improvise + harmonize + customize
The airmonica is a easy-to-learn tweakable musical instrument that you can use to perform harmonic musical ditties by accompanying a tri-tone arpeggiator. There are endless opportunities to expand the airmonica in any way that will make it your your own custom instrument. The airmonica consists of three parts:
1. a wii compatible nunchuck as the instrument interface
2. an arduino micro-controller board as the brain
3. a ginsing shield as the synthesizer
In addition to this instructable, you can visit the project webpage at http://www.airmonica.com.
The airmonica is a easy-to-learn tweakable musical instrument that you can use to perform harmonic musical ditties by accompanying a tri-tone arpeggiator. There are endless opportunities to expand the airmonica in any way that will make it your your own custom instrument. The airmonica consists of three parts:
1. a wii compatible nunchuck as the instrument interface
2. an arduino micro-controller board as the brain
3. a ginsing shield as the synthesizer
In addition to this instructable, you can visit the project webpage at http://www.airmonica.com.
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Signing UpStep 1: Airmonica parts
a stack to hack
The airmonica consists of 4 basic parts, all of which are easily acquired and require little or no modification. Aside from preparing the nunchuck and installing the software the airmonica can be assembled by just pushing it together. All of the parts in the airmonica can be reused on future projects, and together provide a great prototyping environment for experiments in human interface, computing, and complex waveform synthesis. Here's what you'll need:
1. A Wii compatible nunhuck
The nunchuck shown here is an inexpensive 3rd party controller (NYKO Kama). This was chosen because its about half the price of an official Nintendo controller, its clear, has cool flashing lights, and most importantly, can be taken apart with a screwdriver and can put back together later. You can get one for about $10 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Nyko-Kama-Wii-Nintendo/dp/B001PAAE7I/ref=dp_cp_ob_vg_title_0
2. An Arduino Uno microcontroller ( blue as pictured )
The Arduino Uno is a complete programmable development kit that allows you to run C/C++ code to control is various inputs and outputs. If you don't have one already you should really get one - its a great way to learn about hardware, software, and embedded applications. It is very affordable and has great support. You can pick one up for about $22 and then download the development environment from the Arduino support page:
http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-A000046-UNO-board/dp/B004CG4CN4/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1331048877&sr=1-1-catcorr
http://www.arduino.cc/
3. A GinSing synthesizer shield ( yellow as pictured )
The GinSing is synthesizer board (shield) that plugs onto the Arduino and contains a digital synthesizer chip and an amplifier you plug directly into a speaker (or stereo via 3.5mm jack). For this project the Ginsing is used to create the mellow polyphonic tones you hear produced, but is capable of wide range of sound related applications like synthetic speech, waveform synthesis, and more. The GinSing is available in either kit ($35) or assembled ($45) form from their website:
http://www.ginsingsound.com
4. (Optional) proto board ( red & green as pictured )
One thing you may find helpful is an Arduino compatible prototyping shield. In the picture you can see that the nunchuck is connected to the proto board, which not only makes it easier to connect, it also allows you to use the metal pins on nunchuck cable rather than having to cut the cable. If you don't use you such a board you would just insert the wires into the connector on top of the GinSing board instead (not pictured). The board pictured here is from SparkFun, and an nice because it can be use on other projects that may require switches and LEDs as well:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/7914
The airmonica consists of 4 basic parts, all of which are easily acquired and require little or no modification. Aside from preparing the nunchuck and installing the software the airmonica can be assembled by just pushing it together. All of the parts in the airmonica can be reused on future projects, and together provide a great prototyping environment for experiments in human interface, computing, and complex waveform synthesis. Here's what you'll need:
1. A Wii compatible nunhuck
The nunchuck shown here is an inexpensive 3rd party controller (NYKO Kama). This was chosen because its about half the price of an official Nintendo controller, its clear, has cool flashing lights, and most importantly, can be taken apart with a screwdriver and can put back together later. You can get one for about $10 on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Nyko-Kama-Wii-Nintendo/dp/B001PAAE7I/ref=dp_cp_ob_vg_title_0
2. An Arduino Uno microcontroller ( blue as pictured )
The Arduino Uno is a complete programmable development kit that allows you to run C/C++ code to control is various inputs and outputs. If you don't have one already you should really get one - its a great way to learn about hardware, software, and embedded applications. It is very affordable and has great support. You can pick one up for about $22 and then download the development environment from the Arduino support page:
http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-A000046-UNO-board/dp/B004CG4CN4/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1331048877&sr=1-1-catcorr
http://www.arduino.cc/
3. A GinSing synthesizer shield ( yellow as pictured )
The GinSing is synthesizer board (shield) that plugs onto the Arduino and contains a digital synthesizer chip and an amplifier you plug directly into a speaker (or stereo via 3.5mm jack). For this project the Ginsing is used to create the mellow polyphonic tones you hear produced, but is capable of wide range of sound related applications like synthetic speech, waveform synthesis, and more. The GinSing is available in either kit ($35) or assembled ($45) form from their website:
http://www.ginsingsound.com
4. (Optional) proto board ( red & green as pictured )
One thing you may find helpful is an Arduino compatible prototyping shield. In the picture you can see that the nunchuck is connected to the proto board, which not only makes it easier to connect, it also allows you to use the metal pins on nunchuck cable rather than having to cut the cable. If you don't use you such a board you would just insert the wires into the connector on top of the GinSing board instead (not pictured). The board pictured here is from SparkFun, and an nice because it can be use on other projects that may require switches and LEDs as well:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/7914
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The sound output is a quiet hiss that has a rhythmic ticking that becomes louder if the volume control on the Ginseng board is increased. Movement or pressing the buttons on the controller doesn't seem to affect this output. Also, the controller begins vibrating as soon as the red and black power wires plugged in to shield, same thing when plugged directly into the GinSing board. The colored wires are connected as in the picture, although my controller comes with additional brown, white, and blue wires that are unused.
This is an amazing project which I would really like to make work. Any ideas as to what is the problem and how to work around it?
can't initialize Nunchuck - error
If you do see this, it means the I2C connection between the Arduino and the nunchuck is probably incorrect. Given that you have so many additional wires and that the red/black makes it vibrate seems like a clue that your color coding may be different. It may take some experimentation to figure out which of the available wires are clock and data, but I'll bet with by eliminating ones that don't do the expected ( i.e. vibrate ) it might help narrow down which is which. Maybe you could also find through google more info on the pin coding for your particular nunchuck.
http://todbot.com/blog/2008/02/18/wiichuck-wii-nunchuck-adapter-available/
So you might be able to diagram each side of the connector and match them up with the wires on your controller.
My "Nyko Kama Controller for Wii with Vibration" has the following 7 color wires : red, black , purple, green, white, yellow, brown. Here is how I connected them to make Airmonica work:
Red -- 5 Volt
Black -- GND
Purple --Analog pin 5 (I think this means Purple is Data)
Green -- Analog pin 6 (I think this means Green is Clock)
(the 3 remaining wires- white, yellow, & brown- are unconnected.)
As soon as I hit the right wire combination, a chord rang out from my speakers, the LED on the GinSing board lit up, and the controller became operational.
The link you sent
http://todbot.com/blog/2008/02/18/wiichuck-wii-nunchuck-adapter-available/
has a photo which helps show which wires are clock, data, power and ground in a Nunchuck plug. This would have helped more if I hadn't already pulled all the wires out of the plug, neglecting to diagram which colors went to which part of the plug. I would probably just photograph the wires as I disassembled a plug next time, which should make it easier to identify which wires should connect to the GinSing board ( or the prototyping shield ) and where.
Now that you're up and running take a look at the code for the octavizer - you might have some fun enabling it and tying it to another input from the nunchuck.