SUPER SIMPLE MIDI KEYBOARD DIY HOW TO

Making A DIY MIDI KEYBOARD. The super simple way.
Extra stuff like the backing track, extra vids on this project and if you'd like to support :) :-
/ lookmumnocomputer
it also makes @THIS MUSEUM IS (NOT) OBSOLETE get bigger and better
Link To Backing Song :- / megamix-8-pt1-59898141
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TO SKIP CODE 15:30
PROJECT PAGE :- www.lookmumnocomputer.com/pro...
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List of Gear/Electronics I USE :-
www.lookmumnocomputer.com/stu...
THIS MUSEUM IS (NOT) OBSOLETE :-
this-museum-is-not-obsolete.com/
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THANKUS HUMUNGOUSO to :-
CoFFeeTaBLesE
David Dolphin
casey
Miles Flavel
Scott Armstrong
worldofchris
Casey
MattFollowell (PDP-7)
Nicole LArett
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if you want to donate to the electronic component fund! Paypal :-
www.paypal.me/lookmumnocomputer
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SPOTIFY :- bit.ly/LMNCSpotify
Facebook :- / lookmumnocomputer
Website :- www.lookmumnocomputer.com
Instagram :- / lookmumnocomputer
#DIY #HOWTO #ELECTRONICS

[@Gl1kk3r]

I have been a programmer for 30 years, and this has to be the BEST coding tutorial I've ever seen! Even despite the need to yell "SEMICOLON" at the screen.

[@somatt]

Yes but also he could have made it a bit easier to remap later by assigning his channels and notes and velocities in variables before running the variables into the midi function.

[@djlehara]

agreed....ARDUINO FOR DUMMIES!! love it.

[@linzenmeyer]

I know yall know he isnt an idiot and probably knows more about coding than he lets on....which is brilliant, really, considering he ends up making entertaining for everyone watching.

[@guitfidle]

this bippity bop and this swirly thing 😂😂

[@Reliquancy]

They really did a great job with midi. It’s just been the same connector and data standard forever. Even the new mpe keyboard I got is still just midi over usb but using some extra channels for all the extra expression info.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

yeah!!! im glad newer products are ditching the midi over mini jacks and going back to 5 pin din! the mini jack midi is awful haha

[@AnalogDude_]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER nothing wrong with the mini jack, but they are asking like 20€ for (... or something around that) for a original Arturia jack to din converter. than the fact you can loose it.

[@AndreVanKammen]

They even made a nice MIDI 2.0 version in 2020 with better resolution and nice new options but keeping it backwards compatible with the old MIDI. I love these guys, nice simple standard without the BS.

[@VAXHeadroom]

I did basically this same kind of project with a set of organ pedals many years ago and found something interesting. I always wondered why the MIDI serial port rate was 31,250 baud - kind of a weird number. More typical would be 9600,19200, 38400... turns out 31,250 is the fastest baud rate you can send from a 20MHz 8051 (which is what I was using for my project). So I'm betting that is the original processor they used for the prototypes :)

[@AnalogDude_]

@@VAXHeadroom that would mean they divided 20mHz by 640, not accounting for start and stop bit. but 640 is still a multiple of 10 and 8.

[@jonahsimmons3645]

I've programed for too many years and this tutorial was pretty good like the code was kinda ugly and he didn't know the name of a lot of the symbols, but he explained it really well and I was kinda blown away with how simple it was with the midi library

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

it is ugly! hs but you know tried tomake it make sense like lego mindstorms ha

[@CarpetBombComic]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER You're like a mad scientist without a dictionary. If you get the stuff done, it doesn't matter. Comments are great if you can remember them. Some of the functions are pretty intuitive. I don't know this program AT ALL, but took C++ back in the day, so I'm looking at the code and thinking, "oh yeah, this makes sense, I can read it!"

[@fullfunk]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER if you have a midi keyboard like the one you showed first if its already broken some keys couldnt you take all the guts out and build a interface like this and weld a button to each of the key you want.. and you can keep the faders and rotary aswell just change to another enclosure

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

@@fullfunk you could. Quite a faff but you should give it a go!

[@JaredConnell]

I dunno the names he gave them made sense to me

[@fanrco766]

For anyone planning on doing this, at 14:41 he says that there are better ways to do it and he's right! I'm making one right now, and I am restricted as I only have 8 buttons so i came up with a cool idea to share: Use arrays! Have your buttons be stored in some array like int buttons = [ 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7] ( the pin numbers of your buttons). Then comes the magic. You can have separate arrays for each scale! so for instance you could do something like int Phrygian = [whole/half tone steps away from base note]; int Locrian = [ same thing for locrian] etc.. int Modes = [Phrygian, Locrian...] Then have an array with the base notes: int Keys = [midi for C, midi for D, midi for E... so on]. Now in your logic you can have a variable for what mode you are in, and what key you are in: currentKey = 1; currentMode = 2; And now to send a note you can go through each button and if it is on, add the key youre in to the note on that mode! for(int btn = 0; btn < 8; i++){ if(digitalRead(buttons[btn]) == HIGH){ midi.write( (Keys[currentKey] + Modes[currentMode][ btn ] ); } } Now you can have a knob or button to allow you to switch between keys and modes and your keyboard will only play in the key and mode selected! [for any aspiring coders out here, if you find yourself rewriting alot of the same code, try to find a solution with functions and arrays. Notice how i took his 10 if/else statements and reduced them to just a small loop and a few arrays. And the best part is, if you want to change a note or key or something, you just have to change it in the array and not in each if statements :) ]

[@myHorribleMusic]

Nice call. Also good for 8ve shifts

[@JuliaGarbe1]

I wish every coding tutorial was like this. You are the most engaging code teacher I have ever witnessed (and I've worked as a software engineer)

[@sobaentertainment6580]

I'm a beginner straight up clueless. This man taught me a lot thanks dude.

[@Thetauconqure]

The fact that you do not know what a semi colon is, and yet still do what you do with such proficiency lights the way for a huge amount of people who feel they lack the intelligence or ability's due to poor education or life circumstance, keep it up and keep encouraging the people of the world, you are an inspiration.

[@rasterop1]

I love your teaching style and how you consider all skill levels. Great video.

[@shadowcop75]

He would make a good teacher. (This coming from a Swedish/English teacher for senior high school in Sweden.)

[@CollegeHustler]

Thank you 🙏. Please make more simple DIY’s. I’ve been subscribed for a long time and have always drooled over the the idea of making my own creation!!! This is the start!

[@M1chlos]

LOOK MUM A COMPUTER. Anyway very cool video for newbies in DIY. Arduino is probably best thing to happened for the DIY scene. Makes really hard IC controllers (most often in assembly-type language) programming a breeze. Keep up the good work.

[@gabrieldai88]

he is coding in a potato, i am pretty sure of that =p

[@SimeonPilgrim]

“They not hacker man.” Next level. As a long time hacker man, this really reminded me of how I first learned. Very lovely.

[@MrJozza65]

Brilliant stuff, thanks for this - I can't believe MIDI is 40 years old! I often thought about doing something with a hand made MIDI controller but never realised how simple it is to do. Now I have a gazillion ideas rushing around my brain, can't wait to give this a try!

[@stevebriggs6469]

Some (a lot?) people find coding intimidating and it can be very intimidating. What you did here is awesome! You showed that it doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't need a huge amount of education (formal or otherwise). Who gives a poop if it's clean or "right". Literally JUST TRY IT! :) Nice work :)

[@hogpsking33]

So cool. Thanks for giving all this information. I think you've finally got me convinced to give it a go.

[@slateand808]

"Void, that's like a sad void like my heart". Love it. Will keep this in mind when programming in C.

[@mikestckl6939]

this is exactly the kind of tutorial i want for everything ! show whats important , explain what it does with as few words as possible but pack everything important into it and keep it practical and entertaining :D

[@mightyheights7331]

This is PERFECT TIMING! I’ve been really keen to make an MPC arcade button controller, I was totally put off by the coding aspect. You’ve just changed my mind, thank you!

[@guitarguyjones]

I was literally *just* about to buy a Midi Fighter today, and then spotted this video. The coding was the part that intimidated me about going diy, but after seeing this I think I'll give it a shot.

[@yorganyog]

KZbin was made for you. Besides the videos of people falling, this is What I like, you just fit in this.

[@Skootavision]

On one hand I’m shouting words like “library” and “function” at the screen, but honestly, this is a brilliant intro to MIDI on arduino and that’s something I’ve wanted to get around to for 3 or 4 years and not got round to it. Thanks Sam - great video and really well explained.

[@romeisfallingagain]

videos like this are really good. this is what youtube is about. not just showing off stuff, but showing how to make the stuff in use. great job

[@eddygettytv1031]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve been trying to piece together all this info through separate videos and tutorials, and look mum, it’s all HERE!!! You make the world a much more understandable place. Headed to Patreon to pay my course fee, haha!

[@squirlboy250]

You are fing AWESOME!! Please give us more of this type of videos, I've been wanting to learn this stuff for so long, but it always confuses the hell out of me. Thank you brother.

[@geevee1969]

Gorgeous, you are giving 3 lectures at the same time. About programming, electronics and midi (and humour).

[@jannepeltonen2036]

The main weapon of the Spanish Inquisition.... :D

[@atstrollz6875]

the sound of the midi controller is fantastic!

[@unkowndata2338]

Thanks for explaining how to make a midi keyboard! I am a programmer and you did a good job explaining it. I didn't realize how approachable MIDI was, would love to make my own controller now.

[@adambalaz4833]

i have a qestion . Will be this program good when i want use it as midi for FL studio but i want use usb cabel for conect it?

[@makak_zeleny]

@@adambalaz4833 you can send midi over serial and convert it on the computer side with midi loopback driver

[@thomasjespersen2399]

Awesome tutorial. Been programming for years, but this was so much fun and super informative as I have never touched midi programming, but needed it for a project. Thanks a ton!

[@travnewmatic]

and thank you for taking the time to make these videos i just got around to learning how to solder, and this is definitely on my list of stuff to play with really love your work!

[@krazykris3279]

Sam you‘ re hard workin man. God bless you for your kind presence here on planet earth trying to entertain us with knowledge! knowledge is key to provide the world with a lot of empathy... and words or idioms are fuel for the brain to live the culture. I hope to see you at the superbooth, you’re a wonderful speaker, musician and inventor. greetings from a french guy with latin roots living in germany working in the software consulting business since 1996 (dedicated hip hop head since 76, making music back in 87 and now turned into a synthesizer and martial art lover). love ya mate!

[@sweater7630]

Super inspiring! I didn't realize I could just knock this still together

[@regplasma7906]

Your refreshing madness and retro genius always cheers me up.😸

[@piratetv1]

I like the way you showed the coding. When i was learning, it was a lot of. "Do this because i said so". you showed what the commands do and that the names of things don't matter, just that they match, and how the comments work.

[@dizfoster8726]

This was a great tutorial! I use arduino for other projects but have never built a midi controller. Didn’t realize it was so easy!

[@TRIPPLEJAY00]

Sam you're the main man I've always wanted to make a custom midi drum pad thinking bash box. You have helped me jump a big wall I thought was impossible to climb. Thank you Bro 😊 🙌✌

[@justingoers]

Dude. Thank you for this. I’m a 40 year old dude and all the physical stuff is easy for me to understand but I’ve always had trouble with code. I’ve got some Sanwa arcade buttons hanging out and I’m ready to build this. Thanks!!

[@jts-jc8jk]

Thanks so much for explaining how this works.

[@blaupause4048]

you're absolutely one of the most amazing guys on youtube

[@AyyyGabagool]

I really commend you going out of your way to go super in depth with the coding despite how it's the antithesis of your existence just to keep true to your goal to make this video a beginner's guide. big ups

[@danpedersen55]

Thank you for this !!! You made it easy to understand, and that is the important thing for me. When I understand it, I can always streamline it in the future 😊👍

[@JRPapollo]

I have wanted to build this exact kind of thing. Thank you immensely.

[@apollolux]

Groovy video! For a college Embedded Systems class project, I took a toy electronic keyboard and used an Arduino to connect it to a Yamaha YM2151 chip like classic arcade games like Street Fighter 2 used to use for sound. To this day I wish I made it MIDI-capable.

[@ChrisLeeW00]

I love your teaching style. Did I already know how to use the arguing midi library? Well, yes, but getting there I did feel alone and a bit lost until I was able to get the hang of coding. Education is important!

[@ActualKaktus]

Your synth is perfectly in tune ❤️

[@SpectrumDIY]

Heck yeah, that turned out really nice 👌👌😊

[@TheSemtexCow]

Making the code easy to understand is half the battle, sweet tutorial 🤘

[@jonathanyeich271]

Bought a pro micro 2 days ago! Perfect timing, cheers!

[@GudeDoc]

Great tutorial! Thanks man!

[@robertc2116]

THANK YOU! I've been wanting to make a MIDI keyboard for a while but was at a loss for where to start.

[@bradleysanders8298]

I'm a duly appointed hackerey type guru, and I fully appreciate the job you did with the nerdy bits. Good job.

[@gravyboatdrone4060]

Yes! This is fantastic. Love it and a great beginners explanation to MIDI. Thanks...I'm not a gravy boat, I'm not a drone 🙂

[@martinwall8006]

Clever fun, inspiring, educational and entertaining!

[@JuliaGarbe1]

I'm trying to make exactly this right now but I didn't know where to start, so this is extremely helpful!! Thank you so much for making this video!

[@CausticCatastrophe]

come visit the forum linked on the project page in the description! We can help.

[@pamdemonia]

That coding session was fabulous (and I even know how to code). Thanks!

[@wiredbassclarinet]

Thank you!! This is extremely helpful and inspiring. Gonna get to work!

[@conartistprod]

Very helpful for all. Thanks.

[@minimumviablepizza]

Great video and thank you for explaining the code rather than telling everyone to just go download it. I learnt heaps!

[@DjJMuna]

Great video.i learned so much! Thanks

[@marcianoacuerda]

What a cool project. Pretty good to get started on midi, arruino or even coding. Also, love the way you named some of the programming symbols haha. I’m going to start calling curly brackets as squiggly things, sound way better :)

[@WouterWeggelaar]

I love this and I probably need to give this a go at some point!

[@donttestme9546]

Really cool video. Super simple and it works. Might make myself one!

[@reao]

Great write up!

[@stefandlucas]

Super cooool!!!! I actually think I can pull this off

[@terrillpercussion536]

Dude, this is fudging amazing...thank-you!

[@zedcarr6128]

I've always wanted to know a simple way to make a custom MIDI pedal board to control my guitar effects. I didn't even know that Arduino had MIDI commands, as I've never used any microcontroller system but have always wanted to learn. I'll be looking into this for sure. Great video. :D

[@eric3dee]

I've wanted to build a midi controller of my own for some time and this may be the thing that finally gets me to do it! I really appreciate the efficient, no frills, beginner approach. I really liked your code breakdown and it didn't feel too convoluted at all (granted I have a small amount of programming experience). I would love to see a video and hear about how to think about integrating other sorts of switches, as well as maybe joysticks and especially rotary dials and the like for Mod, pitch wheel and effect knob controls (or does that get too complex?) I absolutely love your content- keep it coming!

[@pvtglarson1]

you are just an amazing human being

[@TheJasonf8892]

Great introduction to coding, thanks!

[@nand3kudasai]

Omg i loved this video. Im a long time game developer/teacher and i found this tutorial the most hilarious yet useful/engaging I've seen. It reminds me that you don't need fancy code to do amazing things. I really wanna try these. (And yeah there were many ways to optimize but is true that that way is easier for beginners (and 100 times more hilarious and creative)). (I watched this to get offended but failed) "There are no real rules at all!" love that, man ! You say you're not hackerman, but this seems like hacking to me.

[@garljoens]

Man, you are the best, thank you so much, this makes it so accessible, THANK YOU

[@mohawksixx]

Great job and great start for me to work off nice work 👽👍

[@evanbarnes9984]

Crazy to see you pull out my very first keyboard ever! That mk447 took me way back!

[@jimgoodinmusic]

liked your how to implement the code portion - whole project was great as per your ususal!

[@davidhughes3834]

You really are the best fudging communicator and awesome dude. Thank you heaps for all of your stuff.

[@CJWarlock]

I actually think this is a very good video. Interesting idea, and the simplified show and tell is very good for entry level DIY enthusiasts. I've coded in assembler on Commodore 64, however this video helped me to understand how to make similar things on Arduino. Thanks. :)

[@pantonio7171]

Thanks Sam! This is priceless.

[@MLoerAudio]

Thank you, Sam! Lovely jubbly.

[@CaptainDominic]

This has helped me no end, your teaching style is far more understandable than the books I have bought before that start with blink then expect you to know everything else. it has explained how i can build part of a larger project. Have you done a midi input video before?

[@crxxpslvyr7887]

You made the programing verry clean!

[@daneguitarist1]

this was so helpful! thank you!!

[@zo1dberg]

You got me at "dot squiggle" lol. As a C# dev, your code is copypasta, but good enough for someone new to get started like you said. Next step would be to put that repetitive code in a method and call it with parameters. It's amazing how simple doing midi on Arduino is, and this video gives me motivation to give it a go myself.

[@wisteela]

Absolutely awesome. Arduinos are great little things. I'm deffo going to be making controllers now.

[@juschu85]

Velocity on note-off messages makes actually sense. For example, you could control the release time. Lower velocity -> longer release.

[@mica4153]

Your arduino tutorial is excellent.

[@juschu85]

When you use variables that just won't or especially if they shouldn't change, you should use preprocessor directives instead of actual variables. So instead of int button1 = 2; use #define BUTTON1 2 It doesn't have to be upper-case. That's just an unwritten rule that's written down very often (just not as an actual rule). You're already using preprocessor directives without knowing when you're writing stuff like INPUT_PULLUP, LOW, or HIGH. They're all over the place in Arduino. Using preprocessor directives for small datatypes should also save some memory which is very limited on microcontrollers. For that to be a problem you would have to make a project which is much more complex to run into problems there. But it also just makes sense that something that isn't variable shouldn't be A variable. With that in mind, you could also just make the variables constant with the const keyword, but that won't change anything on the memory side.

[@asp95video]

He can make an input array and a midi notes array, or he can define the input int range and the range of the midi notes, or he can define the base offset between the input numbers and the notes.. Out there is a principle called KISS

[@DanielSimu]

Except that #define is super risky to use, if you accidentally use the defined string as part of another string it will still replace it. For example: if you do #define a 1, and then write digitalRead();, it will be interpreted as digit1lRe1d(); const gets compiled perfectly and does not take up more memory than #define, so go for const. And more importantly: int is fine for beginners. use int.

[@juschu85]

​@@DanielSimu Well, technically that's true, But if you use a more descriptive name than "a", something you should do anyway, it's just very unlikely that this will happen. And correct me if I'm wrong here, but the difference in memory use is that variables, const or not, are stored in RAM and literals, what preprocessor directives eventually become, won't. Every time you use a literal (as long as the number is small enough for a single word data type), it's taking up one word in flash and every time you're referencing a variable, the address also takes up one word in flash. So that's basically the same. So it depends on the question if you're running short on RAM while it won't help you much when you're running short on flash. Of course, that won't be much, but that's why I wrote it won't be a problem in smaller projects, so as you say, it's not a problem for beginners, but even beginners should start to learn good habits instead of unlearning what they've learned later. Even when I don't think about why this makes sense, I just look at how preprocessor directives are all over the place in Arduino itself at that they probably did it for a reason.

[@juschu85]

@@asp95video Yes, "keep it simple, stupid", but I don't see how using preprocessor directives isn't as simple using variables. Using arrays might be the more elegant solution, but my comment was more about variables vs preprocessor directives in general than about this particular case.

[@DanielSimu]

@@juschu85 Feel free to keep on using #define, but I disagree that it is unlikely to happen. For example, in this video there was an int button1 and an int button1beans, if the first had been #define button1 you would have gotten issues with the second. On a recent memory limit approaching project I had a look at replacing all the consts with #define just to test, and the arduino compiler showed no difference, the sizes were exactly the same. Why would the compiler treat a const differently anyway?

[@solhsa]

That's the most unhinged programming tutorial I've seen. Great work!

[@ATLTraveler]

Ur vids are so cool man, glad I found your channel.

[@hallmossman954]

I've had a few beers and it looks lovely.

[@virtual3d993]

Ha! love the chaotic style :)

[@makeavoy]

I love how he warned the next bit for coders might offend us but i've never laughed harder

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Before embarking on this project get more info on the project page www.lookmumnocomputer.com/projects#/super-simple-midi-keyboard please remember yes this code is clunky, but its designed to not assume people know about arrays etc, its laid out in a linear fashion which i believe is easier to understand, and regarding the code being inefficient, it really doesn't matter in this application. sure if we are doing something that stretches an arduino's function but this is not one of those time.

[@sssstarboardvenus]

Kosmo

[@huntabadday2663]

TB-303

[@BardTheDJ]

Another lovely Jubbley project. I have been following you since around 2016 I believe and your stuff is getting more amazing all the time. Thank you for your mad scientist contributions; your work is highly inspiring and appreciated. Just wanted to take a moment to say keep up the good work!

[@vectorjoe]

Atari ST

[@AndreVanKammen]

An Arduino

[@Seansquatch7]

i feel this video was made in spite of another video.. one i refuse to sit down and watch for over an hour.. don't care, i love it.

[@Trashkhan]

Thanks ! I will try to do something as I would like to use a pedal synth while playing the bass.. Cheers !

[@hawkarm6604]

A wild Matt Berry appears!! My spirit animal!

[@rjgscotland]

Nice timing, I went through this same process the other day. Except mine's a remote controller for a t.c. Finalizer mastering processor that's now become my living room speakers EQ/compression at night. I wanted a nice way to control it so used one of the retro beige Hammond slanted desktop enclosures with the wooden sides. Gonna look sick.

[@russkalen2337]

I liked your casual attitude. It makes the whole process, especially the programming, seem less intimidating. Good job! I've been building a MIDI expression pedal because keyboard velocity sensing is just not the same as turning up the volume, reverb, or vibrato. And who can do that with a knob while your hands are busy playing the keys?!

[@TC_here]

Super tutorial. makes me want to dig out the Arduino i bought but rarely used :)

[@quasa0]

thanks! That was a great video

[@edgarwalk5637]

Congratulations on 486K subs!

[@SomeOne-pd6vm]

LMNC upload on my birthday, it's a good day (:

[@dcorbin5779]

This is fantastic.

[@T.Ross.]

This was super useful - cheers, Sam! A few years ago I got some info on Arduino and MIDI from Notes and Volts, but yours was the push I needed to finally try and actually build something! P.S. Did anyone else notice the tiny image flash at 4:01? "Keep your finger on the f*****g button, Clem Fandango!" 👏😁

[@suntzu6122]

This vidja is AMAZING