We made a trumbone with arduino and various sensory input. We used gyroscope, pressure dectector and range sensor.
Introduction
Abstract
For this assignment, we were tasked to take physical inputs and convert them into sounds for a new musical instrument or expressive musical interface. We played around with multiple ideas; a drawing pad with ultrasonic sensors and a pen with an accelerometer attached so that when you draw you make music too, a MIDI trumpet using buttons and wind pressure to act as a MIDI controller, among other ideas. We decided that we wanted to use distance to encourage some sort of big movement and we also wanted to be able to actually play music with some level of precision. We decided on an Arduino trombone. This device utilizes three sensors; a sound sensor, ultrasonic sensor and a gyroscope. We drilled a hole for the mouthpiece and a connected smaller hole on the side for the sound sensor to pick up the buzzing more precisely. We then attached an ultrasonic sensor to a cutout in acrylic to hold it in place which bounces the signal off another piece of acrylic attached by a single screw for adjustable holds. We wanted to add an interesting interaction to the Ardui-Bone as well so that it wasn’t simply a tech trombone. We utilize the gyroscope to change octaves by orienting the whole device up or down. Further implementation could utilize a MIDI module for mapping to better sounds in a DAW, using a wind pressure sensor for volume variability and better housing. We think this stands out because it works like an actual instrument, meaning you can actually play music with some practice, it’s fun to use (a trombone is an adult slide whistle), and it utilizes multiple sensors and it adds a new way to interact with a preexisting instrument.
Inspiration
We were inspired by many different resources. When we decided on what sensors we wanted to use and the Arduino trombone we decided to see if anyone did it before. Surely enough someone did exactly what we wanted to do. We grab heavy inspiration from Hackers in Residence - The ElectricBone. It follows similar schematics but varies since ours is not a MIDI controller and it uses a touch potentiometer for octave switching. Very similar, but different in its interactions and technology. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/hackers-in-residence—the-electricbone/all
We were also inspired by the MiniWI, an outstanding MIDI woodwind instrument inspired by the famous EWI. This is what we would want future implementations of the Ardui-Bone to be. Smaller, compact, MIDI compatible, clean with a strong musical capability. https://hackaday.io/project/11843-miniwi-woodwind-midi-controller
As mentioned before the EWI was also a big inspiration for the project. This was the first time we learned about the EWI and its capabilities as a legitimate performance instrument is incredible. It’s ability to act as a MIDI controller while also producing sound independently from the computer is amazing. Truly a professional grade device. An EBI (electronic brass instrument) would be something I would buy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nBJjL-NV1U&list=LLpXmaYKUYsteXFJl96WA8SA&index=2&t=0s
We used the official example code of our sensors to help us understand how to use them.
Sketches
Sketches
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Circuit Schemetics
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Pictures of Work in Progress
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Conclusion
Final Product
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Reference
- Ultra Sonic Sensor
- Simple Audio Player
- Accelerometer and Gyroscope Tutorial
- Sound Sensor Module Tutorial
- Calculating Pitch, yaw and roll
We also tried utilizing MIDI libraries including MIDIUSB and Arduino MIDI but we could not get them to communicate with our DAWs (GarageBand and LMMS).