Posts with «music» label

Chess sequencer

The musical interfaces can sometimes be extremely curious. That’s the case of  the chess sequencer.

 

 

The Chess Sequencer is a step matrix sequencer made from a chess board, where placing the pieces make music. The sequencer is connected to software synths on my Mac trough USB and a Processing patch to convert the serial data to internal midi.

The core here is an Arduino Mega. I was planing to use the Duemilanove but laziness caught me. The Mega has tons of IOs so I do not have to make a lot of multiplexing saving me hours of work.

Check here the full instructions to build your own!

 

 

Arduino Blog 03 May 13:56

MIT gets musical with Arduino-powered DrumTop, uses household objects as a source of sound

Everyone's favorite microcontroller has been a boon among hobbyists and advanced amateurs, but it's also found a home among the brilliant projects at MIT's Media Lab, including a groovy instrument called DrumTop. This modern take on the drum pad delivers Arduino-powered interactivity in its simplest form -- hands-on time with ordinary household objects. Simply place a cup, or a plastic ball, even a business card on the DrumTop to make your own original music.

The prototype on display today includes eight pads, which are effectively repurposed speakers that tap objects placed on top, with an FSR sensor recognizing physical pressure and turning it into a synchronized beat. There's also a dial in the center that allows you to speed up or slow down the taps, presenting an adjustable tempo. DrumTop is more education tool than DJ beat machine, serving to teach youngsters about the physical properties of household objects, be it a coffee mug, a CD jewel case or a camera battery. But frankly, it's a lot of fun for folks of every age. There's no word on when you might be able to take one home, so for now you'll need to join us on our MIT visit for a closer look. We make music with all of these objects and more in the video after the break.

Continue reading MIT gets musical with Arduino-powered DrumTop, uses household objects as a source of sound

MIT gets musical with Arduino-powered DrumTop, uses household objects as a source of sound originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Arduino Mod Lets Disabled Musicians Play Guitar


From ITP student Justin Lange:

I grew up with my Dad’s songs. Some of my first memories are of him and my Mom singing to me and my siblings. A bad fall last winter left my Dad with a dislocated shoulder and detached nerves. His function in his left arm remains very limited. And he sure can’t play guitar.

I thought,’how about I just build something to allow him to get back to his songs?’ Something of a Luddite at heart, he was a little slow warming up to the idea of an electronic device interfacing between him and an acoustic instrument. Furthermore, he was understandably a bit pessimistic; he said, “Justin, that sounds like a great idea if you’ve got a ten-million dollar research budget behind you, but I just don’t think what you’re talking about is possible”. I said, “let me see what I can do”.

Justin’s device, dubbed the Folkbox, has rows of buttons mounted beneath the neck of the guitar that play chords when depressed. The buttons are hooked up to solenoids that depress the proper strings, allowing the user to play a multitude of different chords.

The interface can be easily rebuilt to allow musicians with other disabilities to play as well. For example, someone who has no use of one hand can have a foot pedal array to play chords.


Justin plans on continuing work with the Folkbox, adding an even larger array of chords it can play, and rebuilding the enclosures in acrylic.


‘Cubicle fun’ just levelled up with Arduino

In case you hate the office music next time, just throw a paper at it. Just not in front of the boss!

Agency republic in London chose to tackle this issue in an R&D project by putting up a poster in the office that says “change the tune” and when you hit it with a piece of paper (or other things handy) an Arduino powered simple piece of hardware in the poster changes the tune on Spotify.

Via:[christianheilmann]

Arduino Blog 20 Apr 18:24
arduino  hacks  music  office  

Beatbearing using Arduino

This is an interesting project for an extreme geek and an amateur music maker. All you have to do, is to follow the tutorial here, and get a complete parts list.

Via[Jameco]

Arduino Blog 18 Apr 13:50

Electronic music from Jelly

Ever fancied making your own musical instrument? Or better, cooking your own musical instrument? Two students in their final year at Les Ateliers French National Institute for Design created this amazing musical project using gelatin, called – Noisy Jelly. When the jelly is stroked, it produces sounds of different patterns.

Variations of shapes and salt concentration, plus the strength of finger contact, determine the audio signals that result. Once created, the jellies are placed on top of the game board, which is a capacitive sensor connected to an arduino that translates the interaction into sound.

The highlight of this piece of art is the visualization of electric signals in the form of theremin-like noises.

Via[Popsci]

Arduino Blog 18 Apr 12:58
ar(t)duino  arduino  musc  music  

GuitarExtended Uses Arduino and PD to Control Effects

GuitarExtended is a multi-effects system that can digitally alter the sound of a guitar using PD. The user has a box with multiple switches on it that change the alteration to the sound, and the variables of that sound are controlled using a homemade expression pedal with the help of Arduino.

One of the differences in this setup as opposed to other similar examples, is that the resulting tone is sweet and lyrical, as opposed to gritty and bit-smashed. Check out GuitarExtended’s site for more info and documentation.

More:


Arduino Drummerbot and the awesome song

The little drum playing robot designed by Steffest makes great music.

You control it like most drum computers: you draw the beats on a pattern of sixteen dots, perfectly suited for generic 4/4 rhythms.
There a 8 lines, each controlling 1 servo motor.

Most of the servo’s have a percussion item both on the left and the right, that’s why the pattern buttons have 3 states: off, left, right.
That makes 14 distinct percussion sounds for the drummerbot.

The pattern in the webbrowser is packed into a string, which get send to the Arduino via HTTP.
You can use a wifi module and a http server on the Arduino, or you can use another device attached to the Arduino through a comm port.
The Arduino receives the string, unpacks it back to a pattern and simple loops over the steps controlling each servo.

The Arduino code can be got from here. The music did make me smile!

[Via: GeekyGadgets and Steff's blog]

Arduino Blog 29 Mar 21:18
arduino  drums  music  toys  

Drummerbot Makes Beats with Arduino

Using a web-based phone controller, Steffest controls an array of fourteen percussive instruments that are packed into a setup so tightly I can’t help but use the word “cute.” Despite the amount of instruments, the bot uses only eight servos, six of which play different instruments depending on which direction they swing towards.

The bot provides a convincing Bo-Diddley beat as the maker plays guitar and sings.

The phone’s interface is set up like a standard digital sequencer, and the string is sent to Arduino through a WiFi module and HTTP server.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

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MAKE » Arduino 29 Mar 18:00
arduino  mobile  music  robotics  servo  wifi  

Beat Box table turns RFID tagging into beautiful music

RFID -- it's not just for creepy tracking anymore. Don't believe us? Check out this sweet table that turns RFID-tagged discs into music when dropped into one of four bowls. The discs are made from vinyl records, and each bowl has an RFID reader connected to an Arduino. Dropping a disc into a bowl triggers a drum, synth, guitar or bass loop. There's also an LED by each of the bowls to indicate which loop you'll be hearing. Video of the table in action, after the break.

Continue reading Beat Box table turns RFID tagging into beautiful music

Beat Box table turns RFID tagging into beautiful music originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget 15 Dec 02:26