Year: 2023

MiniDexed TX816 – Part 3 – Panel Design

One the things I really wanted to pay attention to for my MiniDexed TX816 was the panel itself.  Usually, my panels are a very "DIY, it'll do" affair but I want this one to at least make an attempt to capture some of the style of the original TX816. I looked at a range of options … Continue reading MiniDexed TX816 – Part 3 – Panel Design →

MiniDexed TX816 – Part 2 – PCB Design

As I mentioned in my introduction, I soon gave up trying to prototype a Raspberry Pi Pico based TX816 styled user interface for my MiniDexed using solderless breadboard.  It was just too unweildy, unreliable, and generally impractical.  Consequently, I've took a bit of a risk and jumped straight into designing some circuit boards for my … Continue reading MiniDexed TX816 – Part 2 – PCB Design →

Pico, Nano, Micro Keyboard Matrix PCB – Part 2

Here are the build notes for my Pico, Nano, Micro Keyboard Matrix PCB. https://youtu.be/AwFH8FZMkNE Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments.  I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! These are the key Arduino tutorials for the main concepts used in this project: Keyboard Matrix Decode Toy Keyboard … Continue reading Pico, Nano, Micro Keyboard Matrix PCB – Part 2 →

Pico, Nano, Micro Keyboard Matrix PCB

A number of my projects have involved using a microcontroller (usually an Arduino Nano or a Raspberry Pi Pico) to decode a music keyboard matrix and take some action.  This is the basis of all of my "toy keyboard" MIDI controllers for example. This board is a "helper" PCB that makes the job a little … Continue reading Pico, Nano, Micro Keyboard Matrix PCB →

Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 6 – MIDI Mozzi FM Synth

Putting together everything I have so far, this presents a basic MIDI controlled Mozzi FM synth. The full index of projects and my personal build notes can be found here: Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth. This post contains the following experiments: MIDI Mozzi FM Synth Further Mozzi MIDI Experiments https://youtu.be/clG0iOgls-Q Warning! I strongly recommend using old … Continue reading Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 6 – MIDI Mozzi FM Synth →

Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 5 – MIDI IN

Having now tried a number of stand-alone projects, I thought it was time to get the Synth Shield hooked up to something else.  And for music, that means MIDI!  This project looks at building and using a serial ("traditional") MIDI IN circuit for the Synth Shield. The full index of projects and my personal build … Continue reading Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 5 – MIDI IN →

Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 4 – Drum Machine

This post talks through the porting and operating of a commonly used sketch for an Arduino drum machine, showing how to get it up and running on the Arduino Make Your Uno Synth Shield.. The full index of projects and my personal build notes can be found here: Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth. If you spend … Continue reading Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 4 – Drum Machine →

Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 3 – Adding GPIO

As you might have read, one of the main criticisms I had with the Synth Shield was that it didn't include an obvious way to get access to the unused GPIO pins on the Arduino.  This is a great oversight in my view as the whole point of using Arduino is its hardware interfacing opportunities! … Continue reading Arduino “Make Your Uno” Synth – 3 – Adding GPIO →