How it works
The Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor measures the approximate distance between the main trombone section (bell brace) and the slider brace. It sends this data over USB Serial to the PC running my custom software, which combines this with audio data from the microphone. The mouse is then moved relative to the changing distance from the sensor, and clicked whenever a loud sound is heard. The click is held for the duration of the sound. In other words, the audio pitch doesn't matter, just the volume. It's up to your accuracy with the trombone slider to nail the notes!
Hardware
Components used:
- Trombone Kazoo
- Arduino Nano
- VL53L1X Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor
- Microphone attached to computer running the game (any will do)
Tools needed:
- Soldering iron + solder
- Hot Glue
Software
The latest windows software release and Arduino sketch can be found on my GitHub
Game Configuration
- Ensure that the game is configured in windowed mode so that the audio monitor can be seen.
- Run the audio delay compensation calibration
- Enable inverse mode
- Increase the mouse sensitivity (2x or higher)
- You will need to adjust the starting position of the mouse for every song to ensure the full range of motion is available
- Use the 'm' key to toggle mouse control on or off - this works even if the control software is in the background
Controller Configuration
- You can change the calibration of the controller further with the Configure button
- It lets you switch COM ports if you have multiple
- It lets you switch between ASIO and Windows default driver for the audio capture (this might be buggy at the moment, later versions will be more stable)
- Make sure to set your default mic in windows to the one you want to use
