Kontroller is a simple library to read input from and control the LEDs of the KORG nanoKONTROL2. Communication can either be done directly (via MIDI), or using a client / server (where the server communicates via MIDI and broadcasts messages using TCP sockets to any connected clients). The client / server allow MIDI state to be maintained between runs of an application (as long as the server is kept running in the background, e.g. using the provided Windows service), and allow multiple applications (or even multiple computers) to read MIDI state concurrently.
Kontroller works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Kontroller uses CMake as a meta build system. Run CMake (with the provided Build directory) to generate project files for your compiler / IDE of choice.
The following CMake options are provided:
KONTROLLER_BUILD_SERVICE- Whether to generate the service project (Windows only)KONTROLLER_BUILD_EXAMPLES- Whether to generate the example projects
There are two main build targets:
Kontroller- The Kontroller library (including direct MIDI communication, and a client / server)KontrollerService- A Windows service that runs a Kontroller server
Plus, a handful of example targets:
KontrollerExample-Device- Demonstrates how to read values from and control the LEDs of a nanoKONTROL2 via MIDIKontrollerExample-Pong- Pong, played on the nanoKONTROL2 (ball displayed using the LEDs, paddles are the first and last sliders)KontrollerExample-Server- Demonstrates how to host a socket server, which broadcasts messages to any connected clientsKontrollerExample-Client- Demonstrates how to run a client, which receives messages from a server
Kontroller comes with some dependencies as git submodules, which can be obtained via calls to git submodule init and git submodule update. On Linux libasound2-dev is also required, and should be installed via your package manager.
Create a Kontroller::Device to interact with a nanoKONTROL2 over MIDI. The Device object creates a thread to communicate with the MIDI controller, and automatically attempts to reconnect if the connection is lost. You can check the connection status by calling isConnected().
The current state of the MIDI controller can be polled by calling getState(), and callback functions are provided to send notifications when values change (callbacks are fired from the created thread).
LEDs can be controlled by first calling enableLEDControl(), then calling setLEDOn().
Crerate a Kontroller::Server to start the socket server. The server will manage a Kontroller::Device and host a TCP listen socket, and will automatically retry if creation of the listen socket fails. When a client connects, the server sends along the current total state. When any state changes, the server sends the updates to all connected clients. You can check the status of the server by calling isListening(). Kontroller::Server serializes dial / slider state to a text file by default, so that state can be maintained even if the server is restarted (see Kontroller::Server::Settings).
Create a Kontroller::Client to start a socket client. The client will attempt to connect to a server at the provided address, and will automatically retry if the connection fails. You can check the connection status by calling isConnected(). Similar to the Kontroller::Device, the current state can be queried by calling getState(), and callback functions are available (which fire on a separate thread).
The Windows service can be installed (to your Program Files directory) by running KontrollerService.exe install, and it can be uninstalled by running KontrollerService.exe uninstall (or KontrollerService.exe uninstall /d to also delete the service executable). Once installed, "Kontroller Server" will show up in Services, where it can be started / stopped.
Running the service is the simplest way on Windows to use Kontroller, as it ensures there is always a Kontroller::Server running on your machine - any projects you write simply need to create a Kontroller::Client to interface with it.