Tinker.it has published plans for building a software synthesizer using an Arduino. The Auduino uses granular synthesis to create a truly unique sound. The grain is constructed from two triangle waves. Each one has adjustable frequency, decay rate, and the repetition rate can be changed too. The Arduino just needs five potentiometers attached to the analog inputs and an audio jack on the digital out. You don’t have to use pots; you can use anything that varies the analog input between 0 and 5 volts. A video of the device is embedded after the jump.
[vimeo 2266458]
[via Matrixsynth]
Oooh! WantwantwantWantWANTWANT!
Awesome. Aside from being really cool and simple, it also serves as a nice intro into “algorithmic synthesis” for people like me. I’m going to have a lot of with this.
get a propellor
@tig; why get a propeller? It’s obviously very stable on the arduino platform, and spin isn’t very easy to learn.
The geek in me just got goosebumps… Me wants!
wow… this… is… awesome! I’m totally gonna have to check this out!
That’s the last straw. I’m getting one of these things.
Gonna try to build one myself first probably. Any recommendations over BatchPCB?
Soon as I saw the post I loaded it on my spare arduino and bam, I gots me some funky sounds!
The fun part about this is if you don’t pull down (or up) your analog inputs with potentiometers, they’ll flutter around based on ambient EM noise. I stuck sewing needles in my analog headers, and while touching the glass of my monitor, I could change the tone of the synth by moving my other hand near the pins! Not quite a theremin, but still pretty darn cool.
If only I had the money for some real parts ;)
And if you have a spare arduino lying around, don’t forget to check out http://blog.makezine.com/archive/arduino/
@techninja
great tip! I only have one spare potentiometer laying around so I was only making some limited sounds with the auduino and was about to put it away for a while. then i read your post and gave it a whirl. seriously strange sounds. beats the hell out of my crude bit-banging experiments
It took me a little under five minutes to put this together and make some noise. Gosh darn it, I love the Arduino.
yesssss.. i am working on this as we speak and right away i made some crazy noises!
All we need is someone to get a non-windows solution for driving the ISCP header with the X3 breakout…
Here’s one more Auduino:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwV-SKpQAak
Wow! Great work! This is an amazing music instrument! I am really fascinated about what somebody can do with no expensive tools and a lot of imagination. Once again: great, great work!