Lo-Fi Orchestra – Fanfare for the Common Man

Here is another piece for my Arduino tones- Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. This is scored for four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum and tam-tam. The Arduino tones provide the brass. The VS1053 provides the timpani and bass drum, but the tam-tam was a bit problematic. Eventually I decided … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Fanfare for the Common Man →

Lo-Fi Orchestra – Janacek Sinfonietta

I've been thinking about other things I could play on my Arduino tones and they seem particularly suited to fanfares, so here is the opening movement of Janacek's Sinfonietta. For details of the projects used in this performance: Arduino Tone One Year On! Arduino MIDI VS1003 or VS1053 Synth https://youtu.be/BroTjZgu1Bs All music rights and copyright … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Janacek Sinfonietta →

The Complete Lo-Fi Planets

Inspired by the legendary Tomita, the Lo-Fi Orchestra presentation of Gustav Holst's Planets Suite is now complete. The original Lo-Fi Orchestra project started off as an attempt to bring a range of my "Simple DIY Electronic Music Projects" together to "perform" a single piece. After a number of initial performances, I decided to take the … Continue reading The Complete Lo-Fi Planets →

Lo-Fi Orchestra – Neptune from The Planets

Inspired by the legendary Tomita, the Lo-Fi Orchestra presents the final piece, Neptune, from Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. This features the Adafruit Feather MIDI, Music and LEDs on the celesta, the Arduino MIDI VS1053 Synth as the 'harp', and the Raspberry Pi, Clumsy MIDI and MT32-Pi using the Fluidsynth soundscape as the voices. This has been programmed … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Neptune from The Planets →

Lo-Fi Orchestra – Uranus from The Planets

Inspired by the legendary Tomita, the Lo-Fi Orchestra presents Uranus from Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. This is using the same Lo-Fi Orchestra setup as Jupiter, which is detailed in full here, but you can listen out for the MT32-Pi on timpani once again, the Adafruit feather on xylophone, and heavy use of the PWM and … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Uranus from The Planets →

Pico MIDI Keypad Mini Tenori-On

I'd love to have a proper Tenori-on. It is a pretty unique kind of electronic instrument with a 16x16 grid of buttons that allows you to draw patterns that are then played in sequence. But as that is very unlikely to ever happen, I have to be content with making my own! Here is a … Continue reading Pico MIDI Keypad Mini Tenori-On →

Lo-Fi Orchestra – Baba Yaga, Great Gate of Kiev

The Lo-Fi Orchestra presents the final two movements from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition: Baba Yaga - "The Hut on Fowls Legs" - and The Great Gate of Kiev. I used the first few bars from the opening Promenade in my introduction to the Lo-Fi Orchestra, highlighting the brass section provided by the Arduino Multi MIDI … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Baba Yaga, Great Gate of Kiev →

Analog Keypad Tone Controller

I've picked up a couple of cheap 3x4 keypads so thought I'd look at its potential as a music controller. https://youtu.be/C1n5NBVvfLg 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 … Continue reading Analog Keypad Tone Controller →

Arduino Tone One Year On!

One year ago I posted the following two articles: Arduino Tone Generator Arduino Note Generator Shortly followed by an associated video on YouTube and so the Simple DIY Electronic Music Projects blog was born! They were then followed by the Arduino MIDI Tone Module and many others since. So in honour of my one-year anniversary, … Continue reading Arduino Tone One Year On! →

Lo-Fi Orchestra – Saturn from The Planets

Inspired by the legendary Tomita, the Lo-Fi Orchestra presents Saturn from Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. This is using the same Lo-Fi Orchestra setup as Jupiter, which is detailed in full here. There is a lot of dynamic nuance in the original, but unfortunately the Lo-Fi Orchestra doesn't really do nuance, it is mostly "on" or … Continue reading Lo-Fi Orchestra – Saturn from The Planets →