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More fun with keyboards

· 2 min read

Before going to a local maker festival I brought my earlier keyboard project to a more usable state. The goal was a sort of interactive conversation piece.

Keybed

I wanted to use as much as I could from the old organ this all started from. I desoldered the original spaghetti, and designed some multiplexer boards to fit on the back of the keybed.

Keybed back

Control board

I consolidated the Arduino Leonardo and my prototype shield into a custom PCB. The board also has some analog input multiplexing and MIDI in/out. This should make it more versatile for future use.

Control PCB

Body

I found pieces from the old organ chassis that were possible to cut down into a usable body for the keyboard. Some cuts, gluing and fasteners later I had a body where everything could be mounted:

Keyboard inside

After everything was mounted inside the case, I had to give it the proper DIY feel with some stickers! This is what it looks like in it's natural habitat:

Keyboard done

Sound

I wired controls for vibrato depth and speed, and portamento time. With a little practice you can play classic computer game music like a boss!

(Edit: I put the demo clip in a YouTube Short)