Introduction: DIY Makey Makey Floor Piano

This project was based off that of Dellinger (click to see his work).

I modified some of the working parts to suit our needs.

This is an easy project and is lots of fun!

Step 1: Materials:

  • Bristol Board
  • Aluminum Tape
  • Standard Electrical Wire
  • Makey Makey Set
  • Computer connected to internet

Step 2: Start Making Your Keyboard

Lay out your bristol board and pick where you would like to keys to lay.

You want to have 5 working piano keys in order to connect them to the available buttons on Makey Makey.

Step 3: Creating Keys

You want to use a conductive material to make your keys in order for Makey Makey to work.

I chose Aluminum tape - available at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. one roll is plenty!

You don't want any keys to touch or else they well not work properly.

Also you need a ground for Makey Makey to work so I used a long strip of aluminum tape at the bottom.

Makey Makey cables need somewhere to attach.

I used standard electric wire and split it into their individual pieces. Landscaping wire works well also.

  • Cut small pieces of wire about 6cm in length.
  • Strip away some rubber from each end - about 2cm.
  • Bend in to an L shape and attach to the top of your keys with more aluminum tape ensuring one end of the copper is making solid connection with the aluminum key.
  • Repeat for each key.
  • Do the same for the ground key - I ran a long piece of wire from the ground to the top for easy connection with the Makey Makey kit.

Step 4: Connecting Makey Makey

Plug Makey Makey into your computer.

Connect the long ground bar to "earth" on the Makey Makey board.

Starting left to right connect the cables in the order of the piano software, In my case it was LEFT, UP, RIGHT, DOWN, SPACE.

Step 5: Open Piano Software

Open piano software.

This one provided by MakeyMakey is great!

http://makeymakey.com/piano/

Step 6: Start Playing

To begin to play - make sure you have one foot firmly planted on the ground key.

Start tapping the piano keys and have fun as your feet play for you!

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