DKSTR
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Finland

So at my new school we have this course where we can basically do any kind of project involving Arduino. I've googled around and watched tons of youtube videos and readed tons of projects little-scale has done. I dont have that much knowledge about this stuff but there seems to be some pretty simple stuff that people have done.

I would like to build a little standalone synth with a midi input and maybe some knobs on the synth. Basically something like the controls in this + midi in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwV-SKpQ … re=related

Stupid questions following:

Can I have knob for pitch and midi-in at the same time?
Could I combine this with with that above (four channels with some knobs like the one above) or is this even possible with Arduino:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z34bssZWSA

Another possibility is maybe to use Arduino for bending something (I have Casio PT-100 lying around pretty useless), is that possible/easy enough for dude who has only knowledge of basic bending?

Another cool projects welcome too, our teacher seems to be pretty good with arduino stuff and different sensors and I have almost 3 weeks to do this.

Last edited by DKSTR (Nov 23, 2010 8:04 pm)

herr_prof
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How come there isnt an any arduino drum samplers

/self serving suggestion

DKSTR
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Finland

I think I saw some drum sequencers / drum machines but I guess storing samples isnt possible because lack of memory?

Oh and I fixed my original bost. Bottom video was supposed to be 4bitsynth / Nessy.

boomlinde
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Sweden
DKSTR wrote:

Can I have knob for pitch and midi-in at the same time?

Yes, that's definitely doable!

DKSTR wrote:

Another possibility is maybe to use Arduino for bending something (I have Casio PT-100 lying around pretty useless), is that possible/easy enough for dude who has only knowledge of basic bending?

Yes, this sounds like a good idea. You could use the arduino to control a bunch of relays or 4066 switch chips (electronically controlled switches) to make/break bending connections.

DKSTR
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Finland

Hmm that bending actually sounds tempting, I would like to do something that I probably would use at some point, since I have to buy the arduino. But switches for bends could be interesting, any other uses besides switching on/off come to mind?

Maybe adding some controls like this would be cool too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX3o-kSW … re=related

boomlinde
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Sweden

Well, with a bunch of them you could basically make a computer controlled patch grid and sequence it all through a MIDI/serial input. As for potentiometer controls, I'm pretty sure that there are digitally controlled pots as well.

My own arduino is set up with 4066 switches to act as an atari-style joystick right now. I can control games on my C64 and MSX through MIDI, and I've made some programs for these computers for visualization and sounds.

DKSTR
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Finland

Sounds really cool! Possibilities seem to be almost endless so its hard to start. I might really get into this, as happened with Pure Data (made a really simple 4-track drumsequencer + livelooper to use with Novation Launchpad) about a month ago. But let's see how hard this is with couple of excercises, thanks a lot for ideas, I'll post here whatever I'll end up doing.

tRasH cAn maN
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boomlinde wrote:

I'm pretty sure that there are digitally controlled pots as well.

I can't say for sure, but maybe it would be possible to use the PWM outputs on the arduino to control analogue signals via a transistor? maybe a smoothing cap is needed.

Rolf
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Canada

If it helps give you ideas, my arduino is currently set up for OPL2 FM synthesis. smile Song data is streamed over USB from the host PC. It's a pretty simple circuit though. It wouldn't be too difficult to make a standalone synth with a simple chip. I'd like to see what you come up with though.

Here's a terrible picture of it if you're interested:

Trash80
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Los Angeles
herr_prof wrote:

How come there isnt an any arduino drum samplers

/self serving suggestion

i have one in my dmg.

infradead
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Tacoma WA
trash80 wrote:
herr_prof wrote:

How come there isnt an any arduino drum samplers

/self serving suggestion

i have one in my dmg.

there is one.  my friend was playing with the code.

he described the finished result as "pretty 1999-idm-tastic."

undergroundclouds
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Spokompton
infradead wrote:
trash80 wrote:

i have one in my dmg.

there is one.  my friend was playing with the code.

he described the finished result as "pretty 1999-idm-tastic."

here ya go, just uploaded it at your request. http://soundcloud.com/undergroundclouds/amenduino

undergroundclouds
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Spokompton
Rolf wrote:

If it helps give you ideas, my arduino is currently set up for OPL2 FM synthesis. smile Song data is streamed over USB from the host PC. It's a pretty simple circuit though. It wouldn't be too difficult to make a standalone synth with a simple chip. I'd like to see what you come up with though.

Here's a terrible picture of it if you're interested:

how are you doing this? I got an arduino last month and the first thing I tried to do was FM synthesis. I sorta gave up on it because it was just too frigging lo-fi and grainy. I couldn't imagine making "music" this way because it couldn't even handle 2 operators, let alone 8 operator pairs as in OPL2 FM.

Trash80
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Los Angeles

No I mean I have a arduino in my dmg (pro mini)
I've been working on it for a few days. It's a sample oscillator and drum sample player. Using a 4bit r2r dac which sounds a bit better than using pwm. It's using some custom lsdj code thats not available at the moment. Heres a old clip from friday, the only thing gameboy is the pu1 synth.


Trash80
Offline
Los Angeles
undergroundclouds wrote:

how are you doing this? I got an arduino last month and the first thing I tried to do was FM synthesis. I sorta gave up on it because it was just too frigging lo-fi and grainy. I couldn't imagine making "music" this way because it couldn't even handle 2 operators, let alone 8 operator pairs as in OPL2 FM.

Looks like hes using a chip synth. smile

Battle Lava
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trash80 wrote:

No I mean I have a arduino in my dmg (pro mini)
I've been working on it for a few days. It's a sample oscillator and drum sample player. Using a 4bit r2r dac which sounds a bit better than using pwm. It's using some custom lsdj code thats not available at the moment. Heres a old clip from friday, the only thing gameboy is the pu1 synth.


cool!