just wanted to share a video i've uploaded demoing an app i'm working on in max.
it lets you (almost) simultaneously control software like ableton and play the guitar as an instrument.
just tidying it up at the moment and sorting out some documentation. i'll be releasing it for free soon (as in beer and speech... so... slurred i suppose.)
hope you dig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5dTpy78LeY
Edit: some some details pulled off my youtube:
An app i'm working on called AXIS. it enables an xbox usb guitar hero controller to output midi to control of ableton or any other software or hardware that eats midi.
it has two modes - play and control.
in control mode the buttons, whammy and 3 tilt sensors send out midi messages. this is intended for interfacing with software.
in play mode any musical scale can be superimposed over a guitar hero scale built on the first four buttons. the up pick can be offset to allow rapid playing of fifths or whatnot. the orange button acts as a modifier key allowing change of key and offset on the fly. the D-pad changes scale and the back and start keys change volume (velocity). the three tilt sensors and whammy send out MIDI CCs to control what ever. the tilt sensors on this guitar are particularly awesome, they sit on three different axes and you can make the guitar really expressive.
there's a little HUD you can sit on top of what ever you're controlling to monitor mode, key, volume, offset and scale.
i'm sorting out some documentation and then i'll release it as a stand alone mac app. if a max-head out there want's to help me port it over to windows that'd be ace. mac and windows interpret the guitar controller differently. once finished, i'll release the source so people can modify it for other system's guitars too. I went for an xbox guitar because it's usb and the tilt sensors and whammy work which is a problem for ps2 guitars/adapters.
and this is what it looks like...
