Over the previous few months, I’ve been making a bodily drum machine and realized that I had no good solution to management it. Because it simply so occurred, I did have a day that I might dedicate to creating such a tool, in addition to a imprecise notion of how to do that with elements already in my storage.
May I construct and program a brand new controller in in the future? The brief reply is sure, however there have been definitely challenges alongside the way in which. I additionally revised a pair issues later.
Further button and port added later
Based mostly on out there elements, I carried out an Arduino Uno with a MIDI enlargement protect because the brains of the gadget, and eight arcade-style buttons from a long-abandoned challenge as the principle “play word” interface. A lightweight-up choice button was added for… choices, and an emergency stop-style button was used to toggle energy. An “Apache” case from Harbor Freight was used because the enclosure, giving it a pleasant ruggedized aesthetic.
Because the recycled word buttons had been pre-wired from the earlier challenge, it was simple to hook up with the Arduino inputs through screw terminals. A small USB energy financial institution offers energy for the unit, and its cable was lower and wired into the emergency cease button for management. From there, it was a matter of programming and testing every thing, which would have been a lot less complicated if I’d remembered to solder up the bottom MIDI connection.
Make sure you try the video beneath to see the development course of and some of the struggles that I encountered. It’s truly quite a lot of enjoyable to play on extra normal synth devices, and I’ve made just a few enhancements since then, so maybe I’ll make a followup sooner or later.
Code for the gadget could be discovered right here, together with a retroactively-created schematic. Whereas this can be a one-off construct, the rugged exhausting case controller aesthetic – and its precise potential to face as much as abuse – are definitely worthy of consideration!