Building a MIDI controller with SMT32F1

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peeddrroo
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:27 am

Building a MIDI controller with SMT32F1

Post by peeddrroo »

Hi

First post here, so hi everybody!

I have designed a MIDI controller that works fine with a Teensy (ARM based).
I decided to go beyond the prototype stage, and go into production (that'll probably go through a Kickstarter). I thought a SMT32 would be more convenient and more future proof for that. So I got myself a BLue Pill with an STM32F1C8 and a StLink and I could port some of my code to the STM32. Now I have a few basic questions that I'm not sure about:

- I want my device to be recognized as a USB MIDI controller. I managed to do that with the USB Composite library, but then some of the methods/libraries I use don't compile anymore because I have to use Maple. I'm not too sure what I'm doing here, and I don't know if there are workarounds. Is there an "easy" way to have USB MIDI and Arduino code ?

- let's say I go into mass production. Do I need to add a SWD connector to my PCB in order to program the MCU, or can it be done directly through USB?

- I'd like my product to remain "Open Source", so that people with Arduino skills could program it on their own, a bit like a Teensy. What would be the way to do this ?

The 3 questions are a bit linked to each other, I hope you can get the picture. What I am trying to do is actually kind of reproduce the behavior of a Teensy with an STM32.
mrburnette
Posts: 633
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:23 am
Answers: 7

Re: Building a MIDI controller with SMT32F1

Post by mrburnette »

peeddrroo wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:51 am ...
but then some of the methods/libraries I use don't compile anymore because I have to use Maple. I'm not too sure what I'm doing here, and I don't know if there are workarounds. Is there an "easy" way to have USB MIDI and Arduino code ?
... What I am trying to do is actually kind of reproduce the behavior of a Teensy with an STM32.
For ANY commercial product, always explore your completion for tips:
https://www.tindie.com/search/?q=midi+controller

Arduino AVR, Teensy, and other hardware-centric libraries are not guaranteed to be cross-platform. Explore some of Adafruit's libs to see what is done to support different hardware architectures. The ports can often be difficult and require mature C/C++ skills.
ag123
Posts: 1655
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:30 am
Answers: 24

Re: Building a MIDI controller with SMT32F1

Post by ag123 »

open source product typically host source repositories on github and publish their schematics.
adafruit is one of them who led by example, e.g. the adafruit gfx libraries that is nearly an 'industry standard' these days
and so do st in making the stm32duino official core open source.
there are those that deem their firmware proprietary and only publish schematics - so that at least those sufficiently savvy may be able to replace with their own firmware.
do note that most of the open source software including those that your are using have no warranty clauses

for what is worth, you could 'get started' with stm32duino
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=301

it has been a pretty impressive community and st the official core and this web site, and formerly leaflabs contributed effort in bringing stm32duino to the world
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