Download mchelper and test

If you haven't already, download mchelper from the Downloads page.  mchelper is an application that runs on your computer which allows you to upload firmware to the board.  If you're running Windows, run the installer before connecting the board to your computer as it will install some USB drivers necessary to communicate with the board.

Though new boards come pre-programmed, from time to time small improvements are made to the firmware.   For this reason, it's strongly encouraged that you upload the newest version onto your board.  The newest version (called Heavy.bin) can always be found on the Downloads page.  For help on uploading the firmware, refer to the Firmware Upload How-To.

Connect the Board

After you've installed mchelper, connect the Make Controller Kit to your computer via USB.  There are 2 status LEDs on the Controller Board that should light up:

• The red LED simply indicates that the board is being powered
• The green blinking LED indicates that the program on the board is running.  This is the default behavior in the Heavy firmware, but if you make your own you can make the green LED do whatever you like.

OS X USB 

On OS X, in the mchelper download there's an OSXUploader installer package which provides a fix for a USB problem that prevents the upload of new firmware.  Be sure to run this installer before trying to upload new firmware - note that you only need to install it once.  

Windows USB

On Windows users should get a New Hardware Detected message when you plug the board in.  When you installed mchelper, it provided the appropriate USB drivers to the system so all you need to do now is tell the Device Manager to install the driver automatically.  Windows will also tell you that the driver is not certified - this just means nobody has paid Microsoft the money needed to prevent this dialog from coming up!  Select Continue Anyway and all is well.

Also remember that the first time you erase the board, the Device Manager will pop up again saying that it found a new device.  This is because the Make Controller has a different USB identity when it's erased than when it's running an app like Heavy.  Go through the installation steps the same as above, telling the Device Manager again to install the driver automatically.

Now let's actually communicate with the board to confirm that everything is working OK.

USB Test

The easiest way to confirm the board is all set up and ready to go is to send it some OSC commands over USB.  If you've never heard of OSC, check out our OSC tutorial.  OSC is the  message format that the Make Controller Kit uses to communicate with computers and other devices over Ethernet and USB. 

First, make sure the board you want to communicate with is selected in the Boards list on the left.  Then in the text field at the bottom, type the message you'd like to send.  In the diagram below, we sent the message /led/state which, as you know after reading the OSC tutorial, asks the board whether the LED is on.  It responds with the message /led/state 0 indicating the LED is off. 

Then, we send the message /led/state 1 which tells the board to turn the LED on - it should turn on for just a moment before resuming its normal blink pattern.  It's possible to control many parts of the board via OSC - check the OSC reference for a comprehensive list of all the OSC commands the Make Controller Kit knows how to respond to.

Turning the LED on via USB in mchelper

Ethernet Test

You can also communicate with the board via Ethernet.  For this tutorial, we'll assume that you have connected the Make Controller into your local router.  It is also possible to connect the Make Controller directly to your computer, but this is more complicated and has 2 main disadvantages:

• The board doesn't automatically get an address - you need to configure it yourself.
• The board can't communicate with other computers or other Make Controllers on that network.

Once the board is connected to your network, you should see it pop up in the Boards list in mchelper.  You can now give the board commands via Ethernet.  If you're planning on communicating with the board via Ethernet from another application, note the IP address shown in mchelper and use that in your application as appropriate.  Remember that this address is subject to change - some routers will always give out the same addresses to devices they see, but not all routers are configured to do this.

Controlling the board via Ethernet in mchelper

Note that we have the Ethernet board selected in the Boards list - this is what specifies which board to send messages to, in the event that there's more than one board.