Can The NM-CYD-C5 Work As A USB MIDI Controller?

No. The USB cable programs and powers the board, while BLE carries MIDI. If a wired, class-compliant USB MIDI connection is essential, build the project around a board such as an ESP32-S3 with an appropriate USB stack.

Do I Need A MicroSD Card For This Project?

No. The sketch, interface, and calibration values fit in the board’s internal flash. A microSD card would become useful only if you later add large graphics, configuration files, or data logging.

Does The Mac Need To Stay On?

Yes. The CYD sends MIDI notes but does not generate the Ableton instrument’s audio. The Mac must remain on, Ableton must be running, and the Bluetooth MIDI connection must remain active.

Can I Use The Controller With Ableton Drum Rack?

Yes. Change the note array to 36–47, upload the sketch, and load a Drum Rack on the receiving MIDI track. You can then rename the on-screen pads to match the assigned drum sounds.

Why Does Touching One Pad Trigger Another Pad?

The touchscreen needs calibration. Restart the board, hold the screen during the startup message, and complete all four targets. The corrected coordinates are saved automatically for future boots.

Can I Use This Controller With Logic Pro Or GarageBand?

Yes, provided the macOS application accepts MIDI input from the BLE device. Pair CYD MIDI Pads in Audio MIDI Setup first, then select it as the input inside the music application.

Akai MPC On A Budget: Build A Touchscreen ESP32 MIDI Controller With The NM-CYD-C5

Sanzhi Kobzhan

23 hours ago

9 min read

A MIDI controller does not need a keyboard, mechanical pads, or a custom circuit board. In this project, I turn the NM-CYD-C5 into a compact 12-pad ESP32 MIDI controller for Ableton Live (Code and a step-by-step guide are provided).

The board draws the controls on its own touchscreen, sends notes to a Mac over Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI, and requires no external components beyond a data-capable USB-C cable for programming and power.

Key Takeaways

The NM-CYD-C5 combines an ESP32-C5, a 2.8-inch color display, and a resistive touchscreen on one board, so the controller needs no separate display or touch module.
The finished device sends 12 MIDI notes over BLE and appears in macOS as CYD MIDI Pads; Ableton Live receives it as a standard MIDI input.
A four-point calibration routine stores the touchscreen correction in flash, preventing the wrong pad from triggering after a restart.
USB is used to upload the sketch and power the board. In this build, musical data travels over BLE MIDI rather than USB MIDI.

NM-CYD-C5 board as a midi controller. MPC AKAI replacement on a budget.

What The NM-CYD-C5 Board Is

CYD stands for Cheap Yellow Display, a popular family of ESP32 development boards sold with a color screen already attached. The NM-CYD-C5 is a newer variant built around the 240 MHz ESP32-C5. It includes 16 MB of flash, 8 MB of PSRAM, a 320 × 240 ST7789 display, an XPT2046 resistive touchscreen, two USB-C ports, a microSD slot, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth Low Energy, and IEEE 802.15.4 support for Zigbee and Thread.

That integration is the board’s main advantage for a beginner. A conventional touchscreen project requires a controller, display, touch panel, wiring, and a verified pin map. Here, the major parts are already assembled, leaving the project focused on software, touch calibration, and MIDI.

What This DIY MIDI Controller Does

The sketch creates a 4 × 3 pad grid. Each pad sends one MIDI note on channel 1 with a fixed velocity of 110. The display changes the touched pad to white while the note is active, then sends Note Off when the finger is released.

Pad Row	MIDI Notes	Musical Range
Top	60, 61, 62, 63	C, C♯, D, D♯
Middle	64, 65, 66, 67	E, F, F♯, G
Bottom	68, 69, 70, 71	G♯, A, A♯, B

MIDI does not contain sound. The CYD sends instructions describing which note started, which note stopped, and how strongly it should play. Ableton Live receives those instructions, while a software instrument or Drum Rack generates the audio.

This separation is important: the board can remain small and inexpensive because the Mac performs the synthesis, sampling, recording, and effects processing.

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