TheoryBoard MIDI controller brings a splash of color to music theory

Californian startup Irijule has launched a MIDI controller on Kickstarter that color codes the relationship between chords and notes, to simplify music theory and put almost two billion chord combinations and over 800 scales within easy reach.Continue … Continue reading TheoryBoard MIDI controller brings a splash of color to music theory

Your Own Electronic Drum Kit

[Jake_Of_All_Trades] wanted to take up a new drumming hobby, but he didn’t want to punish his neighbors in the process. He started considering an electric drum kit which would allow him to practice silently but still get some semblance of the real drumming experience.

Unfortunately, electric drum kits are pretty …read more

Continue reading Your Own Electronic Drum Kit

Wurlitzer Note Visualizer Gets a 2020-Spec Replica

Way back in the 1970s, when smog laws were choking American V8s and the oil crisis was in full swing, Wurlitzer released their Key Note Visualizer. Intended as a teaching aid, the device lit up keys on a keyboard graphic, allowing an organ player to visually demonstrate their performance to …read more

Continue reading Wurlitzer Note Visualizer Gets a 2020-Spec Replica

Less Rock, More Roll: A MIDI Barrel Piano

Strolling around a park, pedestrian zone, or tourist area in any bigger city is rarely complete without encountering the sound of a barrel organ — the perfect instrument if arm stamina and steady rotation speed are your kind of musical skills. Its less-encountered cousin, and predecessor of self-playing pianos, is …read more

Continue reading Less Rock, More Roll: A MIDI Barrel Piano

Raspberry Pi Plays A MIDI Tune Wherever You May Roam

MIDI controller keyboards are great because they let you control any synthesizer you plug them into. The only downside: you need a synthesizer to turn MIDI notes into actual sounds, slightly complicating some summer night campfire serenading. Not for [Geordie] though, who decided to build the nanoPi, a portable, …read more

Continue reading Raspberry Pi Plays A MIDI Tune Wherever You May Roam

Arduino Drums Bring The Noise, no MIDI Required

When looking through existing Arduino drum kit projects, [joekutz] noticed that most of them just used the microcontroller as an input for an existing MIDI device. That’s fine if you’re just looking to build your own hardware interface, but he wondered if it would be possible to forgo the MIDI …read more

Continue reading Arduino Drums Bring The Noise, no MIDI Required

Rocking Out On A Limb With LE STRUM

It’s hard to imagine 80s Synth-pop without the keytar, and yet this majestic Centaur of a musical instrument rarely gets much love, and their players are often the target of ridicule. It almost seems as if being hung around the neck should be a privilege solely reserved for stringed instruments. …read more

Continue reading Rocking Out On A Limb With LE STRUM