LaunchPad MIDI synth

posted Feb 13th 2011 10:03am by Mike Nathan
filed under: Microcontrollers, musical hacks

launchpad_midi_synth

[NatureTM] sent in a writeup for the MIDI synthesizer he recently built using a TI LaunchPad. The construction is pretty simple overall, consisting of little more than the MSP430, a handful of resistors, and an optoiosolater. Of course, a MIDI controller is required, but he already had that on hand.

Once the MIDI data is read from the optoisolator, his code takes care of the rest, adjusting the square wave sound generator to get the proper note. He does mention that since the synthesizer is monophonic, special care is taken to ensure that simultaneous notes are processed properly. You can route all of the sound into a single speaker, but he used the optoisolator to send the sound data to multiple LaunchPads instead, resulting in a fun little MIDI quintet.

He provides code and plenty of video on his site, but keep reading for a sneak peek of his synth in action.

Comments [6]

tagged: launchpad, midi, synth

6 Responses to LaunchPad MIDI synth

Simon says:

February 13, 2011 at 10:43 am

Actually there’s five speakers which makes it a quintet..

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Matt says:

February 13, 2011 at 11:29 am

From what I can tell, it’s not a quartet but a quintet (see 1st vid @ 0:09 or 2nd vid @ 0:19).

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svofski says:

February 13, 2011 at 11:36 am

Thanks for not playing the SMB tune on this!

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woutervddn says:

February 13, 2011 at 11:47 am

+1 for simon :p

I’m going to dive into midi stuff in a few weeks.. hope I’ll get something fun out of it xD

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Tea@ict says:

February 14, 2011 at 6:02 am

One microcontroller for every speaker seems a bit overkill to me, but still a great built! (It is definately a lot easier and faster built like this.) I enjoyed it very much, thanks for sharing!