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  • Author Author: embedded_sergey
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Build Inside the Box - Doremino #1 | Concept

embedded_sergey

Hi, everybody!

 

First of all, thanks a lot to the organisers who gave me the opportunity to participate for free!

Second, I failed to get it done it time. The box was delivered two weeks ago and it coincided with my exam session in college (actually, the last exam was today).

 

But there are good news too: I have finally found the idea that I am able and wish to realise with my limited skills of a first-year student. I will first introduce what inspired me and then present the actual concept. The realisation of this project will be done during the summer as everything is new for me.

 

That's what I have recently done playing around with Arduino. The roots of the Build Inside the Box project are from here.

 

 

The beauty of this ugly instrument is that everyone can play it regardless of a player's musical education and skills. So, I decided to go further with that and design a musical instrument for educational purposes based on all the components I found in the Box:

  1. Arduino MKR Zero + SD card represent an ideal duet for fast processing and storing music samples.
  2. OpAmp (MCP604) is a necessary component for an electronic musical instrument.
  3. two VL51L1X are used as sensors defining a note/a chord based on the distance between them and hands (the closer a hand to the sensor, the lower a tone).
  4. OLED display shows an instrument/sample that is in use now.
  5. transmissive sensor (TCST1103) is a nice component for making an encoder to select a musical instrument/sample on the display.
  6. temperature sensor is used for some sound effect, like a delay or a reverb (the higher the temperature, the stronger a sound effect).
  7. 5V power bank will allow to have a standalone musical instrument.
  8. Wago connectors for loudspeakers

 

What I need to get:

  1. a bunch of resistors and caps to amplify of an input signal
  2. two 5V-loudspeakers
  3. several buttons for UI control

 

Working principle of the device:

The name of an accord (left hand) and a note (right hand) are displayed on the screen based on the distance between VL51L1X and a hand. So, the user may not only intuitively play, but also learn musical theory behind. There won't be flexible tones, only fixed notes and chords for each musical samples. One sample is designed to play one popular melody. Thus, a user will not only will have fun with the instrument, but can also learn musical theory directly on practice.

 

Next things to do:

  • connect VL51L1X to Arduino MKR
  • connect MCP604 to Arduino MKR and a speaker using Wago221
  • test the working principle