects. The levels per section is unique, but they share the same effects. So if you keep individual effects per voice you are back to square one with a polyphonic phaser when playimg chords or the same sound.
@@craigyjp I guess it depends on the sound you're looking for. I don't particularly like heavy bitcrushing but others swear by it. That's why I suggested a separate unit on the output stage. I'd rather have the option and be able to switch it on or off per voice. Especially if it were multitimbral, so it would be an insert effect rather than a send effect. Same with the delay. Cheers ✌️
Poly would require writing a lot of new code but there would only be one Filter since the DSP for just one filter eats up a lot of CPU power. There already is a midi input port but an output port is possible.
This looks like a great little device and at that price point, there is really no reason not to build one
Holy hell... this is flat out amazing. I'm blown away by how great the raw oscillator and the filter sound. Well done.
Amazing. Thank you RUclips algorithm for doing something good for a change. This is a fantastic synth!
Wow I'm so impressed by what you have achieved, with so few components, and at a price that puts it in reach of a large demographic. And with the software, that's the cherry on top. Respect.
This needs more views, amazing work you've done here.
I will never not be impressed by a breadboard synth build. I always think of a crochet set when I see one, and getting one to produce sound will always seem like some kind of magic. Awesome video and overview of this device, I learned more from that rundown of features in the UI than I would care to admit!
Thanks for the comment. I do have some prototype PCB's that do away with the breadboard (with some hardware UI) and may eventually find a way to do a production run if the BP Synth ever becomes more popular.
Unfortunately the popularity is very poor after almost a month of this videos release.
I am working on releasing the first set of Educational Videos that explain how it was programmed by this evening...
Stay Tuned!
Very very cool! I can't believe how many features you packed into this little thing.
Liked and Subscribed. I am fascinated by Synthesizers but there is often a high cost of entry, plus a very steep learning curve - I'm hopeful this series of videos will prove both educational and a lead into a better understanding of synthesised music
I must say this looks like a very nice and good project, thanks for sharing this.
It teaches how digital synths work, C coding and how microcontrollers work.
It also sounds great.
Look at for example the KORG Wavestate and many of the KORG synths, its just a beefed up version of this BP-synth running on a Raspberry PI with some knobs, display and a keyboard.
Every person who builds and programs this synth will learn a lot that can be used in so many other applications as well as making music stuff.
Thanks.
Thanks Mateo. I wish I had more time to spend on the project and create more vids but I average 65hrs a week at work and it leaves little time to do anything fun like code synths and make more vids.
I am slowly working on a 2nd Synth Version with Display and Patch Memory on a simple PCB with a few buttons and a encoder to navigate menus. Hope to make a demo vid of it soon..
This is a really inspiring project. I hope you decide to do the full educational series on how the software works as in addition to building this version I would like to know how it works under the hood and maybe also build an expanded version using a more powerful board. 👍
Thanks. I did upload a few Prep info videos about the basic signals the Synth uses and the IDE used to program it.. it's in another playlist on my Channel.
So far there has not been a lot of interest in my BP Synth.. I got a lot of views for two days and now it's gone dead.
I'll probably end up releasing what education vids I had recorded in the past, which is a lot.. but I may not get anything else completed..
Things just did not turn out like I thought they would...
@@Synthetech Really sorry to hear that uptake has been slow. Maybe its just going to be a slow burner and that the Y/T algorithm will find it at some point and start recommending it more widely. I have seen where other people have done similar projects using Teensy, ESP32 and R Pi Pico boards, but what set your series apart in my eyes was the prospect of it developing into a proper educational series --- a sort of Ben Eater for digital synthesis. Looking at the comments, some people seem to have been disenchanted by your use of a PC GUI to control it in the demos. For demonstration and experimentation purposes this is by far the best solution and really the only option if you are aiming for a low cost of entry. However, perhaps some people didn't appreciate from your comments about MIDI CC commands how easy it would be to interface this to physical hardware and use either a commercial MIDI controller or custom-built dedicated hardware controls.
I finally have the components. I paid much more, even for the solder-yourself-version, but considering how far they've traveled and what I'll get for it, it's worth it for me. It's gonna become a fun project, hope my kids will enjoy it 👍
Thanks for the video!
Paid much more? What was the cause of the increase in cost?
This looks great! I'm going to add this to my to do list and see if I can make it receive MIDI from my Novation Circuit. That would be a super fun bit of extra synthesis to add on!
Very impressive! I want to make one... Now I need to learn everything but that's so aspirational !!😊
I love this! Amazing project! Congratulations!
What an incredible project! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Unbelievable! It sounds really great. looking forward to buld one and jump into the code :)
Thanks for your inspiration!
Absolutely amazing. Thank you for your hard work and dedication ✌️
Thank you. Did you figure out the different DAC's? I could not find your post in here that was notified to me.. if you need info on the two different DACs, look here: ruclips.net/video/JzFKG6iIFms/видео.html
@@Synthetech Yes thank you. I hadn't watched the full vid before I posted my comment so I deleted my comment. I noticed people were having difficulties finding the Black Pill. It doesn't have to be Black Pill brand. Just part number STM32F411. I couldn't find the post where the chap was having trouble getting one. I went to Amazon for mine.
@@Synthetech Is the actual Black Pill faster please? It's just turned up from amazon £7.99 branded Black Pill. Ordered the chips and the DAC converter from ebay. Chips were £3 for 2 and the DAC board £7.99.
I have loads of bread boards but can I find them! Might as well order a couple from Amazon. Its easier than trying to find them in one of many boxes. I have plenty of 5 pin din leads so just waiting for a couple of bits from ebay. Not sure if you've heard of Rakit? I'm just about to start their Rakit Drum kit.
The kits from this company are amazing quality. I've already completed their Baby 8 step sequencer and an Atari punk kit. Worth checking out.
This synth is a true bargain.
Many many thanks again for your hard work. Unbelievable ✌️
Great content. Thank you for sharing. I liked and subscribed.
I'm recent CS grad and always into coding (mainly Java/Python projects). This will certainly be a great way to familiarize with audio programming.
This thing sounds amazing!
sounds fantastic, I am a little put off by the requirement of the software controls though, hopefully a hardware midi controller could be developed to go along with it, although, that is a lot of knobs!
No requirement to use the GUI. There is a MIDI CC list in the zip folders if you want to program a MIDI controller's knobs, sliders and buttons.
More hardware to the project adds a lot more cost and complexity.
I'm gonna build this little synth as my next project.
very nice project, bravo !
Wonderfull! Hope I can learn on the synth programming techniques because of your nicen work! Tanks!!!
What an awesome little synth! And your gui looks great! Thanks for making this video, I’m going to have a go at building one! New subscriber ✌🏻
Hi! This video inspired me to buy three 411 chips, finally they arrived and I am going to explore this area) I think I will built this into one of the old midi keyboards as chassis.
As cheap as they are, why not? Once you figure out how to make one, the rest can be built quickly.
I hope to someday get back on the project and add more features.
There's only 100k of flash used up and ~400k still left for more.. would like to create a gating effect and maybe some wavetables.
Have fun!
Cool project! That blackpill is a underestimated monster I think.
Incredible!
Awesome
Very impressive work! I was looking for ideas on building a synth to go with a Pi Pico guitar pedal I designed and this is a lot like I was thinking. I was wondering if there could be a Eurorack/patch-panel like setup where multiple LFOs, envelope generators, oscillators, and such could be connected together in a myriad of ways.
Thank you! I never really intended the BP Synth to emulate a modular system. I really had more in mind like a MiniMoog or a Roland SH-101.
this is incredible! I would love to build an affordable analog synth!
*Wow! Thanks! What was going on at "Can also hard synch to produce"? What was synched to what there?*
Yes , I'm in
Wow! I'm so glad I came across this video and your channel. Instant subscribe. Now I needto follow the tutorial and build me a couple of these. The sound is absolutely amazing. And your editor software looks great. Kind of 90s retro. I like it.
I have a question - I've never heard of the Black Pill. Is it widely available?
Thanks. The Black Pill is readily available on AliExpress for a bit cheaper than when I posted these videos. See my other videos in the Playlist to see where you can source the parts. Enjoy!
@@Synthetech will do. Thanks for that ✌️
This is really nice!! Have you thought about some kind of an interface? Like an encoder with a little screen, ala mini dexed?
Thanks. Actually I already have done a couple small runs of this with lcds, oleds, encoders and a few switches.. but they were planned for selling as a kit.. just kinda ran out of time and effort to iron them all out and go full production with them.
@@Synthetech i would enjoy this and purchase
Resistance can narrow the flow to the scale of quantum input but then why don't we increase the resistance to perceive beats?
So rad! I've gotta set aside some time to build this. I have dabbled in Arduino + Midi. Can you tell me- would it be easy/possible to implement an lcd readout for the tempo? I would love to be able to set a tempo live at an exact bpm without having to run an external clock source.
it's possible.. using one of those cheap OLED screens that connects via I2C would probably be the simplest way.. and having an encoder to change the beat/value.
There may come a day I might go over something like that.. but unfortunately it won't be anytime soon.
how could i add a little keyboard to it, to control it without getting a whole one
additional code would need written to enable GPIO's on the BlackPill so it can have switches added to it. The switches would be the keys.. ideally a scanning switch matrix would be used.
Hi, very impressive. Would it be possible to edit the code so it could be controlled via potentiometers on the pins?
Possible yes. But not currently on my to do list yet..
This is awesome! Is it possible to pair this with an arduino midi controller to take the computer out of the loop? I would imagine pairing it with an LCD to display the settings.
Thanks! Absolutely you can use any MIDI keyboard/controller with it. I have a MIDI CC chart included in the Project Zip file.
I've already started and slowly (a few hours on Sundays) been working/programming on a version that uses a PCB with OLED Display, 3 buttons and a Encoder with push switch to navigate settings/options, have saved presets/patches and maybe some kind of sequencer.
I may try to get a small teaser video up soon... not sure if it can be turned into a fully sellable item, but we'll see...
Are you still holding the final source code until you finish the course? I was trying to add some other things to the code but the last source build from the filter 2 project does not appear to support all of the features of the GUI.
Shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do for you.
Where does the single voice that makes this a monosynth live? Is it the code running on the blackpill or is it part of the DAC?
Can we expand voices on this build get get poly?
Code is running on the BlackPill that streams audio codec to the DAC module.
BlackPill only has so much power to process all the DSP code at once. You could create a poly synth with the BlackPill but you would have to leave out things like Delay/Phaser and the Filter.
Awesome!!!! Is there a way to add a sampler to it so the rest of the device uses the sampler as an oscillator? And the sampler could do both 8bit and 12bit? I'm building this anyway, however, is this possible and if so... Will you do a video on that? I can only imagine samples going through them filters add maybe a simple envelope? Thanks for this project.
I did experiment with some DW-8000 wavetables, but had to convert them to 16bit array's first. In a later video I explain how a simple Sine Wavetable is used for the Phaser's LFO. The BP-Synth can't record and playback like a sampler..
The short answer is, it can be made into a Rompler but it'd take more time to program than I currently have to spare anymore.
Looks like it would cost another 30 Bucks to build a haptic interface instead of that virtual plugin-interface. It would be a fully usable monosyth then... For just 48 Bucks... Awesome!
can you elaborate a bit more on what you mean?
@@sine0 @3:16 you can see the software-interface. It has arounc 38 knobs, seven buttons, and nine select-fields. My thought is, that there should be a hardware-interface, bringing all those functions to your hands. As every physical synthesizer has buttons and knobs, this one should have too, in my opinion
@@florianinside5666 I was thrown by the word haptic interface thinking you meant a touchscreen for the software. I have been looking up how to control the cv stuff using a midi controller interface using arduino with some multiplexers because of the amount of nobs on the software. i agree it would be cool to have this as a virtual analog synth.
Is "hard synch" modulating the PWM with the oscillator of the voice as the "LFO"?
Hard Sync has one audio Osc and a second triggering Osc for the 1st Osc to "Sync" to. The 2nd Osc will "retrigger" the 1st Osc to restart it's waveform everytime the 2nd one starts over. Best to google the information about Hard Sync synthesizers for better details.
Was studying it yesterday night and today. Surprising I hadn't known about that one. I have done every major type of synthesis. @@Synthetech
i wonder if i can control 12 of these at once? at least i can pretend I have an oberheim complete with sem modules
I was thinking about this too --- a supervisory board that takes the incoming MIDI and distributes cc to all BP Synths and notes to the next available BP Synth in a loop. The supervisory board would also provide the arpegiator function (and maybe a sequencer as well). I wasn't thinking as ambitious as 12 voices though, say only 4 or 5 to keep the total cost within a $100 ceiling. The supervisory board could be a Raspberry Pi Pico to reduce cost and maybe make use of all the PIO goodness that board offers.
Problem I see with that is the common sections like the LFO and effects are not shared, you really don't want 12 phasers, more likely you want one with all 12 voices fed into it. Although polyphonic LFOs are a thing, again you are more likely to want 1 LFO doing modulation maybe another doing PWM
@@craigyjpI don't know, a polyphonic phaser sounds like a cool thing to have. Much like a polyphonic LFO. You could always code the phaser into the RPi pico that's doing the round-robin on the voices I guess, or separately on the mixer section. Or both. You could also make it multitimbral.
@@TheDavidPoole good luck with that, a polyphonic phaser will sound horrendous. Yes, you could turn off the phaser section on each individual voice and build a seperate phaser on the output which is a much more sensible option. And even in multi timbral setups the effects section is comprimised by being global, look at ensoniq synths, common effects section, roland JV/JX/JD/XV synths etc wih common effects. The levels per section is unique, but they share the same effects. So if you keep individual effects per voice you are back to square one with a polyphonic phaser when playimg chords or the same sound.
@@craigyjp I guess it depends on the sound you're looking for. I don't particularly like heavy bitcrushing but others swear by it. That's why I suggested a separate unit on the output stage. I'd rather have the option and be able to switch it on or off per voice. Especially if it were multitimbral, so it would be an insert effect rather than a send effect. Same with the delay.
Cheers ✌️
How difficult would it be to add a mono/poly toggle as well as a midi port? Any idea of the now cost to be?
Poly would require writing a lot of new code but there would only be one Filter since the DSP for just one filter eats up a lot of CPU power. There already is a midi input port but an output port is possible.
how is this different from a pc?
You don't need a PC to play it. You can use just a standalone MIDI controller keyboard.. there is a MIDI CC list in the zip folder.