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Community Feedback 12: Simon Game Musical Instrument

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Community Feedback
sudo Sergeant
The Learning Circuit

 

 

A community member is interested in taking an old Simon game and turning it into a musical instrument with an added button for a fifth note.  He could then add an audio out to connect to a PC, where he can mix it like a musical instrument.  Ben gives some suggestions on what he could do and this also gives him ideas for a future episode.

 

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wants to know if it’s possible to modify a Simon game into a musical instrument.   He’s heard that the game’s sound was inspired by a bugle.  It has a total of five notes, one for each button and one that sounds when you make a mistake.   To access the fifth note, he’s guessing that it needs to add a button to access the fifth note.  Additionally, he’d like to add a headphone jack as an audio out so that can record the audio to PC for mixing. He’s curious to know if you can get extra sounds or increased functionality from the Simon game.  You can hit two buttons at a time to get another note, giving you 16 notes, but the question is whether you can hack a Simon to turn it into a musical instrument.

  • my suggestion would be to run a arduino and make simon a simple sample launcher (by button activation )

    would be nice if you could incorporate own sample loading onto simon ( sd card n stuff needed ? )

     

    4 buttons - if your samples are properly setup can lead to great stuff -- believe it or not

     

    this is just a mere example of 4 channel beat making - imagine each window from that video as a button image https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIBS6nnBV4w

  • I believe the original simon was a custom MB branded chip, certainly many other games of the time were done similarly.  You are right Ben, it would be quite difficult to modify the simon to produce just its sounds ... but it might be possible to design a circuit which produces tones in the same way (simple square waves) and use the simon as a four note synthesizer.  While agree with the teensy suggestion as a midi controller, it may be a bit more fun to modify the simon with an astable 555 and resistors to pitch each note  (G#4, D#4, B3, G#3)

  • Still don't get why you'd block comments on youtube for this.

     

    I'd start with four buttons and four leds and an arduino or teensy and go from there, the rest is just a fancy case.