WiiLi.org

[TylerK]

This is a weird idea but I'm pretty sure it's doable. It would require 3 wiimotes, and 2 spare (and portably powered) IR LEDs.

The first two Wiimotes would each need to have an IR led attached to them preferably just to the right of the power button, on the face of the Wiimote, pointing upwards. I imagine rubber banding them on somehow would work fine, though someone will no doubt come up with a sturdier method. These will be the two Wiimotes that you hold. GlovePIE will only use their force values to detect when you hit a drum (create a lot of force). As for which drum sound is triggered...

This is where the third Wiimote comes into play. This Wiimote would have to be positioned above you somehow, pointing either straight down or as close as possible. This Wiimote will track the IR leds on the faces of the other two Wiimotes and map them to drums, like a camera looking down on a drumset...



Map different regions of the camera to the different drums, and only trigger the drums when enough force is supplied to one of the Wiimotes you're holding. This would be the perfect way to replicate playing the drums, in my opinion, because it forces you to drum within a physical space. Drum to your left, hi-hat. Drum to your right, floor tom. Obviously we could easily reverse the layout for the lefties out there . This would be a step up from the other scripts that force you to twist your wrist in some absurd fashion to switch between sounds.

To take it a step further, if there were some way to rig together a foot pedal mechanism that turns on yet another LED (or uncovers it) you could possibly use that to trigger the kick drum!

This same setup and technique could be used for other scripts, from a xylophone to a piano, perhaps even a "virtual keyboard" of sorts where you have to picture a giant keyboard on the ground in front of you and smack at the keys with either Wiimote. Okay, maybe that last one is a bit overboard, but I still think there are some cool things you could do with this.

If anyone's got the gear and is crazy enough to attempt this, I'd be glad to do whatever GlovePIE scripting is needed.