Wii Play The Drums

Evan Merz wrote in to let us know about some updates on Wii Play The Drums, a .NET application written in visual basic that gives the user the experience of playing drums using the Nintendo Wii Wiimotes.

Wii Play The Drums allows users to map any .wav sound to any of the provided Wiimote gesture/button combinations provided, create their own presets, record their sessions and play them back.

Evan writes:

After a long incubation, the instrument that launched this blog is finally taking the next step.

The project has been moved to CodePlex, to allow more collaborative development, and to get more developers involved with the code. If you want to download the latest version of Wii Play the Drums, or check out the source code, then you will have to head over to the Wii Play the Drums site on CodePlex.

Evan has found a partner in Andre Knight, who will also moderate the development process on the CodePlex site.

Latest additions from Andre

  • Added support for use of two Wiimotes, thanks to Brian Peek for updating the WiimoteLib to support multiple Wiimotes.
  • Re-designed and more intuitive GUI.
  • Added better support to find wiimotes connected via bluetooth.
  • Added more sounds to sound library.
  • Added functionality to be able to record your “Wii Play The Drums” drum session and play it back.(Vista users will need to enable their recording devices for this to work. By default, Vista has recording devices disabled and hidden.).
  • Added more Wiimote gesture + buttons combinations.
  • Added a basic metronome.

Evan wants to encourage you to get involved:

If you have wanted to contribute code to this project, or just tell us how you think it should work, hit the Wii Play the Drums site on CodePlex, and leave us a message in the forums.

Check ThisIsNotALabel.com and CodePlex for more information.