Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 5

This is the fifth part in a series of posts describing how I've approached building a "universal synthesizer panel" to house a range of microcontroller synthesis projects. In the first part, I detailed the general idea and overall design of the panel. In part 2 I built the IO panel. In part 3 I built … Continue reading Universal Synthesizer Panel – Part 5 →

Arduino MIDI 7 Segment Controller – Part 2

As mentioned in my previous post, the Arduino MIDI 7 Segment Controller is ripe for turning into a self-contained module. To keep it all relatively small, I opted to build an add-on board for an Arduino Nano. Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any … Continue reading Arduino MIDI 7 Segment Controller – Part 2 →

Arduino MIDI 7 Segment Controller

An Arduino is quite capable of driving a seven segment display directly without additional circuitry, but it does use a lot of pins. But the advantage is that you have a much larger range of displays to choose from and you have the option to include it on your own board or shield in the … Continue reading Arduino MIDI 7 Segment Controller →

Arduino MIDI VS1003 Shield – Part 2

Having left a good half of a proto shield free in my Arduino MIDI VS1003 Shield I thought it would be useful to add in some potentiometers, a MIDI link and an optional indicator LED. This documents the build process continuing where the previous project left off. Warning! I strongly recommend using an old or second hand … Continue reading Arduino MIDI VS1003 Shield – Part 2 →

Adafruit Feather MIDI, Music and LEDs

In my last post using the Adafruit Feather, I described how to get the MIDI and Music Maker FeatherWings working together. This time I'm adding in the CharlieWing LED module. https://youtu.be/Oi54vxumLFc Warning! I strongly recommend using an old or second hand keyboard for your MIDI experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments! … Continue reading Adafruit Feather MIDI, Music and LEDs →

Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor – Part 2

I liked the way my Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor turned out so much that I decided to tidy it up and commit it to stripboard after all and I'm pretty pleased with the results. https://youtu.be/mgPapCQgJ7g In the video you can see the LED for channel 10 lighting up when the drums are played and the LED … Continue reading Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor – Part 2 →

Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor

Whilst messing about with MIDI drums at one point it would have been really useful to be able to check which MIDI channels had messages, so I thought it would be useful to have a simple MIDI channel monitor. The idea is that you have 16 LEDs, one for each MIDI channel, and if any … Continue reading Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor →

LOLShield MIDI Waterfall Display

This builds on the Arduino MIDI Note Monitor with a slightly different take to the Wemos MIDI LED Matrix making use of a "LOL Shield". LOL in this case stands for "lots of LEDs" - in this case a grid of 14 x 9 - and is a fun way to get your Arduino lighting up as … Continue reading LOLShield MIDI Waterfall Display →

Arduino MIDI Note Monitor

This project shows you which note is being playing, within a single octave (white notes only!), by lighting up a different LED for each note. I develop more sophisticated LED visualisations in Wemos MIDI LED Matrix. The Arduino MIDI Channel Monitor shows you which channels are being used. https://youtu.be/0oSYtyVBxfE Warning! I strongly recommend using an old … Continue reading Arduino MIDI Note Monitor →