Musical keyboards that light up the correct notes to play have long been touted as a quick and easy way to learn how to play. They’re also fun to look at. [Shootingmaker] has developed a similar concept, with a keyboard lookalike, covered in LEDs (Youtube video, embedded below). The project consists of a PCB, in […]
When [Mr. Sobolak] started his DIY Midi Fighter he already had experience with the MIDI protocol, and because it is only natural once you have mastered something to expand on the success and build something more impressive, more useful, and more button-y. He is far from rare in this regard. More buttons mean more than […]
A piano keyboard can be much more than a linear row of white keys and black keys. Over the history of the keyboard, different arrangement have been made, and in the late 19th century, the Janko keyboard was developed. This keyboard that was a series of buttons laid out on a hexagonal grid. The idea […]
Every once in a while, we come across a project that adds a ridiculously good twist on an existing design. This is exactly what [Xiao Xiao] and the team at LAM research group at the Institut d’Alembert in Paris have done. Their project T-VOKS is a singing and Speaking Theremin that is sure to drive […]
The number of easily usable and programmable microcontrollers is small, so when selecting one for a project there are only a handful of very popular, well documented chips that most of us reach for. The same can be said for most small companies selling electronics as well, so if you reach for a consumer device […]
The ArduBoy is a tiny little gaming console that’s also extremely simple. It’s only a small, cheap, monochrome OLED display, a microcontroller with Arduino-derived firmware, and a few buttons. That’s it, but with these simple ingredients the community around the ArduBoy has created a viable gaming platform. It has cartridges now, and one version has […]
Wood. Specifically, certain types of tone woods; woods that impart a certain tone. That’s what guitars are made of. And occasionally, plastic, or metal, or fibreglass or, well, anything. [_forwardaudio_] built his out of noodles, because, why not? Well, not completely out of noodles. Epoxy is used to give some strength to the noodles, because, […]
When it comes to chiptunes, the original Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy get all the accolades. The OPL synths have all the fun. But there’s another chip out there in dusty old machines that is at least as interesting with a repertoire at least as influential as the Mega Man 2 OST. It’s […]
The hurdy gurdy is the perfect musical instrument. It’s an instrument with a crank, and a mechanical wonderment of drone strings and weird chromatic keyboards. No other musical instrument combines the sweet drone of bagpipes with the aural experience of an eight-year-old attempting to play Hot Cross Buns on a poorly tuned violin. Now, the […]