Zynthian and Clumsy MIDI

I'm really getting through my Raspberry Pi Synth "todo" list now! Next on the hitlist was doing something with Zynthian - the Open Synth Platform. This is an excellent software-synth that runs on a Raspberry Pi and is available in a fully self-contained kit or can be run "raw" on a Pi. The recommendation is … Continue reading Zynthian and Clumsy MIDI →

Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi – Part 2

This is a short follow-up to my previous post - Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi - to explore the General MIDI capabilities of the MT32-Pi. https://youtu.be/RcpGciIM-KA 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 the … Continue reading Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi – Part 2 →

Arduino Top Octave Generator – Counter Experiments

After building my Arduino Top Octave Generator I went off an ordered some binary counter devices to use to produce some "lower octaves". This is a test run project to explore how the 74HC393N devices I have work. In part 2 I start to explore how to expand this to multiple keys and octaves. https://youtu.be/MO8jG0fjUSU Warning! … Continue reading Arduino Top Octave Generator – Counter Experiments →

Pi Pico Keypad MIDI Step Sequencer

As soon as the Raspberry Pi Pico came out accompanied by the Pimoroni Keypad, people started making MIDI controllers with it. So far, most of the ones I've seen have used the USB MIDI library from Adafruit for Circuit Python, but I wanted to get some "real MIDI" out of it, so I've hooked one … Continue reading Pi Pico Keypad MIDI Step Sequencer →

Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll have noticed my trusty Roland MT-32 MIDI sound module in various experiments. It even featured in my "Raspberry Pi Plays Bach" video which was my first play with MIDI on the Raspberry Pi Pico. I've been wanting to experiment with some of options for using a … Continue reading Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi →

Arduino Top Octave Generator

My previous experiments with Arduino tone() polyphony have led to a curious tangent, following some comments on a hackaday post featuring my original project that compared my project to Top Octave Generators. This describes how I used the same principle to create a simplified (and not very accurate or useful) Arduino Top Octave Generator as … Continue reading Arduino Top Octave Generator →

Pi Pico PIO Poly Tone MIDI Keyboard

Following on from the Pi Pico PIO Poly Tone Keyboard here it is combined with one of the DIY MIDI Interfaces to give an eight note polyphonic MIDI tone module based on the Raspberry Pi Pico. In a follow-up post I develop a "pack" MIDI interface. https://youtu.be/uscUlgJ-NBk Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment … Continue reading Pi Pico PIO Poly Tone MIDI Keyboard →

Pi Pico PIO Poly Tone Keyboard

One of the obvious use-cases for the Raspberry Pi Pico's Peripheral I/O system (PIO) is in generating simple tones. Ben Everard from Hackspace Magazine did exactly that. You can read the full tutorial here or in Hackspace Magazine Issue 40. All the code for his PIOBeep.py can be found on GitHub here, and he leaves … Continue reading Pi Pico PIO Poly Tone Keyboard →

Arduino Tone Polyphony – Part 3

Having achieved my full 12-note polyphony both over MIDI and using built-in keyboard encoding, the last part of this experiment was to see what range was possible using this method for tones. This project manages four octaves with 12-note polyphony and tuning that, whilst isn't perfect, isn't too bad either. https://youtu.be/Vf4GcZHLVJQ Warning! I strongly recommend … Continue reading Arduino Tone Polyphony – Part 3 →

Arduino Tone Polyphony – Part 2

There were two enhancements to my Arduino Tone Polyphony project I was keen to explore. One was to expand the MIDI range of notes and one was to "build in" a keyboard. I have managed to create an experimental version that can support four octaves over MIDI, but tuning needs some work, so I'm not ready … Continue reading Arduino Tone Polyphony – Part 2 →