There are a number of bits I’ve used that you can buy off-the-shelf. These are the joystick and the computer board it is connected to, and the harness for attaching the frame to your torso.
The joystick can be bought from several suppliers on eBay and as is usual for this type of component they may be available one day and gone the next. Essentially you are looking for a 4-axis joystick (we use 3, the fourth being a “fire” button on top that gets covered over.
The joystick connects to a microcontroller board (connections and program listed elsewhere) and there are a number to choose from. I picked the Teensy 4 as it is particularly easy to configure for Midi (having struggled previously with older Arduinos, this was a joy to use). It is a bit over-powered for what we need but we may use other features in future (in fact, I have connected a display and 2 rotary encoder switches but have not used them yet)
Finally, there are the straps that attach the frame to your body. As mentioned elsewhere, I do have a hankering for a waistcoat to which the frame is fixed. My first attempts were not too successful but I am going to keep experimenting. What I am currently using is something known as a “back posture corrector”. Here’s a link to the one I use (£20 from Amazon)
Leave a Reply