So this is nothing new, but what's the deal with using usb video game controllers? What do you need to do to get them talking with Pd? I would assume from what I've read so far that you would use hid... which I have never had a reason to work with quite yet. Maybe I'm wrong.

Bascially I'm just wondering about what kind of messages are accepted and able to be used to trigger stuff in Pd coming from some sort of non-midi usb control. Are there any kinds of controllers that simply would not work? I was considering picking up a usb cable/adapter for an original NES controller, but I wouldn't want to bother if it won't work. On the same note, I'm looking at playstation controllers cuz they have more buttons and those analog sticks. Those might be cool to control something.

hid is the answer.. setting it up is pretty simple, just check out the help file.

it might be cheaper for you to just buy a usb controller from any electronics store than to get a playstation controller+usb

I have a logitech game pad that is set up just like a PS controller and it works fine.

You also need to be running Pd as root so it can access the device list, or at least in Ubuntu Linux you have to.

@ichabod said:

You also need to be running Pd as root so it can access the device list, or at least in Ubuntu Linux you have to.

There is a pretty simple fix for this... I am sure a quick post on Ubuntu forums would get you the needed info. (i can't remember exactly how i solved the problem)

http://www.dafe.lukifer.net/pdpatches/crazymachineredux/oldcontroller.pd

here's an example of a controller abstraction using [hid].