Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with controller

Help a newbie DJ!

aceyprime — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:02:41 -0800

I want to start DJing - specifically mixing and mashing songs and learning to scratch. I only want to make mixes for myself but might someday want to play for a house party if my skills improve. I need your input on equipment and how to get started! I love music but have no experience DJing so anything you have to share would be helpful. I spent a bit of time attempting to research it but feel totally overwhelmed by all the options available.

What controller & soundcard (or other equipment) should I consider? I've looked at the Vestax VCI-100, Hercules RMX and M-Audio Xponent so far but have no idea what would be best to get started. I want a controller that will be good for scratching. I'd like to spend less than $700 total.

What should I look at for software? Seems like Traktor and Virtual DJ are popular and support most controllers.

What should I do to learn the basics? Any good DJ forums that are beginner friendly?

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved Controller Config

FusiveResonance — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:49:00 -0800

Geometry Wars Filter: Help configure Nyko Airflo PC game controller for Geometry Wars Retro Evolved (PC) My google fu is failing me. I would like to configure my Nyko Airflo game controller such that the left analog stick controls movement and the right analog stick controls firing.

Currently it is as follows:
Left analog stick controls movement
Right analog stick does nothing
Button 5 fires Up
Button 4 fires Left
Button 2 fires Right
Button 1 fires Down

I just want to play UNIRACERS!

Bageena — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:20:30 -0800

Argh. I've installed the drivers, I've searched high and low online, nothing is helping, so I'm coming to ya'll: how can I get my Xbox 360 wireless controller (connected to my PC via the charge and play kit via a USB port) to work on my computer? Specifically, I want to play ROMs with it. ZSNES and project 64 are the two emulators I'm trying to puzzle out right now. I've installed the 360 drivers (I'm running a 64 bit copy of Windows Vista Home Premium), it shows up in my Device Manager under 'Microsoft Common Controller for Windows Class' as 'Xbox 360 Wireless Controller via Play & Charge Kit' and says it's there and fine.
HOWEVER... under Control Panel - Game Controllers, there's nothing. I open it up, there's no controllers on the list. I click advanced, I go to choose my preferred device, again - nothing. Not on the list. When I plug the controller in, the computer makes a noise and the light on the charge part of the controller shows it's plugged in, but the controller doesn't turn on (not sure if it's supposed to actually) and it certainly doesn't seem to be working with my ROMs.

Help Mefi, help! Pretty please?

Gear Porn

Juliet Banana — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:42:48 -0800

Tomorrow, my boyfriend and I will be photographed nude and somewhat covered in electronics (music making equipment and cords). Is there anyway to attach expensive, somewhat heavy mixers and controllers to our bodies? For non-music nerds, imagine we're covering ourselves with video game equipment. The items range in weight and size from a video game controller to an old school Playstation. Here's some of the stuff we have to work with; the major pieces are a Korg KP3, a Monome, a Korg Kaossilator, some guitar pedals, and a laptop.

Worst case scenario, he's going to hold his Monome sixty four (yeah, he got it) over his bits and I'll cover up with a Kaossilator and we'll wrap a few cords around ourselves. I wouldn't mind getting a bit more coverage, through, half to illustrate the concept and half for modesty's sake.

The concept? We're modeling for a sex-themed issue of an extremely small press art magazine. It's a riff on the cover of Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (NSFW). The more gear we can fit into the shot, the better.

So, how the hell do we cover ourselves with music geek paraphernalia without breaking the gear and ripping off skin? I own some skin-safe double stick tape, but I doubt it could hold up the Kaossilator, much less the KP3. Rig the items to the cords wrapped around us? Rope? Duct tape? Just pile it around our feet?

Is there a development environment to create something like the macbook wheel idea?

Not Supplied — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:43:31 -0800

Is there a development environment where I can create something inspired by (but not the same) as the macbook wheel, i.e. a graphical alphabet interface where letters can be chosen by a controller? Also how can I experiment with using different controllers - wii, trackball touchpad etc? It's supposed to be a parody, but I immediately thought that this kind of thing had potential to create an rsi free interface by using large movements to select letters instead of typing.

I'm not a coder, but I'd love to have a crack at making a graphical interface to select letters with a controller. I know that in the computer music world, the max development environment allows you to use input from various controllers including dataglove and wii to manipulate musical devices.

Is there anything similar where I can create a graphical alphabet interface that can hopefully be moved around in 3 dimensions to select letters? I'm thinking at the moment that I will use something like 2 wii controllers to capture large circular movements of the arms to move the 'keyboard thing' around, and to have a way of switching to control the mouse pointer.

In order to be useful, the thing will eventually have to sit in the background and replace the keyboard and mouse in normal use.

It doesn't look like gesture control is far enough along for the likes of me to use, but if you know something about this let me know.

If any computer people are interested in collaborating on this, drop me a line. I know a fair bit about rsi, ergonomics and the body and I'm keen to get it made for myself to use!

DEATHMATCH: Tenori-on Vs Monome

Juliet Banana — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:08:56 -0800

Which is a better musical instrument: the Tenori-on or the Monome? So, to a lay person (me!) they look like the same thing; buttons and LEDs. Most people either are in love with one or the other, or think they're absolutely different, apples and oranges.

The Tenori-on is made by Yamaha, sells for $999, and is probably best known as that weird lite-brite thing Little Boots uses. It can generate it's own sounds and the software it pairs with is not configurable by the user.

The Monome devices are made by Monome and vary between $500-$1,400, providing you can snatch one when they become available or find one on ebay, or put it together yourself. It does not produce sound on it's own; it's simply a controller for software. Many user-produced software exists for it, and you can write your own.

I'm asking this for my boyfriend, who does a fair amount of DJing live and bedroom-recording of music that sounds like if glitchy robots could beatbox. He mostly uses Ableton Live, and is learning Max/MSP. If I got any information wrong in this question, it's because I'm not a DJ, just a club kid; feel free to correct me harshly.

Does the Monome make sense if you're not a programmer and Max/MSP looks like some scary moonman software you'd have to be Venetian Snares to understand?

Which is better for playing live?

Which is a better deal for the money?

What's on your personal wishlist? If you bought one, do you regret not buying the other?

Sticky Fingers

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:20:18 -0800

How can I fix sticky keys on a Guitar Hero controller? One of the "fret" keys on the guitar's neck is sticky, which makes playing anything more than quarter notes a bit challenging. Sometimes pressing the key on one side is easier than the other side (except that the "other side" is the side I am more comfortable hitting when I'm rockin' my solos).

Please avoid "search Google" or linking to Google results, as the advice there is not very helpful ("don't play songs with that key", "buy more RAM", etc.). I'd obviously appreciate advice from people who have firsthand advice for maintaining one. Thanks!

Is this PS3 already shot?

TheArpenter — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:22:07 -0800

Is there something wrong with this PS3 controller? Or possibly something wrong with the system? Ok, so for my significant other's birthday, I bought him a used Playstation 3. I tried out everything in the store, and it all seemed to work (but then again, I know very little about gaming consoles).

When playing a game, the controller says that the battery is low and to plug it in, and then shortly after that, it says the USB Device is charged and to remove it. The only light that is lit is the #1 light, we have never seen any other lights lit up. This happens a couple of times per hour. The system is under warrenty, so is this a controller issue, or a system issue? Does anyone have any experience with this?

N64 controllers for emulators

scission — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:23:18 -0800

What's the best way to play N64 on your laptop? (Controllers question) I'm trying to buy my boyfriend two (or more) controllers for playing N64 emulators on his laptop. I believe he's running Mupen 64 Plus on Ubuntu, although he has a Windows partition that he could use if it's the best solution.

What's the best controller to get for N64 gaming, and how can I find out if it will work on his computer? He's definitely savvy enough to download drivers, etc. on his own, but I'd prefer something as simple as possible, since it's a gift!

I don't know anything about emulator peripherals, and I've only used Ubuntu for a couple months, so I feel way over my head in trying to sort through a lot of the forum results when I google this. Thanks in advance for your help! I've searched the archives, and it looked like it's fine if I ask about emulators and interoperability as long as I don't want anyone to help me find ROMs. Hope this question is okay.

Who is 14F1? What is device 2720?

carsonb — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:26:51 -0800

My PCI Simple Communications Controller has bitten the dust. When I start up my crusty eMachines T2682 classic desktop computer these days I get the good ol' WinXP Found New Hardware Wizard prompting me to install drivers for my "PCI Simple Communications Controller". Sadly it cannot locate said drivers, and it turns out that "PCI Simple Communications Controller" is Device Manager-speak for "WTF is this?"

As this computer has failed bit by bit I've become more adept at reading tech forums, and as usual they've dealt me a cryptic clue to this puzzle. I learned that Device Manager deals out very little info about "PCI Simple Communications Controller", but what little it gives can be used to find drivers to reactivate the ? device. The Device Instance Id is
PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_2720&SUBSYS_200014F1&REV_00\4&29817089&0&10F0
which, I believe, details the device vendor as "14F1" and the device itself as "2720".

Vendor 14F1 is listed as Conexant Systems Inc., a modem chipset manufacturer. However, for the life of me I cannot find their device 2720. None of the pci id lists that I've read match that device with vendor 14F1.

What am I missing? What is this mysterious device?

Maybe relevant: During video playback the audio snaps in and out, at random. I have not reinstalled Windows lately. I upgraded to SP3 a few weeks ago, then immediately reverted to a restore point. One of my RAM sockets has gone bad, the computer freezes occasionally, and I think the whole mobo might be dying. Is this some extension of that growing problem, or is there a local solution?

I ask this last because, while I know I need a new computer and will be purchasing one when the wallet is ripe, I'd like to use this opportunity to learn some about how computer guts work and what to do get them to work when they don't. Percussive maintenance only goes so far.

Sata RAID controller in V64?

notsnot — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:23:14 -0800

SATA card for Vista 64? I've recently gone to the dark side and upgraded to Vista 64 (from xp64...ugh!). My current mother board has the usual bank of SATA ports, and I've been RAIDing pairs of drives (mirrored) from those ports.

The motherboard is wonky - arrays break apart, the LAN ports wake up and die randomly, and identical BIOS settings have different results. I'm replacing it.

I'd like to get a dedicated hardware RAID controller. Mostly, for scratch space - I do a lot of photoshop, and would like to make a striped array for scratch. (the other drives will be boot, and storage that will be synctoy-backed up offsite.) However, I'm having a hell of a time finding cards (mostly looking at Newegg) at a reasonable price that are specifically Vista 64 compatible. Vista has been out for what, 1.5 years, so you'd think they got around to it by now.

My other thing is price. As evidenced by my use of existing SATA drives, it should be obvious that I'm kinda tight right now.

In short, I need a four-port, SATA, hardware raid controller that is *sure* to work in Vista 64, and won't break the bank.

My car is running at 4000 RPM at 25 mph. What is going on?

bend2squares — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:00:19 -0800

My car is running at 4000 RPM at 25 mph. What is going on? I drive a 98 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I was having what seemed like fuel line issues before now. After driving on the highway, the car would stall out at stops and need to be restarted, but would drive fine if speed was maintained. I found that turning the overdrive off kept this from occuring.

Didn't really have the money to look into it, so I've been driving it this way, which was maybe a terrible idea in hindsight. This morning while driving the car seized or sputtered, and afterward the car was hitting 4000 rpm's when i was only going 25 mph. It would go higher if I tried to accelerate past that.

A buddy suggested it may be an engine controller, and I've felt like there was a possible fuel line issue for a while, but I'm too ignorant to be sure. Any help would be very appreciated.

Controllers for my PC emulation machine!!

theiconoclast31 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:03:12 -0800

What's the best USB controller to use when emulating old games on my PC? It needs to support NES, SNES, and Genesis emulators. The button configuration doesn't need to be perfect. Cheap is best, because I'll be purchasing two. Links, advice, tutorials, anecdotes, and snark welcome. I'm running Windows XP Pro on a Macbook Pro. (Heresy!)

♣ Bonus points if it supports MAME, PSX, or N64.

GH3 guitar for PS2 doesn't work with earlier versions?

Sweetie Darling — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:26:59 -0800

GH3 guitar doesn't play well with others. My lovely family just bought me Guitar Hero '80s for my birthday (PS2), but it seems that our GH3 guitar isn't compatible. The buttons work for navigation but not to play notes. A frustrating scan of the various GH forums seems to confirm that incompatibility, but only in one place, buried way down deep. It just seems weird to me that they wouldn't have made it backwards compatible - otherwise what are people supposed to do who are late to the game? The folks at Best Buy hadn't heard anything about it. Any hacks or suggestions?

Testing a Hunter attic fan controller?

notsnot — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:27:37 -0800

How do I test a Hunter attic fan controller? I want to be thorough before I climb in the attic. My mom's old (1980 ish) attic fan won't go at any speed beyond low. I pulled the controller, put in a regular light switch, and it still ran at the same low speed. I told her it was probably the motor (pain in the ass - tiny attic in a 1.5-story house), but she asked if I could test the controller itself. Not thinking much, I agreed to do so.

I got it home, and figured, hey just test the resistance at various settings on the knob. I get no resistance whatsoever across the terminals no matter what setting I put the knob to. Then I recalled, hey, the cover plate said "solid state" which means, well, if there's one thing I can't wax lengthy about, it's electricity. I suppose to test it I'd have to have 110V across the terminals, and a load (i.e. the fan motor) on the neutral leg of the controller? I'm not sure how to set this up in a test situation, without effing up my own house electric, and I'm not sure how the hell the fan changes speed.

The Hunter web site doesn't even list attic fans. I guess they aren't cool any more.

WHY PUT A SIGHT ON THE GUN IF I CAN'T FRIGGIN' USE IT?

2bucksplus — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:29:27 -0800

In Half Life 2:Orange Box for the Xbox 360 how the hell do you aim down the sight of your stupid, stupid submachine gun? I really hate to have to ask this, but I recently picked the game up and I can't seem to use the sight on the gun and have to shoot from the hip whenever I encounter an enemy. I am aware of the "zoom" view that is brought up by pressing inward on the joystick, but this does not allow me to fire the weapons. The submachine gun has a beautiful red laser sight begging to be used!

For further reference: Call of Duty 4 has a dedicated button to bring up aiming for any weapon (the left hand trigger), probably because they realized people like to use the scope from time to time.

NoIWillNotFixYourComputerFilter

Lockeownzj00 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:49:42 -0800

NoIWillNotFixYourComputerFilter: I've got a 500 gig that won't show up in Windows XP. Help! So I bought this 500 gig IDE drive. I'm using Windows XP SP2. I installed it in my box. My BIOS sees it. Windows doesn't. In Disk Manager, I see it as a 128 gig drive, but it still doesn't appear in Explorer (even if it did, I want those other 372 other gigs dammit). I tried using this firmware update via floppy for my hard drive controller (promise ide ultra100 tx2), but booting it up yielded a split screen: half was the menu, half was blackness.

So uh. wtf? I've scoured google and found people with similar problems, especially people with SATA drives. But that's not what I've got, so. Could anybody lend me some pearls of wisdom? I'm pretty sure it's not a loose ribbon.

Old Console Wireless

ChrisR — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 10:31:58 -0800

What are the best options for wireless original xbox controllers? Ditto for PS2? You can imagine how staggeringly difficult this is to find via google. I have a 360, and its controller is great; I'd like something similar for my Xbox.

I've tried one aftermarket wireless controller, whose name I can't recall, but it was a lemon. It literally didn't work at all at any distance. I'd rather not repeat the experience. So, I'd like a quality wireless controller for these two consoles.

Xbox Controller Filter

gmodelo — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:38:09 -0800

Xbox Filter: Does the black controller for the Xbox 360 really have better grip than the white one that comes with the Pro version? I'm debating weather or not the $50 is worth spending on a black one.

M-Audio or E-mu cheapie 61-key USB MIDI controller?

stleric — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:42:38 -0800

I want a cheap 49 or 61 key USB MIDI keyboard for under $300. M-Audio Oxygen or E-mu Xboard? I'm looking for a USB MIDI keyboard for recording at home and playing out a bit (probably 61-key for also learning to play piano in the process) and for price and features' sake, I think I'm down to the Oxygen, and the E-mu Xboard (I've read of several accounts of 2-3 keys dying on Edirols after a year, and CMEs are more expensive, and allegedly partly made of plywood?).

While M-Audios seem to be the "default" brand for lower-end MIDI controllers, I hear a lot of people complaining about their products. I've read a lot of reviews talking about them seeming very plastic (I grew up with Casios, so from what I've tried of them, the M-Audios seem entirely tolerable), but the Oxygen 61 also has sliders, and buttons specifically for playing/stopping/rewinding tracks, which seem like they could come in handy. I've also read about people having driver issues with the Xboards, and I'm unsure to what degree I should or shouldn't be worried about that if I'm not using the E-mu software, and just sticking with MIDI functions in FL Studio. Nevertheless, if the Xboard does indeed feel better, and might last longer, it's a consideration. Any thoughts?

If I could afford a piano I would already have one...

inoculatedcities — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:20:13 -0800

Help me find a keyboard/synth with these specifications. I am looking for a used keyboard/synth with the following specifications: 1) 61 keys or more, 2) weighted/aftertouch keys, 3) MIDI in/out (ability to act soley as a MIDI controller), 4) no internal speakers, 5) decent internal piano patch(es) similar to the Yamaha Motif series heard here 6) under $500 (eBay/used).

How can I get my server to authenticate with my domain controller (which is located behind a linksys router)?

zzztimbo — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:53:16 -0800

I have a Windows 2000 server that is sitting in a public IP network. I can not figure out how I can get it to talk to my domain controller that is sitting in a private IP network with a linksys WRT54G sitting in between. Will port mapping solve this? I have already tried putting the domain controller in the WRT54G's DMZ. That did not seem to work.

Help me create my new job.

iurodivii — Tue, 22 May 2007 08:43:30 -0800

Help me create my new job. I have started a part-time (20-25 hours, though I can work as many as I want) job at a small company which deals in restaurants (3 or 4), a couple of apartments, homes and small warehouses/storage spaces. Basically a small real-estate company whose cash comes from the restaurants and goes into more real-estate or restaurants.

I have been hired on as a Comptroller/Controller. My assignment is to learn the current routines and come up with processes to staunch money loss and generally tighten up the ship. As an example: my first project is calculating the rents we are charging and comparing them to the expenses to make sure we are covering costs...It is a business currently run by entrepreneurs and I am being looked to as the professional (having studied accounting and finance) who will know how to impose order on the chaotic methods that have become entrenched over the last 15 years.

Does anyone know of any good books or other resources that I can read through? I am currently in school and am using my professors as resources already, but they are as academic as I and what I need is to learn how to support, not stifle, the entrepreneurial creativity that has driven this business so far.

how to best use MVC architecture in flex 2

drjimmy11 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:54:54 -0800

trying to set up MVC (model view controller) architecture for a Flex 2 project myself and a colleague are starting a flex 2 project. we are both new to Flex, and not all that experienced in OOP.

Our question is about components: we have the overall application (the main mxml file) and then other components which are their own mxml files. One is the Controller and one is the DataModel.

From a code point of view, it seems we can only go down: ie, if we put both components in the top level app, we can give them id's and talk "down" to them, but the components cant go "up" and reference a function or variable in the main app.

So the question is, a) is there a way to go "up" and b) is it a good programming practice.

I am currently arguing that the Controller should be called in the Application, and the Data Model called inside the Controller, because the Controller needs access to the data. This way the Application can call Controller functions which access the data and return formatted data to the app. Does this make sense and, if not, how else do we architect it? We initially tried putting both components at the top (application) label, but couldn't get them to talk to each other.

hope that makes sense. thanks!

Recommendations for Game Controller for Mac

krudiger — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 16:39:50 -0800

Mac Gaming Filter: Recommendations for a Controller? Like playing first person games. Can't seem to find one that looks good. My PS2 got stolen and since I have a new Mac, I thought I'd see how I like games there rather than buy a new system. I like the relative simplicity of the PS2 controllers. Too many more buttons and I just get confused. Also, if folks have recommendations for good games on Mac, that would be swell. Thanks.