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MIDI devices as input

A MIDI keyboard, a pad controller, or a box of knobs can drive your Mac the way a game controller can: keys become buttons, knobs become dials or switches, the sustain pedal becomes a click. No game controller has to be connected. Plug the MIDI device in over USB or Bluetooth MIDI, and InputConfig finds it with no drivers and no setup.

Getting started

Connect the MIDI device. USB, or Bluetooth MIDI through Audio MIDI Setup, both work.
Open a preset in the editor, add a row, and set its input type to MIDI.
Press Scan, then play a key, twist a knob, or move the pitch wheel. It is captured, with its note or CC number and channel.
Pick an output: a key, a click, a macro, a system function, anything.

The built-in MIDI: Knob Deck and MIDI: Media Deck presets are complete examples, ready to re-scan onto your own hardware.

What you can bind

Notes and pads act like buttons. The binding is held while the key is down, so a note can hold Shift or drive a turbo-fire row.
Control Change knobs, sliders, and pedals fire once they pass the halfway point by default, so a sustain pedal works as an on / off switch.
The pitch wheel is centre-resting, so it binds in the plus and minus directions like a joystick axis.
Aftertouch fires when you press harder into a held key.
Program Change fires once each time the patch changes, which makes a patch-select button a preset switcher.

The InputConfig binding editor showing the MIDI: Knob Deck preset, with CC 7 bound to System Volume, CC 1 in Dial mode bound to the mouse wheel, CC 71 in Turn mode bound to the arrow keys, and the sustain pedal bound to left click — The built-in MIDI: Knob Deck preset. Each row shows the CC number, the knob mode, and what it sends.

Knob modes: Switch, Dial, Turn

A Control Change row has three interpretations, chosen from the channel menu on the row.

Switch: The default. Fires once the value passes halfway. Right for pedals and buttons that send CC.
Dial: Treats the centre of the knob as zero, like an analog stick. The further you turn from centre the faster the output runs; direction picks the side, and the row's deadzone keeps it still near the middle. Pair it with a Mouse Wheel output for scrolling that speeds up as you turn, and return the knob to centre to stop.
Turn: Fires the output as short nudges for every few steps of rotation, clockwise for the plus direction and counterclockwise for minus. Built for endless encoders and for anything that steps: volume, brightness, arrow keys, zoom. Turn Step in the knob menu sets the nudge size from Fine (2 units) to Chunky (16 units per nudge).

Two rows on the same CC, one plus and one minus, give a knob both directions.

Volume as a real fader

Bind a CC, the pitch wheel, aftertouch, or even a controller trigger to the System Volume output and the Mac's volume follows the control's position one to one. It only takes over once you actually move the control, so plugging in the device does not yank the volume to wherever the knob happens to sit.

Channels and devices

Every row defaults to any channel and any device, which is what most people want: the preset keeps working when a different keyboard is plugged in. Pick a specific channel when a device sends on several at once, for example to split a keyboard so the lower octaves run the Mac while the rest still plays your music software. Pick a specific device when two keyboards should stay independent.

Sending MIDI at the same time

MIDI in and MIDI out can be used together in one preset: a controller button sends a note to your music app while a knob on the MIDI keyboard sends a keyboard shortcut back to the Mac. InputConfig never listens to its own output port, so the two cannot loop into each other. See MIDI output.

Watching it live

The Live Visualizer has a MIDI instrument layout: a seven-octave keyboard shaded by velocity, a named dial for every knob (Mod Wheel, Cutoff, Sustain, and the rest), badges for the knob mode, pitch bend and aftertouch meters, a 16-channel activity strip, and a rolling event log. It is the fastest way to find out what a mystery knob actually sends.

Questions

Does a MIDI device need a game controller alongside it?

No. A preset can be MIDI only, and it runs with no controller connected.

Which MIDI devices work?

Anything macOS sees as a MIDI source: USB class-compliant keyboards and pads, Bluetooth MIDI devices, and hardware on a MIDI interface. The Live Visualizer lists every device it sees.

Can a knob type text or run a macro?

Yes. A Switch-mode CC row can carry any output a button can, including Type Text, macros, and Siri Shortcuts.