Two WiiMotes Connected to One Mac

Normally you can only connect one WiiMote controller to a Mac. Here we describe how to connect two (or more!) WiiMotes to one Mac. This application is great if you want to create visuals using things like the Processing software program and control the visuals with two WiiMotes. Also great for single user, two controller usability tests. We created this in January, 2008.

The first thing to do is download the OSC version of DarwiinRemote which you'll find on DarwiinRemote is a tiny software which reads data from and sends data to Nintendo Wii Remote (aka. Wiimote). OSC version of DarwiinRemote. There are a few versions available, so make sure you download the OSC version from Google Code.

Once you've downloaded DarwiinRemote, open up the folder called DarwiinRemoteOSC. Make a duplicate of the file called DarwiinRemote and save it in the same folder as your other copy. This is the crucial bit to running multiple WiiMotes - you need one copy of DarwiinRemote per WiiMote. So if you want to connect 3 remotes, you'll need 3 copies.

On your Mac, ensure that Bluetooth is turned on. Turn on one WiiMote (make sure there's batteries in it!) and open one copy of DarwiinRemote. On your WiiMote, press buttons 1 and 2 simultaneously. Shake your WiiMote and you should then see three lines (green, red and blue) moving up and down.

Same instructions as Step 3, but with a second copy of DarwiinRemote. So, turn on your second WiiMote (make sure there's batteries in it!) and open up a second copy of DarwiinRemote (keep the first one running). On your second WiiMote, press buttons 1 and 2 simultaneously. Shake your second WiiMote and you should then see three lines (green, red and blue) moving up and down. You now have two WiiMotes connected!!!

You can now connect these two programs to any program that can read OSC data, such as Processing, SuperCollider or Max/MSP.