Hexpad! Friend of norns - enabling midi for passersby, molly the polly, and bitters.

video upload by astrophage

The Hexpad is from Adafruit:

Hexpad MIDI Device #adafruit #circuitpython #3Dprinting

video upload by Adafruit Industries

DIY DRUM AND BASS SYNTHESIZER ESP32

video upload by GlakGlikGluk

"Sebelumnya saya sudah berbagi skema dan program data tetapi hasil keluaran suara stereo masih terlalu banyak kebisingan dari tampilan oled dan catu daya, sekarang saya mengubahnya ke tampilan Hi-fi dengan keluaran mono itu terdengar lebih baik. Jika kalian ingin membuatnya saya sudah menyiapkan data dan skema baru di google drive saya .
Link data dan skema :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-f2K...
.
Modul ini di buat dengan micro controller ESP32 dengan keluaran suara PWM mode Hi-fi tanpa penguat operasional saya rasa sudah cukup
.
Gunakan catu daya 5V / 1Amper di pin Vin jika inging menggunakan adaptor jika port micro usb cukup charger smartphone saja"

Googlish:

"Earlier I shared the schematic and data program but the stereo sound output is still too much noise from the OLED display and the power supply, now I changed it to a Hi-fi display with mono output it sounds better. If you want to make it I have prepared the data and new schematic in my google drive .
Data link and schematic :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-f2K... .
This module is made with an ESP32 micro controller with a Hi-fi mode PWM sound output without an operational amplifier, I think it's enough
.
Use a 5V / 1Amper power supply on the Vin pin if you want to use an adapter, if the micro USB port is enough for a smartphone charger.

Dark Noisy & Glitchy Drone Texture with DIY Neutral Labs Elmyra Synthesizer (Feat Empress Zoia)

video by Sound Provider

"On this small demo I did an Ambient Drone with the Elmyra from Neutral Labs, the Elmyra is a quite noisy but fun and cheap Diy digital/analog hybrid drone synthesizer with a digital delay.

Elmyra is based on the Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Express microcontroller. Its 10-bit audio resolution already gives it a wonderfully gritty sound, and this circuit adds some nasty analog distortion to it.

For the video in addition to the delay included in the Synth, I also added a bit of reverb with the Zoia From Empress Effects , the patch I used is the "1978 plate A" from Christopher H. M. Jacques which you can download for free here if you have the Zoia : https://patchstorage.com/1978-plate-a...​

Voila
Leonard de Leonard"

You can find additional Elmyra posts here.

The One of a Kind EMS Synthi KB1

EMS Synthi KB1 by Digitana from portabellabz on Vimeo.

"Wish a nice background music from the Synthi KB1 will come ;)
Thanks for sharing, Steve !
synthi.co.uk/"

This image was spotted and sent my way via @deejayiwan. I've seen it before so I did a quick search on the site, but only found this previous post. A little digging on the web and I found the video above and a post on none other than x0xb0x creator, Adafruit's blog. According to that post:

"ask.audio blogs about the 2017 recovery of a rare, one-of-a-kind EMS Synthi KB1 synthesizer, a model that never made it into production. This one was made for the band YES in 1971. Digitana Electronics obtained the synth and was looking to document some music history.

'We are pleased to announce that Digitana Electronics has acquired an important piece of E.M.S. history…the E.M.S. Synthi KB1 keyboard. Only one prototype was ever made, for the band YES in 1971.

'The synth never went into production. It has remained essentially unused for 46 years though Steve Howe (YES guitarist) did use it on a track in the first of his ‘homebrew’ demo recordings, some of which featured on the bands albums. We plan to release more photos and audio demos of this keyboard in the future so that E.M.S. fans everywhere can finally hear and find out more about this beautiful and historic instrument.'”

New Robaux SWT16 Eurorack Grid Sequencer, SRL 12 MIDI to Trigger Interface, & Bombmult

Robaux SWT16 Demo Published on Dec 23, 2017 robaux

New module and new maker on the site. Note the two sequencers to the right of the SWT16 are Division 6 Dual Mini Sequencers.

"The Robaux SWT16 is a 16-track eurorack trigger sequencer with up to 16 steps per track.

Programmable like a classic TR machine, the SWT16 can be used not only for triggering drum sounds, but also for Envelopes, S'n'Hs or resetting LFOs.

The SWT16 is polymetric - each track can have a different length, from 1 to 16 steps. Even more complex rhythms succeed with the individual clock divider per track.

SWT16 has an intuitive user interface. All operation is via the illuminated 4x4 keypad. From the main screen, you can access the 6 different modes of the sequencer. The buttons adapt to the selected mode. With the back button, you can quickly return to the main screen.

Each track has its own trigger output. In addition, the triggers are also sent via MIDI notes (requires and adapter)"

"The SWT16 is based on Arduino Uno and Adafruit Trellis. Between these two components are a few more electrical parts you'll get from your local electronics store."

Additional details at Robaux. Also see their SRL 12 MIDI to Trigger interface, and Bombmult.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Toa Mata Band - Episode#6 [Orkestrionicle]

Published on Nov 11, 2017 Opificio Sonico

The latest video featuring the Tao Mata Band. Click here to bring up all posts in the series.

"The musical instruments and robot devices used in this episode are:
Rakit Drum synth (Tone Drumsynth), Boss HC-2 (Clap), Arturia BeatStep pro, Coron Rockaku-kun Drum synth (BD+Noise), DIY Glockenspiel, Sabian cymbals, Electro Harmonix Mini-Synthesizer (Bass Synth), Alesis Mod-Fx, TC-Electronics Hall of Fame, Korg mini Kaosspad, Mackie 1402 VLZ, Arduino UNO, Novation Launchpad, Adafruit motor shield."

"Time for a new episode of Toa Mata Band, this one is called 'Orkestrionicle'.

The Orchestrions were mechanic musical instruments that were developed in Germany in the early XIX century that would automatically play music and were designed to sound like an orchestra.

These music machineries were made of a complex system of gears, pulley and levers which were operated by a large pinned cylinder or by a piano roll*.

Their sound was usually produced by pipes, percussion instruments, but many orchestrions contained a piano player as well.

The 6th episode of Toa Mata Band is inspired by these amazing retro music machines, by adding to the LEGO® Bionicle robotic orchestra some acoustic percussions and a vintage mono synthesizer which creates (with help of a bunch of solenoids, robot arm and a MIDI step sequencer) a fully analogue electroacoustic ensemble.
This piece is the results of a live-robotics set recording, mastered in post production.

Giuseppe Acito (Opificio sonico)

:: Credits:
Making and Music: Giuseppe Acito
Camera: Maryanica
Performed: Toa Mata Band
The performance was recorded in October 2017.

:: Contact:
opificiosonico@libero.it
https://www.facebook.com/ToaMataBand
https://www.instagram.com/toamataband/
https://soundcloud.com/opificio-sonico
https://www.flickr.com/photos/opifici...
https://twitter.com/toamataband

*The PIANO ROLL is a punched paper roll that contains the note sequence arranged in length, height and time along the duration of the song.
It can be replaced and swapped for another roll with a different song."

DIY Project #8: Minty Synth 2.0

Published on Nov 4, 2017 poorness studios

"The Minty Synth is a tiny Arduino-bases synthesizer built inside of a mint tin. It's very powerful for how simple it is to build. You can buy one here: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2648"

"The MintySynth kit - 2.0 is a great way to make your next musical creation while experimenting with electronics and programming. Open source and hackable, the MintySynth is an Arduino-compatible synth kit that fits in an Altoids tin.

This comes as an unassembled kit so some soldering is required - but the assembly itself is fairly straightforward and the software comes preloaded so creating your next project should be a breeze! The included software is a 4 voice, 16 step wavetable sequencer that let's you play around with different intruments while controlling the tempo, swing, keys and scale. You can save up to four 16 note songs, relooping them over and over or reload each individually. If you do want to program the Synth yourself, you'll need an FTDI Cable since there's no onboard USB."

And via MintySynth.com:

"MintySynth is an Arduino-compatible synthesizer/sequencer/audio experiment kit that fits neatly in an Altoids® tin. It is intended to be an educational tool as well as a fun toy, and is a great way to learn about electronics, programming, and music. It’s open source and hackable! Soldering is required, but assembly is straightforward and generally takes one to two hours. You supply the Altoids® tin. You can either assemble the kit and use it with the preloaded synth software, or you can program it yourself as you would an Arduino...

CLICK FOR MORE »

Capacitive Touch Janko Keyboard for Moog Werkstatt

Published on Feb 13, 2017 Ben Bradley

"This is a Janko-layout touch keyboard I made at the 2017 Moog Hackathon at Georgia Tech, February 10-12. I'm playing a few classic bass and melody lines from popular and classic tunes. I only have one octave (13 notes) connected so far.

The capacitive touch sensors use MPR121 capacitive-touch chips, on breakout boards from Adafruit (Moog Hackathon sponsor Sparkfun makes a similar board for the same chip). The example code from Adafruit was modified to read four boards (using the Adafruit library and making four sensor objects and initializing each to one of the four I2C addresses is remarkably easy for anyone with moderate familiarity with C++), and code was written to send a gate (key down) signal to the Werkstatt, and to write a binary representation of the pressed key (low note priority) to an Arduino port connected to a precision R-2R ladder to generate the voltage for the VCO exponential input.

The capacitive touch sensors can be used to make a touch keyboard with any configuration, not just the Janko. With these sensors it's remarkably easy to make a functioning electronic musical keyboard, as no mechanical switches or moving parts are needed. The feeling is at least as responsive as a "real" keyboard, as response to touch and release feels instant as far as I can tell. If anything, there's a "problem" in that if you accidentally, even slightly, touch a key it will sound, whereas with a mechanical keyboard you have to "accidentally" press a key down for it to sound.

A traditional seven-natural-and-five-sharp-keys layout would have been just as easy, but less "interesting." I chose the Janko layout after having read about it for many years (see Paul Vandervoot's piano video "Demonstration of 4-Row Janko Keyboard" - he describes the layout at 4:06). The Janko has, from left to right, six whole steps per octave, thus is one less key wide per octave than the traditional keyboard, so with the same key spacings the Janko octave is a shorter distance. Going up or down diagonally is a half step, so a chromatic scale of all 12 notes is a zig-zag pattern. A major scale is the first three notes in a line (whole steps), diagonally up or down to the next key (a half step), this and the next three keys across (whole steps), and then diagonally again (a half step) to get to the octave key. You can start on any key and the major scale is the same description. This is the remarkable property of the Janko layout, there are very few patterns to memorize for the different scales and chords.

ETA Feb. 18:
Here's a blogpost I just wrote, it includes a schematic diagram and the Arduino source code:
http://blog.freesideatlanta.org/2017/..."

Conway's Game of Life synth module

Published on Dec 5, 2016 thenervoussquirrel

"Quick test of a trigger module for modular synth. 64 outputs controlled by a MIDI input, or 'game of life' mode using John Conway's cellular automaton rules.

The video shows a few percussion modules connected, but it can of course be used to trigger envelope generators, sequencer steps etc.

Synth page: www.nervoussquirrel.com/modular

Uses one of those lovely 8x8 LED matrices by Adafruit.

Based on Tyler Hyndman's code: https://github.com/tylo42/Arduino-Gam..."

Wake The Dead Soundpack (Week 29) with "Mini Untz" DIY Wood MIDI Controller

Published on May 14, 2015 KM Productions

3D printed wood DIY MIDI controller "Mini Untz" is based on the Arduino Leonardo and Adafruit Trellis.

"Let's take a few bold samples from a TV show, mix them with synth that sounds like it was pulled from an 8-bit Nintendo Video game and add some filthy bass with mechanical drums to round it out and that gives you this soundpack! It sets a dark tone, while giving you that possible 80’s/Retro vibe.

While it appears to only be 16 pads, do not be deceived; many have multiple samples, variations, and even change or loop depending on how long you hold them for. So go grab a MIDI controller and get ready to kill some pixelated zombies with this bass!" - Kyle

Sign up to receive these soundpacks straight to your inbox every week:
http://www.kmprodj.com/djproducer-res...

FREE DOWNLOAD (Ableton Project File, Traktor Remix Kit & WAVs Folder all in one zip file): https://gum.co/KMSP029

Video Credit: Alex Medvick"

The Crowminius Synthesizer - "Crow’s Mini for the Rest of Us"

via Adafruit

"Hey folks, Crow here. As I may have mentioned in the past my first hobby is electronic music synthesizer design. While a fair amount of my spare time these past two years involves the crOwBX project [featured here], I did manage to work out the design for a new instrument. The two main driving forces behind this project were wanting to make a replacement machine in the style of a Minimoog 204D ('model D') for my good friend Doug Ferguson, who lost his circa 1974 original Mini to hurricane Katrina, and I wanted to create a machine that would fit in the compact aluminum attache case as used with Dan Alich’s awesome Duinokit. Thus was the Crowminius synthesizer born. (Doug calls it 'Crow’s Mini for the rest of us.') The schematic capture and board layout took about 10 days, with 1,457 airwires to sort through for the approximately 800 parts. (I do not use autorouting: autorouters suck.)"

DSP Synthesizers' DSP-G1 Voice Chip Comes to Adafruit

New Products 2/18/2015 Published on Feb 19, 2015 Adafruit Industries

"DSP-G1 Voice Chip (0:21) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2400

Adafruit Audio FX Mini Sound Board - WAV/OGG Trigger 16MB Flash (2:45) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2341

Adafruit Audio FX Mini Sound Board - WAV/OGG Trigger - 2MB Flash (2:45) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2342

Adafruit Raspberry Pi A+ Case - Smoke Base w/ Clear Top (5:08) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2359

HDMI 4 Pi: 7" Display & Audio 1024x600 w/Touchscreen (9:45) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2397

HDMI 4 Pi: 7" Display w/Touchscreen 1024x600 w/ Mini Driver (9:45) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2396

HDMI 4 Pi: 7" Display w/Touchscreen 1024x600- HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL (9:45) https://www.adafruit.com/products/2395
----------------------------------------­-
Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com"

via Adafruit

"Make your own mini MIDI synth with DSP-G1 Voice Chip analog modeling synthesizer by Jan Ostman at DSP Synthesizers. It's a tiny LPC810 chip programmed to read in MIDI streams and make music!

The chip reads TTL level serial MIDI data and outputs sound through a 44.1KHz Delta-Sigma DAC. The synth is a 15-DCO structured as 5-note paraphonic with a 24db lowpass filter with resonance. It also has: AMP ENV, filter ENV and LFO with sine or sample & hold waveform.

If you want to use it with for example Arduino (as we did in our example photo), it can be connected to the ATmega TX port and controlled through a sketch. More chips makes it multitimbral

15 DCO, 24db DCF, 2 ENV, 1 LFO
5 voice paraphonic voice structure
TTL MIDI Input
44.1KHz 16-bit Delta-Sigma DAC
19 parameters controlled through MIDI-CC
3.3v power, 5v tolerant inputs
MIDI-CC list:

CUTOFF = CC#74
RESONANCE = CC#71
FILTER A = CC#82
FILTER D = CC#83
FILTER S = CC#28
FILTER R = CC#29
FILTER ENV M = CC#81
FILTER LFO M = CC#01
WAVEFORM = CC#76
WRAP = CC#04
RANGE = CC#21
DETUNE = CC#93
OSCENV A = CC#73
OSCENV D = CC#75
OSCENV S = CC#31
OSCENV R = CC#72
MASTERVOL = CC#07
LFORATE = CC#16
LFOWAVE = CC#20"

nw2s::b GridTriggerSequencer Demo 1

Published on Oct 12, 2014 Scott Wilson

"For full details, please see http://nw2s.net

This is a demo of the nw2s::b support for hosting USB grids such as the Adafruit trellis-based Hella Oontztrument or any number of monomes.

This demo is of the GridTriggerSequencer which uses the grid as a simple trigger sequence programmer. Sequences may be pre-programmed and stored on the SD card or build from scratch on the fly.

Support for the grid controllers will be available with the release of firmware version 1.1 and will include 64, 128, and 256 button devices."

Mini OONTZ - 3D Printed MIDI Controller From x0xb0x Creator Adafruit

Published on Jul 31, 2014 Adafruit Industries

"In this project we're building a diy midi controller that works with ios devices and analog synths.

Say hello to OONTZ, the open source button grid controller based on the adafruit trellis.

The mini OONTZ is a 3d printed case housing one trellis and 4 potentiometers ideal for a 16 button drum pad.

OONTZ works with any MIDI software and hardware. No more virtual midi or serial to MIDI stuff, oontz is legit USB MIDI.

Full Tutorial
https://learn.adafruit.com/mini-oontz...

Download STLs
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:409733"

"DIY MIDI Controller
Say hello to OONTZ, the open source button grid controller based on the Adafruit Trellis button platform.

The mini OONTZ is a 3d printed case housing one trellis and 4 potentiometers ideal for a 16 button drum pad. In this project we're building a diy midi controller that works with ios devices and analog synths.

OONTZ works with any MIDI software and hardware. No more virtual midi or serial to MIDI stuff, oontz is legit USB MIDI."
Adafruit Trellis
This PCB is specially made to match the Adafruit 4x4 elastomer keypad. Each Trellis PCB has 4x4 pads and 4x4 matching spots for 3mm LEDs. The circuitry on-board handles the background key-presses and LED lighting for the 4x4 tile. However, it does not have any microcontroller or other 'brains' - an Arduino (or similar microcontroller) is required to control the Trellis to read the keypress data and let it know when to light up LEDs as desired."

Ladyada's Workshop in Lego

adafruit.com/lego

Ice Tube & Shruthi-1

flickr By MukSys
(click for more)

The Ice Tube is a clock from adafruit, makers of the x0xb0x.

Retro Joy - Serial Serendipity

YouTube Published on Apr 12, 2012 by sonodrome

"Some fun with an old joystick and a sampler made from an Arduino + the Adafruit Waveshield.

http://adafruit.com/products/94"