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 →

Tactile Button Keyboard PCB

I've used tactile buttons as musical keyboards in a number of my projects now and either build them on solderless breadboard, which is quite unreliable, or on stripboard, which is a little messy. This PCB design is for a one-octave tactile button keyboard PCB that has various modes of operation and is extendable to two … Continue reading Tactile Button Keyboard PCB →

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 →

Analog IO Board PCB

A number of my synth projects require the use of potentiometers. A while back I made a relatively simple stripboard pot breakout, but it isn't particularly reliable. This PCB is a pot breakout that can be used in various ways - either direct, with a 4051 multiplexer, or with an SPI MCP3008 expander. It also … Continue reading Analog IO Board PCB →

MiniDexed Raspberry Pi V1 IO Board – Part 2

This is the build guide for my MiniDexed Raspberry Pi V1 IO Board. 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: “Bare Metal” Raspberry Pi MiniDexed DX7 Raspberry Pi … Continue reading MiniDexed Raspberry Pi V1 IO Board – Part 2 →

MiniDexed Raspberry Pi V1 IO Board

I already have two different IO boards for use with MiniDexed on a Raspberry Pi and whilst MiniDexed works best on a Pi 3 or 4, providing 8 full DX7-compatible tone generators, it is also possible to run it on a V1 Raspberry Pi, although it is limited in performance to a single tone generator. … Continue reading MiniDexed Raspberry Pi V1 IO Board →

MiniDexed TX816 – Part 5 – Mechanical Assembly

Having now built the required PCBs and obtained a panel, this post starts to think about the actual mechanical assembly of the MiniDexed TX816. Posts in this series: Part 1: Introduction, context, and high-level design. Part 2: PCB design. Part 3: Panel design. Part 4: PCB assembly. Part 5: Mechanical assembly. Part 6: Pico MIDI … Continue reading MiniDexed TX816 – Part 5 – Mechanical Assembly →

MiniDexed TX816 – Part 4b – PCB Build Guide – IO Board

This is the second build guide, this time for the IO board. The build guide for the Raspberry Pi Interface Board can be found here. Posts in this series: Part 1: Introduction, context, and high-level design. Part 2: PCB design. Part 3: Panel design. Part 4: PCB assembly. Part 5: Mechanical assembly. Part 6: Pico … Continue reading MiniDexed TX816 – Part 4b – PCB Build Guide – IO Board →

MiniDexed TX816 – Part 4a – PCB Build Guide – RPi Interface Board

I'm not going to do full build guides for the PCBs for this, but I will be documenting in high level terms how they are put together. There are two build guides, this one for the Raspberry Pi Interface board and a second one (4b) for the IO board. Posts in this series: Part 1: … Continue reading MiniDexed TX816 – Part 4a – PCB Build Guide – RPi Interface Board →

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 →