Wii Remote, or Wiimote, is the controller of Nintendo’s Wii console, which has occupied an important place in the gaming industry since 2006.
It’s a wireless controller with motion sensing and traditional controls.
The Wii Remote only uses an accelerometer to detect movement. Other functions, such as using it as a pointer, rely on an infrared sensor that tracks the position of a “sensor bar” above or below the television.
The accelerometer is an Analog Devices ADXL 330 and has three times the sensitivity of gravity.
It not only detects motion, but also reports the angle at which the Wiimote is held when it is not in motion – and not just one angle, but three: vertical, horizontal and rotational.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ETAKfSkec6A
There are obviously many accessories, among them, we can find Wii MotionPlus, an accessory that uses a more precise and sensitive gyroscope, a device that measures orientation and angular velocity.
But now… can we use to as a controller for our virtual instrument?
Well, yes.
It is normally paired via Bluetooth, so this allows us to easily connect it to our computer.
Of course, we have to convert the Wiimote data streams into a module that our software can control, and we have several options for this.
On the Windows platform we can find GlovePIE, a free scripting language from Australian programmer Carl Kenner. It is fascinating for musicians because it includes a set of MIDI commands that work via the Windows MIDI Mapper and also commands for Open Sound Control (OSC), the communication protocol for sound and media processing.
Or we can access the data with Pure Data (Pd), an open source visual programming language. We just need to download the external like WiiSense and wiimote.
Here are some cool examples:
Resources:
E. Wong, W. Youe, C. Choy: Designing Wii controller: a powerful musical instrument in an interactive music performance system. 2008.
Wikipedia: Nintendo Wii
Sound on sound: Nintendo’s Wii Remote As A MIDI Controller
Wikipedia: Wii Remote
