IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Show HN: Macros with a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Pedalboard in macOS

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

Theme 1 – Excitement about hardware‑driven shortcuts
Users are thrilled at the idea of turning MIDI controllers, foot pedals, or similar devices into programmable shortcut keys.
- “This is dope. Would love to bring it to linux” – NewJazz
- “This is like vim pedal (https://github.com/foxweb/vim-pedal) on steroids. I love it.” – _kb
- “Sir, Emacs pedals came way earlier, we needed to avoid 'Emacs pinky'!” – aguynamedben

Theme 2 – Linux‑centric implementation and tooling
Many commenters share or request scripts, command‑line tools (aseqdump, aconnect), and a simple UI to make the hack work on Linux.
- The Bash snippet showing how to detect a Launch Control device and map notes to actions – tetraodonpuffer
- “I have one of these! … PS would love a little UI for this if there isn't one already.” – tristanMatthias
- “Love it! Trying to use it with my nanoPAD2 and it only outputs note_on and note_off events. Can we bind on these?” – ashtuchkin

Theme 3 – Comparison with existing projects and ideas for new use‑cases
Discussants relate the hack to prior tools (vim pedal, Emacs pedals) and imagine extending it to gaming, coding agents, or other applications.
- “Repo is 2,500loc, all-in, according to SCC. Should be really easy to point your favorite coding agent at the repo and have it one or two shot something similiar in the language of your choice.” – wyre
- “This would be sick for video game keybinds!” – aguynamedben
- “I have one of these! And I almost made this exact thing myself!” – tristanMatthias (shows parallel independent effort)

🚀 Project Ideas

MIDI Macro Mapper

Summary

  • Cross‑platform GUI app that lets users map any MIDI note, controller, or pedal event to keyboard shortcuts, shell commands, or HTTP requests.
  • Core value: turn inexpensive MIDI hardware into a universal, profile‑driven macro keyboard without writing shell scripts.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Developers, power users, musicians who own MIDI controllers
Core Feature Drag‑and‑drop mapping UI + profile management + command execution
Tech Stack Electron (or Tauri) + Web MIDI API / node‑midi for backend
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • HN commenters want a UI: “tristanMatthias: … PS would love a little UI for this if there isn’t one already.”
  • Provides the easy configuration that “wyre” noted could be done with a coding agent; the app removes the need for manual aseqdump scripting.
  • Enables video‑game keybinds as suggested by “aguynamedben”.

VS Code MIDI Controller Extension

Summary

  • VS Code extension that binds MIDI input (notes, CC, pedal) to editor commands like run debugger, toggle terminal, switch tabs, or custom tasks.
  • Core value: brings hardware‑based shortcuts directly into the IDE, eliminating context‑switching to external macro tools.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience VS Code developers using MIDI devices (LaunchPad, nanoPAD, etc.)
Core Feature Register MIDI listeners and map to VS Code commands via settings.json
Tech Stack TypeScript + node‑midi (native) + VS Code Extension API
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • “NewJazz: This is dope. Would love to bring it to linux” shows desire for cross‑platform MIDI integration; the extension works on Windows/macOS/Linux via node‑midi.
  • “_kb: This is like vim pedal on steroids” indicates appetite for pedal‑style controls in editors.
  • Provides a discoverable UI inside VS Code Settings, addressing the request for a little UI.

MIDI Daemon (midid)

Summary

  • Lightweight background daemon that listens to MIDI devices (ALSA/CoreMIDI/Windows MIDI) and executes user‑defined shell commands or scripts based on configurable rules.
  • Core value: gives programmers a reliable, low‑overhead way to turn any MIDI controller into a customizable macro engine without per‑app plumbing.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Linux/macOS/Windows power users, developers, DJs who want system‑wide MIDI macros
Core Feature YAML/JSON rule engine: when note X or CC Y occurs, run command Z
Tech Stack Rust (or Go) + cross‑platform MIDI library (midir) + async runtime
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • “wyre: Repo is 2,500loc… should be really easy to point your favorite coding agent at the repo and have it one‑or‑two shot something similar” indicates the daemon could be a small, approachable codebase.
  • “tetraodonpuffer” shared a bash loop using aseqdump; the daemon replaces that fragile script with a robust, configurable service.
  • Enables desktop switching, video‑game keybinds, and debugger shortcuts as discussed.

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