[Lauramalina]

The Arduino — the Freeduino to be exact, in this illustration — is an ideal, basic platform for experimenting with electronics and microcontrollers. It can be thought of as a very simple, open source computer for use in making devices you make up. It’s pretty basic for sonic work, but for some, that’s its appeal. Photo: [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.]; see [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.].


Felt and circuits: Critter and Guitari have made a synth-ready shield for the Arduino that turns your electronics into a usable, squelchy synth. But it’s not complete until you painstakingly handcraft an [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.], as photographed by the creators. For more felt and circuits, see our <a href="http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/06/19/felt-circuits-for-sound-and-enjoyment-from-happy-sheep/">interview with Monome creators Brian and Kelli, who moonlight as lovers of sustainable fabrics.
I received my[You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] in the mail last week and have started to experiment with using it to synthesize audio and video. I’m not very experienced with programming microcontrollers, so I’ve been doing a lot of research to see what’s out there, and it’s greatly encouraging to see that people are taking this little kit in fun directions.

While I wasn’t able to find many “finished” projects, I did find a whole lot of ideas that deserve further exploration:

First up is a simple but effective “Arduino Theremin” from [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.]. Looks like this one uses an ultrasonic rangefinder rather than an RF field to effect pitch. The squelchy FM-like tone is a little screechy but could work well with a little bit of filtering:



Here’s a very nice MIDI Sequencer from [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.], being played by IDM darling [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.]. The LEDs are a nice touch, and the stability as he ramps up the clock indicates a solid design. The end result is extremely musical and could stand on it’s own alongside some very pricey commercial counterparts:



Here’s a circuit-bend from [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] using the Arduino to adjust the toy’s clock rate. Super freaky:



Sebastian Tomczak of [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] has a very promising drum machine design. I’m sure he’s working on a newer version that doesn’t use those terrible DIP switches for controls:



Sebastian’s also got an amazing VGA synthesizer rigged up that is controlled by what looks like MIDI data synchronized to a beat made in Ableton Live. So awesome, and very portable. I could use one of these at my next live gig:



On a related note, here’s a project from [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] that uses the Arduino to separate incoming audio into frequency bands, then uses those signals to control the color/brightness of a few ambient orbs. Nicely done:



What’s great about these projects collectively is not their functionality, but the breadth of their intents. I’ve yet to see a fully functional polyphonic synth powered solely by Arduino, but I think we’re seeing the components of such a system coming together one by one. And because the Arduino is open-source and nearly all users share their data and experience, we’re only going to see more and better projects as time goes on. I think we’re just at the start of a long journey, one that will certainly delight and amaze as it unfolds.

Ed.: Terrific finds, Mike! But I’m surprised — you missed one of the biggest projects. It’s not polyphonic, mind, but it sounds fantastic. The Critter and Guitari folks, whom we already loved dearly for their [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] and [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.], have built a shield for the Arduino adding on synth capabilities. -PKThis is a board for making the Arduino into a portable stand alone music synthesizer. It plugs directly into the Arduino board and provides 25 multiplexed keys (2 full octaves), 4 pots, status LED, reset switch, digital to analog converter IC, and a RCA audio jack. The Arduino board with its powerful AVR processor is more than adequate for a wide range of sound synthesis techniques. We have experimented with additive / wave-table synthesis, frequency modulation, ring modulation, sampling, polyphony, various arpeggiators. The whole thing can be powered over the Arduino’s USB port for convenient experimenting.
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Here’s a hands-on demo, as captured by Make’s [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.]:



My favorite project — the creators built a housing and fuzzy keyboard membrane out of felt, as pictured at the top of this story.

[You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] [Critter and Guitari]

Collin walks through the whole process of making the Pocket Piano project on MAKE:blog.

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A moody shot of the Arduino Pocket Piano by [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.].
Collin has also tried building his own synth project, as reported [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.]



Arduino synth, as created by mad scientist about town Collin Mel Cunningham. (When not at MAKE, he’s also on [You cannot see the link as you're not logged in. Click here to login or here to register.] or getting harassed by me at MAKE- and CDM-related events.
I’m guessing that, with the Pocket Piano out for a few months, there are other projects we’re missing. So, fair readers, if you do have cool Arduino-based projects of any kind — or, for that matter, want to tell us that you really prefer a different kit or microcontroller platform — we’d love to hear from you! -PK



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