Arduino full polyphonic ESP32 synthesizer - details of an experiment trying to recreate an e-piano

[@rockpopmando1]

really cool, never imagine that an ESP32 could sound like that and with this polyphony!!! A really great work!!

[@marcellicence]

Thank you, it's a big surprise for me too 😁

[@Slider2732_]

I was surprised that the tremolo continued to sound perfectly with all the keys in use. Wonderful stuff!

[@marcellicence]

That was my goal 😃 I often had the strange effect getting artefacts for example when using pitch bending because the ESP32 changes the amount of calculation needed to generate the sound. In this case it is constant. I couldn't test it but I hope it works also for all 76 keys and not only for 64

[@percloruroferrico]

What to say? another inspiring and outstanding project! You bring Esp32 to another level. The sounds resemble to a wurlitzer or a honher pianet, and the mandatory effect is the tremolo. Maybe a panner like some rhodes had is also interesting. Phaser was also very used in electric pianos in the 70s. A very common thing to tailor in rhodes pianos was to control the amount of "tines" and harmonics..this is recreated in some more advanced kontakt libraries like soniccoutre's canterbury suitcase, where you can also adjust the amount of noise the sustain pedal does when is pressed or lifted.

[@marcellicence]

Thank you very much. The panning effect is a good idea. I should also try to implement a phaser soon. I played a bit with Pianoteq which uses a physical model and shows similar effects (pedal noise, harmonic control etc.).

[@madrigo]

Its been months since my last synth making video but boy watching your channel and following your recommendations is making me eager to go back! I'll have to cite you in my digital synth tutorials, your channel helped me so much!

[@marcellicence]

I am very happy to hear that =) There is a lot stuff you can discover.

[@sjookyh7666]

Great sounds! World class with an ESP32.

[@marcellicence]

Thank you 😄

[@djayers]

Wow! I'm amazed you got this out of an ESP32!

[@marcellicence]

😁

[@sjookyh7666]

Thanks for sharing the code. I will try it out.

[@marcellicence]

Let me know if it works 😀

[@prouting7333]

Very cool Marcel

[@marcellicence]

😎

[@GreatCaptainA]

That's amazing. What esp board are you using and what poliphony do you get out of it?

[@marcellicence]

I was using the ESP32 Audio Kit here but all other ordinary ESP32 could show up the same performance and allows to play 76 voices at the same time.

[@jailtonbittencourt3960]

Hello Marcelo, good evening. I'm a fan of your work. How about another video of this project for those who are not so experienced? Maybe with some tips and more hardware details, like the schematic for example. I compiled the example but the file "ml_epiano.h" is missing, I don't know why. Thank you and have a nice week.

[@marcellicence]

Hey, thank you for your feedback. Yes I could make a little tutorial especially for the latest project. You will need the ML_Synthtools library. I've made a video some weeks ago with a little guide how to install the synth-tools containing some of the stuff I've made for these projects.

[@jailtonbittencourt3960]

@@marcellicence Hello Marcel, good morning, thank you for your reply. I already have the library installed, but I will watch the your video and try to find my error. Have a nice day

[@marcellicence]

@@jailtonbittencourt3960 Thank you for your feedback. Feel free to let me know if there are any further questions. Hope it will work soon

[@tommueller1148]

Hallo Marcel, habe mir alle Deine Videos angesehen und versucht den Code auf Github zu studieren. Leider bin ich zu doof :( Ich würde gerne ein altes Orla Tiffany 4 electronic organ restaurieren. Mein Plan ist eine ESP32 zu verwenden mit MCP23017 die keys zu verbinden und den Sound über BLEMidi sowie also Synth über I2S über den Lautsprecher zu spielen. Ich habe einen Prototyp gebaut mit einem mini 3d gedrucktem Piano. Ich würde sehr gerne deine Library verwenden, weiss allerdings nicht, wie ich Keys von den GPIOs (via MCP23017) statt via MDI Signale von einem existierenden MIDI keyboard verwenden kann. Kannst Du mir bitte einen Ruck in die richtige Richtung geben.

[@marcellicence]

Hallo Tom, das klingt nach einem sehr spannendem Projekt. Ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass der MCP mit aktivierten PullUps den Status der Tasten im GPIO register hat. Man müsste bei Änderung den neuen mit dem alten Status vergleichen, um zu prüfen, welche Taste "neu" gedrückt oder losgelassen worden ist. Daraus kannst du dann die NoteOn/NoteOff Funktion aufrufen. Diese ist in der z_config in der Midi Map auch verlinkt. Somit kannst du parallel zum eingehenden MIDI selbst die Töne steuern. Ich hoffe das hilft ein wenig weiter. Zufällig hatte ich die Tage gerade wieder an dem Orgelprojekt gearbeitet, da wird es auch bald wieder ein Update geben. Welchen Synthesizer wolltest Du verwenden?

[@matiasmorant4484]

I see you coded in C. Wouldn't it be better to do it in micropython? C is a pain, but maybe python is not up to the task? I can work on porting it next year

[@marcellicence]

I could imagine that micropython could be easier to read. I have doubts that it would be possible to implement some very performance sensitive project. At this stage I could start to think about assembler which would be much more pain XD. I do not know if micropython would use an interpreter or is capable of something like recompiling which could give some more performance. I've started with basic and pascal (Delphi) so I am happy using C =) I would be happy to hear about your experience with micropython.

[@matiasmorant4484]

@@marcellicence just looked it up, micropython seems very slow, too bad. I'll use your code next year, probably will make some contributions too. I've been daydreaming about this. Nice work.