The New Lo-Fi Orchestra and The 1812 Overture

In celebration of my 400th post on my blog, I’ve just finished rebuilding the Lo-Fi Orchestra.

And seeing as for my 100th post, I presented the finale for Tchaikovsky’s Solemn Overture, 1812, in honour of my 400th post and for the inaugural performance of the new orchestra, I thought it was about time I did the whole thing.

More posts featuring the newly rebuilt Lo-Fi Orchestra:

• The New Lo-Fi Orchestra Explainer
• Lo-Fi Orchestra – The Dam Busters March
• Lo-Fi Orchestra – The Flight of the Bumblebee

Hear it in full here and read on below for details.

Featuring 13 Arduino Nanos, 10 Arduino Unos, 1 Adafruit Feather 32u4, 4 Raspberry Pi Picos, 2 Raspberry Pi running MT32-Pi and MiniDexed, and using the following projects from this site:

• On brass: Arduino Multi MIDI Tone Module.
• On high wind: Arduino MIDI R2R Digital Audio and Arduino PWM MIDI Synthesis with Mozzi.
• On medium/low wind: Arduino Multi-pot Mozzi FM Synthesis.
• On strings: Arduino Multi Mozzi String Synth.
• On guitar and bass: Arduino MIDI VS1003 or VS1053 Synth.
• On glock: Adafruit Feather MIDI, Music and LEDs.
• On snare, cymbals and bass drum: Arduino MIDI Relay Servo Drumkit.
• On clash cymbals: JQ6500 MIDI MP3 Player Module
• On timpani: Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi
• On tubular bells: “Bare Metal” Raspberry Pi MiniDexed DX7
• And on cannons: MCP4725 MIDI Sample Player

With a supporting cast of:

• Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor
• TFT MIDI Display
• LOLShield MIDI Lighting Effects
• Cheap mixers, amps, speakers, and resonant tubs!

All “conducting” is performed by the Raspberry Pi Pico MIDI Splitter and to optimise how the projects work together, I’ve used a range of my custom PCBs all manufactured by (and supported with vouchers from) the Seeed Fusion PCB service:

• Raspberry Pi Pico MIDI Splitter
• Raspberry Pi Pico MIDI Splitter (TTL) x 3
• Arduino Nano Multi-tone or PWM PCB x 3
• Arduino Audio Experimenter Shield PCB x 3
• MiniDexed Raspberry Pi IO Board

It was orchestrated using MuseScore3, exported to MIDI and “mucked about with” in MidiEditor, tested using MIDIOx and finally “conducted” by MIDIBar.

Full details of the rebuild process can be found here: The New Lo-Fi Orchestra Explainer.

Kevin