Finally the dream of having MIDI controlled potentiometers on circuit bent toys and DIY synths can be a reality with this newest Highly_Liquid MPA Kit. It features 4 independent variable resistance outputs that can assigned values from 100 Ohm all the way up to 100k Ohms via MIDI! But if that wasn’t enough the kit also features 8 Digital outputs that can be turned on and off by MIDI notes. One obvious application for this controller would be to have the digital output pins connected to sound triggering buttons on a toy and the variable potentiometers to the pitch resistor. Instantly a very simple toy would become a dope lofi MIDI drum machine! I’ve always wanted to build something like this, but the research and development time involved into this kind of a project can be tremendous. Certainly for $47 once can bypass all that and get right to making cool instruments.
Product Link.
HighlyLiquid has created another wonderful MIDI kit for emulating joystick control of an Atari 2600 with MIDI signals. Directions and buttons are mapped to a specific MIDI Note along with different keypad values. The the left and right ports can be independently configured via a dip switch to be either a Keypad or a Joystick. This finally allows the sweet sounds of Synthcart to be sequenced via computer. I can also picture using this kit with circuit bent devices that have an Atari Joystick style (DB-9) connector for triggering bends as well as custom circuits that rely on the same pin out for note triggering. Very nice work!
MIDI and PICs are the holy grails of the DIY Musicans. Every MIDI enabled gadget instantly draws oohs and aahs from unsuspecting mainstream gear users. However the truth is that MIDI programming and custom hardware controllers are now more affortable and easy to make then ever. In this blog I hope to provide quick tips for setting everything up to transmit that first MIDI note with a simple and cheap PIC microcontroller.
Circuit Bending Events Custom Instruments DIY Tips and Tricks. Cassette Tape and Record Full Albums I converted on YouTube. My eBay Auctions and Special Projects.
