Toy piano converted to MIDI

[@bartholomule]

Nice job. I've been to some concerts where a midi controller like that would fit right in.

[@Slider2732_]

Cheers, a lot of fun to do. I was recently introduced to the Maywa Denki instruments of Japan and think there's been some influence 🤣

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

dude! You're a creative genius. That's a great little setup! You gave that dinky keyboard a second life! That would definitely look bad ass on stage with a bunch of other modded toys. Playing a gig with other synths.

[@Slider2732_]

😁 Thanks, very kind words. Am currently adding pitchbend, modulation, octave shifting and more. It'll look like a circuit bent toy, but won't be one.The github will be updated as soon as it's done.

[@GrandadIsAnOldMan]

Brilliant project 👍👍🌞🌞

[@Slider2732_]

Thanks. The tiny size has unexpectedly made it useful at the PC too, for firing sound synths. It can fit under the monitor. Wasn't expecting it to be actually practical 😁

[@Everest_111]

very good project but i have a question, in a 61 keyboard all the black keys work too?

[@Slider2732_]

4 octaves but not 5, all keys with a regular Arduino Nano. If you used an Arduino with more I/O pins there would be no problem running any amount of keys... a Mega 2560 for example. How to do so is explained in the code - all it's doing is checking each key in a fast running sequence. Evan Kale's Instructable is great for getting shift registers to work, so you could then have a 61 key keyboard running on a Nano, this project being simpler for smaller range keyboards 😄

[@Everest_111]

@@Slider2732_ oh, ty

[@kaisersozeh7845]

Seems a shame not to wire the speaker up and hear a range of synths through it - the more expensive, the higher the comedy value. Ace project! Any i/o left for more knobs/switches? Lots of room! Nice that the case is unmodified, though. Pressure sensor under the keypad? Kill Switch under the speaker cover, sends a MIDI mute/volume 0. I am going to look up doing this with a pico, thanks for the inspiration!

[@Slider2732_]

Haha yeah, posh sounds would have been great fun out of it's cheapo 0.25W paper speaker 🤣 The project did move on in the next vid to use up some i/o pins, entailing some slight case mods... not the Franken panel treatment often seen though. Pitch bend, modulation, octave up/down, patch changing. A MIDI kill switch under the speaker cover is a great idea! It's been used a lot for delves into PC based synths, quite unexpectedly considering what it is lol, The size is perfect for the small desk here. It featured on the recent security camera timelapse video, triggering the sounds of Proteus VX (awesome free E-mu download) on the PC. Toy Piano upgrades: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHLFqqKQd9mGrrs Timelapses vid: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6C5Y3WKr7l6rbs Good luck! 👍

[@Swenglish]

Nice. Only thing missing is octave -/+.

[@Aminorunic]

I am a bit confused on the wiring part. Did you solder a wire for each note or did you solder it like a matrix? Can you do this with a raspberry pi since I don't have an arduino?

[@Slider2732_]

Yes, it's soldered as a matrix. Same sort of thing as LED cubes you've likely seen 😀 Each pairing of wires can be tested, to work out the matrix of any keyboard. A raspberry pi would be excellent, if in fact overkill for the task. An Arduino Nano V3 is about the best option though for price, size, functions, pins.

[@Aminorunic]

@@Slider2732_ thanks mate, i thought about running a plugin like serum on the rpi👌