The Raspberry Pi Pico is what you might call the board of the moment, thanks to its combination of affordability, features, and continued availability during the component shortage. We have seen plenty of great projects using it, and the latest to float past is [todbot]’s PicoStepSeq, an extremely compact MIDI sequencer.
All the components are mounted on a PCB, with the sequencer’s eight steps selected by a row of buttons with integrated LEDs. The interface is via an SSD1306 OLED, and there is also a rotary encoder. Software comes courtesy of CircuitPython, and the output is delivered via a 3.5 mm TRS jack. Finally the whole is wrapped in a 3D printed enclosure.
The result is a sequencer that could almost be a product in its own right, and we think anyone whose interests lie in electronic music should find straightforward enough to build. All the files and information required to build your own can be found in the linked repository, and he’s placed a Tweet with a video online which we’ve embedded below the break.
I did it! In 2 weeks I designed, coded, PCB fabbed, & CAD'd an enclosure for a product idea: a tiny Pico-based MIDI step sequencer "PicoStepSeq". Thx to @johnedgarpark for inspiration & @adafruit for prototyping tools https://t.co/WpGZIhJpHv pic.twitter.com/kek4U2Y4mq
— Tod Kurt (@todbot) August 19, 2022
Thanks [Abe Tusk] for the tip.
“Paspberry Pi Pico”? I know Hackaday adores its alliterations, but…
Thanks, fixed.
A thing of beauty!
I remember those buttons from the seventies.
Those are from the former company ITT Shadow. They’re called “Digitast”.
They’re now sold from a company called CK Switches.
*by a company
Step? As in something to step on?
It looks too fragile for that.
did i read you correctly? did you say continued availability during component shortage? have you tried to buy one? or is this an advertisement, are you getting paid for this?
It seems you didn’t. The Pi Pico is broadly available (45k in stock at Digi-Key, for example). Perhaps you misread the article to say Pico W (or Zero 2W), both of which indeed are hard to come by?
I’ve been putting them in exhibits at my local planetarium and have had no problem sourcing them for at least the last 6 months or so. I’ve been picking up a few every week as needed.
That sounds cool, what kind of exhibits are you making?
Korg now makes products with naked pots mounted on the outside? Ugh.
Pcb enclosure even, and programmable with arduino ide ;)
Wait, you can code the ‘logue stuff with the Arduino IDE?
I think I am totally out of touch with PCBs. $53.35 for one board?
Assuming you’re referring to the OSHPark project linked from the git report…
OSHPark give you 3x PCBs at $5/square inch. There using US-based fabs. Boards are high quality with gold (ENIG) finish. And in my experience, great customer service.
You can get different prices for different services at different websites…
Having no musical background, I was wondering how useful something would be that was limited to 8 steps.
Then I watched the the video, and all I could think of was band The Who, and the opening of Won’t Get Fooled Again.
https://youtu.be/SHhrZgojY1Q
Thank you for the post. I’ve been wanting to build a 4 or 8 knob midi controller with relative(+/-1) infinity control pots, knurl guitar knobs. Not those limited 275⁰ things that screw up an audio project once you tweak it. You know what I’m talking about. I bought an Arturia controller because they don’t use range limited pots.