Midi Composer

predue

Member
Hey guys, long time no see ;)

I am currently working on a project (as a present) for my brother in law. (My last present for him was the N64 Infinite)
He composes music on the PC and I once saw a very cool project that I believe he would really like to own :D
Sadly this was a project from a student and is not on sale... So I decided to build my own one. With a bit of tuning.

This composer will have an Arduino inside, that uses a Midi-to-USB adapter for communicating with a PC.
It will feature eight rolls with 16 magnetic points, one volume fader and pitch control each. There are also eight drumpads as an enhancement.

Here is my progress so far:

1HK9Usj.jpg


Lets keep everything nice and tight :p
SROghby.jpg


First tests with the Arduino :)
fv6GUof.jpg


A hall-sensor and a trimmed LED
2FpW1Fs.jpg
zAdCXC2.jpg
zF0vQBX.jpg
TRFmB4I.jpg


MzskOVj.jpg
MDMjxYc.jpg


This looks good for the most part, but I actually messed things up because I sprayed a layer of clear coating on the rolls... Very bad idea (luckily I have no pics of this mess :D )
M04ITD5.jpg


I did the design by myself. It might look messy, but I wanted to have enough space to fit the actual hardware inside and not loose too much stability at the same time. Dimensions are 355 x 183 x 25mm (13.97 x 7.2 x 0.98 inches)
zWIArs4.jpg


My printing order will be from left top - left bottom, middle top....
omhEAog.jpg


The ports from left to right: PC (USB type b), Arduino (micro USB), power
IZMS9YC.jpg


First ideas for the drumpads. But I will have to come up with a better idea.
XLT6Wvy.jpg


The first part does not look very good... I might end up printing it again :p
FrJZXjk.jpg
HInnDNP.jpg
rLZIJvW.jpg


I try not to work with glue so much... Most parts are screwed together.
f3LqGz2.jpg


Part two is printing with slightly modified settings
RtdSp6A.jpg


As you can see I have to print the ground plate in segments, because my printer is too small >.< ...
But I try my best to hide the slits.
The printing takes rather long... The first part took about 26 hours. The second part (that I am printing right now) will take about 8 hours.

Thats it so far. I will post new pics from time to time ;)

Greetings
 
The build quality so far is top notch, this has serious potential. Kinda wish I was your brother.
 
Long time no see!
Looking great! I was into music production for a little bit and thought about building my own synths and such, but never really got around to it.

Can't wait to see how this progresses :D
 
Update of the day:

(color-difference is because of poorer build-quality of the first part)
OVH5hzI.jpg

usbsyWB.jpg

efOAqW4.jpg


Well... The gap between the two parts is VERY noticable. Thats because they don't fit together that well :/. The left and right side are pointing a tiny bit upwards, which is nice for the gap on the top but not on the bottom/side.
It is late and I have to wake up early, so I'll leave it as it is atm. I am printing the third top part now (approx 29 hours).
Will keep you updated
 
Small update:

76ylEQv.jpg


Unfortunately the quality of the third part was worse than the first... So no detailed pics atm :p
I will start to print part 1 and 3 again, but I wanted to show you a small glimpse of the whole thing :)
 
Another small update: The reason that the print quality was really bad, was because my printer was broken :/
I got a new one and started printing again. Approx 100 hours left for the main part >.<
Next post will have pictures
 
Hey guys (and girls?),
I was rather busy the last few days, sorry for the late update. The main body is finished more or less. The quality is not extemely good, but I will work with this now (I am no professional ;) ). The new printer does its job.
I started printing the black parts today in the morning. And here is a first result:
icP9doq.jpg

c7Jte5d.jpg


They fit in perfectly tight. No need for glue or something.
On top of the black part are some strings. No problem though because I will sand it down later.
I am very happy with the looks by now. Finally the black adds some contrast to the whole part :).
You can see the gap on the front side between the two parts? This will remain there. I think its ok as the whole thing is printed in parts.

What do you think?
I'll upload a new picture when all three black parts are printed.
 
Thank You :)

I told you guys that I messed up the rolls pretty bad... So I printed them completely new (with new settings) and finished the last of them today. Here are the results:

First: a comparison >.<
yehcDBz.jpg

4hchi00.jpg

tebeqW6.jpg

VdhTOPZ.jpg


As you can see, there are some rather deep gaps between the three black parts on the top of the case... I don't really know what I should do with them :neutral2:. As I am short on time (9 days to go), I think I'll just leave them be.

Hope you like my work so far.
 
It's a testament to your workmanship that you're complaining about those gaps. I hadn't even noticed them until you pointed em out because I was busy drooling.
 
Update:
AouH8ly.jpg

590grKX.jpg


Still a lot of work to do. The caps for the faders are in the wrong color... I ordered some new filament, that'll arrive on tuesday.
Also the drumpads are not final atm. But I'll have to deal with it for the time being.
Howsoever... My pal and I went for a first test ;)


The next week will be full of work :/
Hopefully I can post some pictures
 
Update:

WevBdZS.jpg

Kz0HIf4.jpg

OlK0e9m.jpg


Got most of the work done now... Some things that are left are the bar for the hall sensors and LEDs and the right drumpad-cover. Also the MIDI-USB adapter needs to be installed.

Hopefully everything works as expected >.<
 
I redesigned the hall-sensor-bar. This way the leds and sensors fit inside properly.
fgYxbuj.jpg


And one picture from the (almost) finished composer:
wWuttec.jpg


A short video from the first test of the digits:

Unfortunately the project does not work up until now >.<
There is a problem with the motor driver and also with the hall sensors. We need to figure out why they don't work...

Hope you like this work so far
 
Back
Top