akai-lpd8

The Akai LPD8 is a nice yet not too pricey USB MIDI controller, providing 8 pads and 8 knobs.

akai-lpd8 is an npm package for using Web MIDI with such a MIDI controller offering a simple interface to access each pads and knobs:

npm i akai-lpd8

const AkaiLPD8 = require('akai-lpd8')
// or include <script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/"></script>

const LPD8 = new AkaiLPD8()

LPD8.init()
    .then(() => {
        console.log(LPD8)
        LPD8.K1.on('change', vel => console.log({vel}))
        LPD8.PAD5.noteOn(vel => console.log({vel}))
    })
    .catch(error => console.error({ error }))

Optionally, you can pass an object with a log property to get logs in the console

const LPD8 = new AkaiLPD8({log: true})

Once initialized, we can access our controls using their names:

console.log(LPD8.K1.type, LPD8.K2.command)
background(LPD8.K3.velocity, LPD8.PAD1.velocity, LPD8.PAD2.velocity)

And use events:

LPD8.K4.on('change', velocity => console.log(velocity))

Events callback are passed velocity as argument.

Valid events are:

• change: fired when a control sends a new message. (for all controls)
• noteOn: fired when a pad fires a noteOn message. (for pads only)
• noteOff: fired when a pad fires a noteOff message. (for pads only)

You can also use shorthands:

LPD8.K5.change(velocity => console.log(velocity))
LPD8.PAD3.noteOn(velocity => console.log(velocity))
LPD8.PAD4.noteOff(velocity => console.log(velocity))

noteOn and noteOff methods are only available for pads.

Todo for use of multiple LPD8:

• AkaiLPD8 class should extend MIDIInput
• use of static method to find LPD8 devices
• constructor could take a MIDIInput as argument