MIDI Breath Controller

Breathe in MIDI, breathe out MIDI

by Liz Clark

published March 04, 2026, last edited March 04, 2026

posted in Sensors 3D Printing CircuitPython STEMMA Raspberry Pi/ RP2040

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Beginner

Project guide

Use

Connect the controller to your computer with a USB C cable. Then, open up your DAW or other software that takes in MIDI.

Use the rotary encoder to select the MIDI CC message that you want to send.

After selecting your MIDI CC message, you can start controlling your virtual synthesizers with air.

Customize the Code

You can change the pressure sensitivity range from the BMP585 sensor at the top of the code:

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low_press = 970
high_press = 1012

1
2

low_press = 970
high_press = 1012

You can change the MIDI CC message and the associated NeoPixel color by editing the messages and the colors arrays right before the loop.

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# CC message channels
# last index is place holder for Channel Pressure message type
messages = [1, 2, 7, 64, 0]
# neopixel colors to associate with CC messages
colors = [(255, 0, 0), (0, 255, 0), (0, 0, 255),
          (255, 255, 0), (255, 0, 255)]

# CC message channels
# last index is place holder for Channel Pressure message type
messages = [1, 2, 7, 64, 0]
# neopixel colors to associate with CC messages
colors = [(255, 0, 0), (0, 255, 0), (0, 0, 255),
          (255, 255, 0), (255, 0, 255)]

Page last edited February 23, 2026