This document will walk you through the procedure of installing the drivers and connecting to your USB-microDig using Max/MSP. For the older version of the plugin, see here.

For this walkthrough, you will need:

Hardware

• A USB-microDig
• Turn sensor (or any other sensor)

Software

• A working installation of Max/MSP (v5 or 6)
• Virtual Com Port driver
• BlueMIDI
• Virtual MIDI port software, such as loopMIDI.
• iCube external in your Cycling '74/externals folder
• icubex.digitizer placed in the Max5/patches folder

Installing the Virtual Serial Port driver

The USB-microDig requires a driver to allow it to be seen as a virtual serial port. You can find the driver here.

You will need to reboot after installing the drivers.

Installing the iCube external

The iCube object talks to the USB-microDig.
You can download it here
Place the icube.mxo file (found in the objects folder within the zip file linked above) in the folder Cycling '74/externals (Cycling '74/max-externals in Max5).

Installing and Using LoopMIDI to create a virtual MIDI port

The editor lists several virtual MIDI port options. This document will use LoopMIDI, which you can download here. Run the installer, and then double click to launch loopMIDI. It will appear on the bottom of the screen, in the system tray.

1. Start LoopMIDI. Using the "+" button, add two ports, 1 for "IN" and one for "OUT". The window should look like this:
   

   

Connecting to the USB-microDig with BlueMIDI

BlueMIDI is used to connect the USB-microDig and the virtual MIDI port set up in LoopMIDI.

1. Open BlueMIDI and select the COM port of your USB-microDig and click "Connect". You should see the following:
   

Connecting to the USB-microDig

Once you've added icubex.digitizer to your patch, double click on it to see the controls. In the Digitizer section, select the USB-microDig from the pull down menu.Note: Unlike shown below, it will be named whatever you name your virtual MIDI port.

If you don't see the port listed, make sure your driver is properly installed.

Upon connecting, the port menu will turn green and the red LED on the USB-microDig will stop flashing. At this point, you can start receiving sensor data. To turn on any of the 8 analog sensor inputs, click on the "on/off" button associated with that input. The control for sampling interval control is immediately below the all- input control. The minimum setting, corresponding to the maximum sampling rate, is 1 millisecond.

The sensor data is routed to the 8 outlets of icubex.digitizer, where it can be used by the rest of your patch. You can also include the plugin in a bpatcher. This and more is further explained in icubex.digitizer.maxhelp, which is included with the patch.

Digital Outputs

The USB-microDig has 8 digital outputs that can be set to either 0 or 5 volts. You can turn them off and on by using the digital output toggles.