Introduction: Arduino Music Box

About: Women's Audio Mission is a San Francisco based, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. In a field where women are chronically under-represente…

Make your own music box!

Materials:
9V Battery

Box Materials (cardboard, scissors, tape, markers)

  • P1 Power
  • W7 Fork
  • I3 Button
  • I20 Sound Trigger
  • W6 Arduino
  • W1 Wire (2)
  • O3 RGB LED
  • O5 DC Motor
  • O24 Synth Speaker
  • (I used the Little Bits Deluxe Kit and the speaker from the Little Bits Synth Kit)

And then you're ready to go!!

Step 1: Assemble the Bits!

    Connect the battery to the power bit.

    Add the fork to the power bit.

    Put the button and sound trigger bit on either side of the fork.

    Then connect the arduino bit to those modules.

    The button should be connected to the D0 input

    The sound trigger should be connected to the A1 input.

    Then on the other side of the ardunio bit, you should connect the two wire outs and the LED bit.

    The LED bit will be in the middle output on D5 and the wires will be in the other outputs of D1 and D9.

    You will then connect the wires to the DC Motor and the Synth Speaker.

    Adding the wires in doesn’t change the module, it just allows you to extend the length of the bits so that they can be placed in a better position.

    After connecting all of the bits together and adding the code you should have a working module!

    Step 2: Create the Box!

    To create the music box, you will have to find or build your own structure.

    I chose a pre-existing box that seemed to be the right fit for the module and what i wanted the structure to do.

    My box is made of cardboard so I was able to cut out holes on two sides of the box for the power cord and the arduino cable to feed through so that it can reach what it needs to.

    The creation of the box is really up to you!

    It all depends on what type of functionality you would like to have.

    For my music box, I used a small box that had a flap that allows you to open and close the box.

    I added a few of my own touches of colored paper and a divider inside of the box to create a second level.

    This allowed me to have the main part of the module hidden below the speaker and motor.

    The second level created some separation from the rest of the bits.

    Step 3: Code the Bit!

    The last thing that you need to do is program the arduino to emit the song and flash the LED light with the beat. This can be done using the code that is in the file attached to this page.

    Then, you are ready to use your music box!