HIDuino is a firmware package that allows you to easily implement MIDI over USB using a standard Arduino UNO. It has been out for several months, but this talk from NIME2011 elaborates on its history and how it works. Sadly, the audio cuts out around 7’20”, so after that you’ll just have to watch the slides.

This paper presents a series of open-source firmwares for the latest iteration of the popular Arduino microcontroller platform. A portmanteau of Human Interface Device and Arduino, the HIDUINO project tackles a major problem in designing NIMEs: easily and reliably communicating with a host computer using standard MIDI over USB. HIDUINO was developed in conjunction with a class at the California Institute of the Arts intended to teach introductory-level human-computer and human-robot interaction within the context of musical controllers. We describe our frustration with existing microcontroller platforms and our experiences using the new firmware to facilitate the development and prototyping of new music controllers.

The talk is given by Dimitri Diakopoulos, and you can download the PDF of the white paper from his website.