Friday, February 26, 2016

Pixel Clock introduction & preview



My most recent project is the Pixel Clock - a clock displayed on a bright and colorful 8x8 RGB display. I'll be honest - I first got the display because it was so cool, then I decided to make something useful out of it :-)

The looks must be clean and non obtrusive, this way the pixels come out better. The device must be useful, but it must also be something that you can play with. This in combination with a good interface. As we speak I've come up with the following (so far):

- Size is about 70x70x30mm (excluding button)
- The control is a rotary encoder (endless rotation) with a button
- 3D printed case
- Prototype PCB using a Cyclone PCB factory
- ATMEGA328 with Arduino software
- Clock using DS3231 realtime clock module
- All Open Source hardware + software (CC BY-NC 3.0).

You can find all used hardware and software on GitHub.

During prototyping I made some progress pics. Oh yes, you have to see it with your own eyes. It looks way better than in real life!

It is the first time that I take a project beyond prototyping, this time (pun intended) I'm making it ready for manufacturing. To be continued...



 










Wednesday, January 6, 2016

MIDI foot controller /w Arduino







I got the Eventide H9 for a year now and i just love the pedal. Except that it just doesn't have enough buttons :-) Preset switching is a pain in the %$#, especially if you also want to tap tempo, adjust volume, use the 'hotknob' as a pedal and use the 'performance' button as well. I know that this is specifically for the H9, but I can imagine you can have the same feeling as well for other gear.

If you have any questions, suggestions, etc. Just msg me!


Features



The foot controller has 2 expression pedal inputs and 8 momentary buttons and was made using an Arduino Uno. An 8-bar RGB LED strip with ws2812 LEDS indicate the current page. Future work may involve a DIY pcb so I get the Arduino Uno back for prototyping :-)

Preset mode
Page Up, Page Down, Tuner, Mode
Preset 1, Preset 2, Preset 3, Preset 4

Looper mode (didn't use this in the video):
Direction switch, Octave switch, Tuner, Mode
Record, Play, Stop, Empty

Source code


The source code can be found on github:

Source Code on GitHub

See it on thingiverse:

Thing on Thingiverse

Video





More pics