Midi

I should've just bought a MIDI controller.

That would be end of the story, but...

Instead, I designed a modular system with Hall effect velocity sensing, per-key RGB LEDs per every single key, a custom binary configuration protocol, tons of firmware custom code pages, and a web app that lets you load different configuration (YES - microtonal too!) I regret nothing. I regret some things. Here's the whole story.

  • Dad - can I have Lumatone?
  • No, we have Lumatone at home...
  • Lumatone at home (with extra view over my crocks :D ):

Midi controller design

That's how it begin, why isomorphic keyboards are so expensive? Now I know far more than I knew back in December 2025.

  • Was it worth? Yes,
  • Was it cheaper? Yes, hence, I though, it will be cheaper :) (thanks to our governments for the tariffs)
  • Is it working? YES

Idea:
Build a fully modular MIDI controller with velocity awareness, after-touch. No compromises over number of modules, number of buttons we want to handle, full microtonal support possible. Do you want small MIDI module? No problem - 32 keys... or maybe you want the big one with 240 keys? No problem. Well, I've put a limit up to 512 keys, hence, it's kind of unrealistic anyone would find it useful (and yet that can be easily changed).

Limitations - we will use Gateron genty silent - unfortunately market is quite limited for kind of magnetic switches we can use or at least I was not able to find something with a bigger maximum travel. That's probably the biggest limitations and theoretically - easiest to address, as no other piece of hardware needs to be adjusted. Yes, internally we can re-calibrate and hall sensor are sensitive enough to measure the switch from centimeters away.