-
1Step 1
First, it will help to build this with an arduino and then switch to the barebones chip version. Thus, you need an Arduino (Uno in this case), 10 1M resistors, a bit of wire and some protoboard (optional) to begin.
-
2Step 2
Each input needs to be tied to +5V for the capacitive sensing to work. You can test it out by wiring a pin (e.g. pin 5) to a wire (the input) and to 5V via a 1M resistor. Then upload the sketch at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2DoeWh9FWHhX2c0aXhac0I1Yms/edit?usp=sharing
-
3Step 3
You should now be able to see a bunch of stuff streaming by when you open the serial console. Touch your input and one line of 0's should turn into 1's. Take note of what the serial port name is - it will be needed in the next step.
-
4Step 4
To turn '0A0A0A1A0A1A0A' (the data flowing through the serial connection, which you can probably improve upon) to music, I wrote a simple python script to use pygames midi capabilities to send out midi messages. Edit the script (found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2DoeWh9FWHhX29RRFljZWRTcVE/edit?usp=sharing) to have the correct serial port, and run it. If it is working, you should see little noteon and noteoff messages in the output, but no actual sound. To get sound, you will need some application that can take in midi data - google around for something you like. Personally, I use Rosegarden on Ubuntu, with the input configured to the output of the python program, and the output to qsynth.
-
5Step 5
Once you get this all working, you can add all the inputs. Solder in resistors to some protoboard, with the resistor and its other pin sticking up into the air. Solder all the pins that are up in the air together, and to a wire that will plug into +5V. Bend the bottom pins so that they fit into the sockets of the arduino - making a rudimentary shiled. You can now solder wires to the protoboard at the base of each resistor, which become your inputs. Plug the other ends of the wires into fruits etc, and power up the device (this will allow it to auto-calibrate) - hopefully you will now be able to rock it out on bananas!!
-
6Step 6
Now we get to the fun stuff. To save the cost of an arduino, it is worth building a 'shrimp' - a minimal arduino on protoboard. Check out the instructions at www.shrimping.it for full tutorials etc
-
7Step 7
To add bluetooth, I used a cheap HC-06 bluetooth serial module of AliExpress. Simply connecting +5V, GND, RX and TX worked for me, but your mileage might vary. Once you pair with this device (1234 as the pin) you should be able to connect to it as a serial service. Change the name in the python script to the new port (/dev/rfcomm0 on my linux machine) and you should be good to go. A friend and I are currently working on making apps for phone and PC to simplify this whole process and make it child-friendly.
-
8Step 8
Slap it in an enclosure with a switch and some batteries and that's it! Have fun coming up with new ways to use this. You can edit the python code to have it do funky things on your computer with something like xdotool, or use it as input for a game! The possibilities are endless, so enjoy :)
Discussions
Become a Hackaday.io Member
Create an account to leave a comment. Already have an account? Log In.
[this comment has been deleted]
Hi,
Just saw this comment now! Must have slipped through some how. Was there anything u were wanting to know?
Are you sure? yes | no