This is an Interception Tools plugin to turn a keyboard into a midi controller with the layout based on the Tonnetz.
If anyone is interested in getting similar functionality on Windows, I believe it is possible but you have to use both the RawInput API and the Hooks API, because RawInput can't cancel keypresses but Hooks can, and Hooks can't identify which device the event is coming from but RawInput can. I gave up because it's easier on Linux and it wasn't worth figuring out.
You should also note that most computer keyboards can only press two keys at a time, so you'll need a mechanical/gaming keyboard if you want to play any chords.
You'll need to have Interception Tools installed, and if you have to recompile then you'll need the libasound2 headers:
sudo apt install libasound2-devNow clone this repository. Go into 0tonnetz.yaml and replace the path to the
tonnetz executable with the correct path on your computer. Then replace the
path to the keyboard with the path to the keyboard which you want this to apply
to. It should be somewhere in /dev/input
Then if you have run installed somewhere in the root user's path you can install Tonnetz with:
sudo run installOtherwise, you can do
$ sudo bash
# . runfile
# installNow your keyboard will be treated as a midi controller until you uninstall (same
as either above method but replace install with uninstall).
You may also want to change the layout in tonnetz.cpp because your keyboard is probably slightly different to mine. You may also want to use a totally different layout that the Tonnetz, in which case you can do that too.
The simplest way to check that it's working is to install and run amsynth (sudo apt install amsynth; amsynth) and then connect the ports with aconnect (aconnect -l to see the ports, then connect them with aconnect 129:0 128:0 for example). Alternatively you can use Jack or a DAW to connect the port to your synth.