A Childhood Dream, Created And Open Sourced

October 7, 2025 by Tyler August 9 Comments

Some kids dream about getting a pony, others dream about a small form factor violin-style MIDI controller. [Brady Y. Lin] was one of the latter, and now, with the skills he’s learning at Northwestern, he can make that dream a reality — and share it with all of us as an open source hardware project.

The dream instrument’s name is Stradex1, and it’s a lovely bit of kit. The “fretless” neck is a SoftPot linear potentiometer being sampled by an ADS1115 ADC — that’s a 16-bit unit, so while one might pedantically argue that there are discreet frets, there’s 2^15 of them, which is functionally the same as none at all. Certainly it’s enough resolution for continuous-sounding pitch control, as well as vibrato, as you can see at 3:20 in the demo video below. The four buttons that correspond to the four strings of a violin aren’t just push-buttons, but also contain force sensors (again, sampled by the 16-bit ADC) to allow for fine volume control of each tone.

A few other potentiometers flesh out the build, allowing control over different MIDI parameters, such as what key [Brady] is playing on. The body is a combination of 3D printed plastic and laser-cut acrylic, but [Brady] suggests you could also print the front and back panels if you don’t happen to have a laser cutter handy.

This project sounds great, and it satisfies the maker’s inner child, so what’s not to love. We’ve had lots of MIDI controllers on Hackaday over the years — everything from stringless guitars to wheel-less Hurdy-Gurdies to say nothing of laser harps galore — but somehow, we’ve never had a MIDI violin. The violin hacks we have featured tend to be either 3D printed or comically small.

If you like this project but don’t feel like fabbing and populating the PCB, [Brady] is going to be giving one away to his 1000th YouTube subscriber. As of this writing, he’s only got 800, so that could be you!

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There Are Stradi-various Ways To Make A Violin, And This Is One

January 8, 2024 by Kristina Panos 14 Comments

We’ve always said that if we had enough money, we’d have a large room that housed every musical instrument we’ve ever been even mildly interested in. While that dream may never come to pass, it would be far more likely to happen if many of the instruments could be 3D-printed, like this electric violin.

We really like this compact design, which mimics a headless guitar with the tuning pegs down by the bridge. [Carmensr] started with a model on Thingiverse, which uses violin strings wound around electric guitar tuners instead of wooden friction pegs. To further the guitar comparison, the three-piece neck contains a truss rod of sorts.

So how does it work, though? The magic is in the special bridge, which contains a piezo element. The bridge picks up the strings’ vibrations and sends them to a little pre-amplifier, which creates a signal that can then be used by a program like Audacity or connected directly to a speaker. Be sure to give it a listen in the video after the break.

Of course, there’s no reason not to design and print acoustic violins. It would be fun to experiment with different filaments for different sounds.

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A Sympathetic Nail Violin

March 3, 2021 by Matthew Carlson 5 Comments

As a hacker community, we are no strangers to beautiful and unique musical instruments. A sympathetic nail violin built by [Nicolas Bras] is a welcome addition to the eclectic family. Working up from the simple idea of a nail in a piece of wood and adjusting the pitch by hammering the nail farther into the wood, [Nicolas] expanded the idea. With careful planning and tuning, the nails can have sympathetic properties. These properties mean that when one nail is played via a bow, it causes other nails to sound, creating harmonies and sustains.

With a bit of careful woodworking and a scant touch of metalwork, an instrument was crafted. It offers vast flexibility as it can be played by bow, by plucking with your finger, or by strumming. There are several levels of nails, each level having a paired sympathetic nail. This allows for a diverse and versatile instrument.

Here at Hackaday, we seem to have a thing for tiny violins, whether physical or virtual. While the nail violin may not look like your traditional violin, we can certainly appreciate the wonderful music it creates.

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When Only The Tiniest Of Violins Will Do

October 25, 2020 by Jenny List 4 Comments

Playing the tiniest of violins may be a phrase to encapsulate the complete lack of sympathy as someone unpleasant receives their just deserts, but have any of you ever considered how such a feat might be achieved? Unless you’re an unusually talented virtuoso with the bow, it’s difficult to believe that such a small instrument could be played with ease, even if it were to be available in the first place.

Happily a solution is at hand to all those minuscule stringed instrument woes, courtesy of [Alexandra Covor], who has created a miniature PCB violin that is after a fashion playable. It may not be a conventional instrument with a horsehair bow and traditional sounding mechanism, but its electronic voice should still deliver enough to delight.

At the heart of the violin-shaped PCB is an ATtiny85 and a piezoelectric buzzer, and just where you might expect them are a set of strings made from wire attached to the PCB. The instrument can play stored tunes, but since the strings are hooked up to an analogue input on the microcontroller, it can be played as a touch instrument. Finally a pair of LEDs behind the translucent FR4-only F-holes complete the look. It’s fair to say that Itzhak Perlman and his ilk are safe from challengers bearing this instrument, but it’s still an eye-catching piece of PCB art.

This isn’t the first tiny violin that’s been featured here, some others are much smaller.

Hurdy-Gurdy Gets Modernized With MIDI Upgrades

October 25, 2018 by Bryan Cockfield 17 Comments

If you’ve never heard a hurdy-gurdy before, you’re in for a treat. Not many people have, since they’re instruments which are uncommon outside of some eastern European communities. Think of a violin that replaces the bow with a hand-cranked wheel, and adds some extra strings that function similar to drones on a bagpipe. The instrument has been around for hundreds of years, but now it’s been given an upgrade via the magic of MIDI.

All of these new features come from [Barnaby Walters] who builds hurdy-gurdys by hand but has recently been focusing on his MIDI interface. The interface can do pitch-shifting polyphony, which allows the instrument to make its own chords and harmonies. It also has a hybrid poly synthesizer, which plays completely different sounds, and can layer them on top of one another. It can also split the keyboard into two instruments, where the top half plays one sound and the bottom half another. It’s an interesting take on an interesting instrument, and the video is definitely worth a look.

The hurdy-gurdy isn’t a commonly used instrument for hacking compared to something like drums or the violin, of course. In fact we had to go back over ten years to find any other articles featuring the hurdy-gurdy, the Furby Gurdy. It was an appropriately named instrument.

Thanks to [baldpower] for the tip!

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Modular Violin Takes A Bow

October 16, 2018 by Bryan Cockfield 10 Comments

They say the only difference between a violin and a fiddle is the way you play it. If that’s so, this modular violin will need a new name, since it can be broken apart and changed in ways that make it sound completely different, all within a few minutes.

The fiddle is the work of [David Perry] and has 3D printed body, neck, pegbox, and bridge. While it might seem useful on the surface as a way to get less expensive instruments out in the world where virtually anyone has access to them, the real interesting qualities are shown when [David] starts playing all of the different versions he’s created. The sound changes in noticeable ways depending on the style of print, type of plastic used, and many other qualities.

Of course you will need a bow, strings, pegs, and a fingerboard, but the rest is all available if you have a 3D printer around. If you’re already a skilled violinist this could be a very affordable way to experiment with new sounds. It’s not the first time we’ve seen 3D printed violins, but it is the first time we’ve seen them designed specifically to alter the way they sound rather than their physical characteristics. If you want to make your own, all of the .stl files are available on the project’s site.

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Students Hack An Unusual Violin

January 26, 2018 by Al Williams 18 Comments

[Sean Riley] is a violinist who had a problem. He wanted to play one particular piece, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t that he lacked the skill — he a doctoral student at the University of Texas and has two degrees in violin performance from The Julliard School. The problem was that “The Dharma at Big Sur” by [John Adams] is made for an instrument with six strings, while most violins only have four. So he did what any of us would do. He stopped by the local hackerspace and fabricated one. You can hear (and see) [Sean] performing with the instrument in the video, below.

The University of Texas operates “The Foundry” which is a hackerspace with all the usual items: laser cutters, 3D printers, and the like. It is open to all their students and staff. [Sean] needed some help with the engineering, and was lucky to find a mechanical engineering senior, [Daniel Goodwin], working at The Foundry.

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