Has anyone ever told you that you just can’t carry a tune? If you were to be the lucky recipient of one of [Ayu]’s synthesizer business cards, well, then it really couldn’t be helped.
This tiny, go-anywhere instrument has quite a lot going for it. It’s easy for anyone to pick up and play something, but versatile enough that a more experienced musician can add complexity. While we do tend to see twelve keys in a small form-factor like this, the Canta-Cart uses them a bit differently. Only ten are tied to notes, and the other two are for transposition.
[Ayu] was able to keep the BOM cost way down by using the PY32, which is an ARM Cortex-M microcontroller made by Puya that costs as little as 10¢ each. In fact, the whole BOM clocks in around 60¢ total even with the audio DAC and amplifier ICs, which really makes these ideal to actually give away to people. Check it out in action after the break, or try it in the browser!
Nice! I might actually try and build this
Very cool
When will the contest results come live?
OK, that’s my favorite one yet, especially with that tiny BOM cost! And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one this small that has polyphony!
I made a polyphony small palm sized piano ages ago which was featured in a HAD article. Not nearly as small as this guy and way underpowered as it only had an atmega328p but it is still good fun playing around with. I gifted one to my sister and the other protoype sits on my desk at work so I can annoy coworkers lol.
That’s fantastic! It’s got a nice sound, which is sadly often lacking from little builds like this.
Prior art: Mitxela’s stylophone.