Category: Misc Hardware

Diagnosing and attempting to fix a Yamaha DX100 – Part 1

I was very lucky to be offered a non-working Yamaha DX100 from Simon Walters. On arrival I can see it attempts to boot but apart from the odd character on the screen, I wasn't really getting anything useful happening. My thinking here is that as it is a pretty nice synth with most of its functionality … Continue reading Diagnosing and attempting to fix a Yamaha DX100 – Part 1 →

Simple Square Wave Oscillator PCB Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Simple Square Wave Oscillator PCB. https://youtu.be/1vpDoPMgUWA Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments.  I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! If you are new to electronics, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials Oscillator components: Simple Square Wave Oscillator … Continue reading Simple Square Wave Oscillator PCB Build Guide →

Atari Punk Console PCB Build Guide

Here are the build notes for my Atari Punk Console PCB Design. https://youtu.be/OP9pHC1lsGw Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments.  I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! If you are new to electronics, see the Getting Started pages. Bill of Materials Atari Punk Console PCB (GitHub link below) … Continue reading Atari Punk Console PCB Build Guide →

Tactile Button Keyboard PCB – Part 2

Here are the build notes for my Tactile Button Keyboard PCB. 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: Open Music Labs: Input Matrix Scanning Arduino Nano MIDI … Continue reading Tactile Button Keyboard PCB – Part 2 →

Analog IO Board PCB – Part 2

This is the build guide for the Analog IO Board PCB. 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: Simple Potentiometer Breakout Arduino Multi-pot Mozzi FM Synthesis … Continue reading Analog IO Board PCB – Part 2 →

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 →