Launching today
Mellonkeys
Play piano with your gaming controller
11 followers
Play piano with your gaming controller
11 followers
Play piano on your gaming controller, with future possibilities of multi-controller support and more instruments.
11 followers
11 followers
Hey everyone! When my keyboard (synth) stopped functioning, I looked around for new MIDI options. Sitting alone in a corner was my gaming controller, whispering, "Hey, I've got buttons, tactile response, and combo possibilities, try me?"
Mellonkeys is a tiny website that came out of this curiosity. For this launch, a piano sample library is what I decided to integrate. One can use joysticks to shift the octaves and button combos for chords and notes.
So if you've got a gaming controller handy, connect it, explore, and have fun!
P.S. I personally have more fun with this tool when the MIDI signals are redirected to a virtual MIDI cable, and then to any DAW, where the possibilities become endless with VSTs - drums, strings, synths, etc.
the way it maps piano keys to a controller layout feels really thoughtful, like you actually sat down and thought about how fingers naturally rest on the buttons. solid first step for something that could get wild once you add more instruments.
Piano on a gamepad sounds gimmicky but the key mapping actually feels intuitive after a minute or two, would love to see it expanded to more instruments.
Tried hooking up my PS controller and got a decent piano sound going within a minute. Kinda wild how responsive the key mapping feels, looking forward to seeing more instruments down the line.
Does this work with any controller or only specific ones like Xbox and PlayStation?
the way the controller buttons map to actual piano keys feels surprisingly intuitive for something so niche. really cool to see this kind of low-key tinkering get some polish.
The button mapping for pitch and keys feels really thoughtful, way more natural than I expected from a controller layout. Love that you kept the input lag tight.