Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 5

This is the fifth part in a series of posts describing how I've approached building a "universal synthesizer panel" to house a range of microcontroller synthesis projects. In the first part, I detailed the general idea and overall design of the panel. In part 2 I built the IO panel. In part 3 I built … Continue reading Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 5 →

Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 4

This is the fourth part in a series of posts describing how I've approached building a "universal synthesizer panel" to house a range of microcontroller synthesis projects. In the first part, I detailed the general idea and overall design of the panel. In part 2 I built the IO panel. In part 3 I built … Continue reading Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 4 →

Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 3

This is the third part in a series of posts describing how I've approached building a "universal synthesizer panel" to house a range of microcontroller synthesis projects. In the first part, I detailed the general idea and overall design of the panel. In part 2 I built the IO panel. In this part I will … Continue reading Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 3 →

Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 2

This is the second part in a series of posts describing how I've approached building a "universal synthesizer panel" to house a range of microcontroller synthesis projects. In the first part, I detailed the general idea and overall design of the panel. In this part I will build the IO panel. In part 3 I … Continue reading Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 2 →

Universal Synthesizer Panel – Introduction

I have a number of "off the shelf" synthesizer programs and sketches kicking around that I wanted a way to actually be able to do some proper "musical" playing with them. Having them put together on breadboard and stripboard is all very well, but sometimes I want to be able just to load up the … Continue reading Universal Synthesizer Panel – Introduction →

Vertical Modular Synthesizer “CD Rack Format”

I'm planning on building a series of MIDI synthesizer modules that will have a pretty simple means of hooking them together, but want something to house them. I also have a couple of IKEA CD racks kicking around that haven't been required for a while, and I also don't want to take up large chunks … Continue reading Vertical Modular Synthesizer “CD Rack Format” →

MIDI Connections Cheat Sheet

It seems that every time I start to wire-up a MIDI socket or plug I'm looking up, yet again, both what goes to pin 4 and pin 5, and also which pins on a MIDI socket are pins 4 and 5! So I thought I'd hunt around once and for all for everything I can … Continue reading MIDI Connections Cheat Sheet →

Multi-Mode MIDI Step Sequencer

I've revisited my Arduino MIDI Step Sequencer and added different play modes and LED indicators, but I started to quickly run out of IO pins - so I dug out a Pro Mega 2560 board that I've been meaning to try out for a while. You can read all the details below. Update: There is now … Continue reading Multi-Mode MIDI Step Sequencer →

MT32 Clumsy MIDI Simple MIDI Filter

My MT32 Clumsy MIDI Program Changer and Filter was a little disappointing, in that it didn't seem to be able to keep up with the MIDI stream for my Lo-Fi Orchestra, so I thought I'd try for a simpler version using the 5V/16MHz Arduino Pro Mini without the extras for selecting the MT32Pi voice to use. … Continue reading MT32 Clumsy MIDI Simple MIDI Filter →

Lo-Fi Orchestra – Saturn from The Planets

Inspired by the legendary Tomita, the Lo-Fi Orchestra presents Saturn from Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. This is using the same Lo-Fi Orchestra setup as Jupiter, which is detailed in full here. There is a lot of dynamic nuance in the original, but unfortunately the Lo-Fi Orchestra doesn't really do nuance, it is mostly "on" or … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Saturn from The Planets →