Arduino PSS-680 Synth Editor- Part 2

Following on from Part 1, this post looks at combining several of my previous projects to allow me to control the synth of a PSS-680 from a set of potentiometers. Part 1 - Goes into the detail of the MIDI implementation for the PSS-680 and how to handle the SysEx messages from an Arduino. https://youtu.be/aRfAQvwq8lc … Continue reading Arduino PSS-680 Synth Editor- Part 2 →

Arduino MIDI Foot Pedal for Peavey Vypyr Amp

I was asked to take a look at a Peavey Vypyr amp to think about how the foot pedal for it works. This is a set of links and notes by way of recording what I found out, and some initial experiments with an Arduino. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment … Continue reading Arduino MIDI Foot Pedal for Peavey Vypyr Amp →

Arduino PSS-680 Synth Editor- Part 1

I'm still exploring the range of Yamaha (and a few others) keyboards from the 80s with interesting synth chips. So far I've looked at the YM2413 and the PSS-170. I also have some YM3812s and a PSS-460. But today I'm looking at the PSS-680 which has a YM3420 in it, with the eventual aim of … Continue reading Arduino PSS-680 Synth Editor- Part 1 →

Simple MIDI Serial Monitor – Part 3

This is a follow-up to the following posts: Simple MIDI Serial Monitor - which shows how to use SoftwareSerial as a MIDI port to allow monitoring over the default serial port. Simple MIDI Serial Monitor – Part 2 - which shows how to use SoftwareSerial as the monitoring serial port instead. This post takes one of my … Continue reading Simple MIDI Serial Monitor – Part 3 →

16 Tone Generator MiniDexed

I've been looking into how it might be possible to get 16 tone generators running on MiniDexed, essentially giving the equivalent of a whole DX7 on each of the 16 MIDI channels. This post looks at some of the options I've looked at: Simply using MIDI THRU to connect two independent MiniDexeds with 8 TG … Continue reading 16 Tone Generator MiniDexed →

RPi Dual MiniDexed PCB – Part 2

Here are the build notes for the RPi Dual MiniDexed PCB Design. https://youtu.be/WnxW_eS3AZY 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 tutorials for the main concepts used in this project: MiniDexed Raspberry Pi IO Board If you are … Continue reading RPi Dual MiniDexed PCB – Part 2 →

RPi Dual MiniDexed PCB Design

I've been experimenting with various options for getting 16 tone generators running with MiniDexed and one of the options is running two MiniDexed setups side by side. I have a fork of MiniDexed that will allow one MiniDexed UI to control the 8 tone generators of a second MiniDexed over MIDI, but I'll come back … Continue reading RPi Dual MiniDexed PCB Design →

Rebuilding my Ability to Build MiniDexed

I do all of my non-Arduino C related development in an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine and managed to trash it recently (don't ask). I have several posts that detail how I got up and running with some of the environments I needed, but didn't have the notes from my first experiments with MiniDexed, so this … Continue reading Rebuilding my Ability to Build MiniDexed →

Raspberry Pi Pico Capacitive Touch

I've now done a number of projects using capacitive touch, using a range of methods from native IO handling to the use of the MPR121 and off-the-shelf boards. Typically native IO methods require testing a response between a signal on one IO pin being received on another, with the timing of that response affected by … Continue reading Raspberry Pi Pico Capacitive Touch →

Arduino PCF8574/8575 MIDI Controller

This project uses a PCF8574 or PCF8575 I2C digital IO expander with an Arduino as a MIDI controller. https://youtu.be/yrNB3riWBH4 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 … Continue reading Arduino PCF8574/8575 MIDI Controller →