Arduino Midi Class - Hardware, Codes And Shortcuts Explored

Over the internet there are a great range of makers who create awesome musical instruments using the MIDI interface.

You might be be thinking "I wish I had an electronic drum kit." Simple bro, build it yourself.

You might be thinking "I want to have a mixing desk to control garageband, but they are way too expensive." Too easy! Such a simple project. Once you know how, you could do it in a weekend.

You might be thinking "If only I could use my tap dancing shoes to play other sounds!" Just put piezo sensors on the bottom of your tap dancing shoes and send the rhythm in midi.

You might be thinking "I wish I could play rock band with a real guitar!"Put capacitive touch sensing on your guitar strings and send midi to your rock band controller.

You might now be thinking, "Could I have my cat play drums by licking milk out of a capacitive touch sensing metal bowl?" Yes, you can!

You might be thinking, "If only I could play music using the forces of nature!!" The answer to this is yes, you can! Put a moisture sensor in the ground, a rain sensor, a wind sensor, a light sensor, a temperature sensor, some bend sensors on thin tree branches, some vibration or knock sensors on branches that hit each other. Get the Arduino to turn it all into midi signals…Arduino's are great at that kind of thing.

If you type midi into the instructables search bar, you will find hundreds upon hundreds of different projects. Midi opens music up to a whole new range of options. And so your addiction to making weird and wonderful musical instruments begins. (Apologies to your partner, kids or flatmates for the space used storing all these new contraptions, but they don't have to be big.)

This instructable is designed to help you decide where to look and what to consider when starting a midi project.

USB plug and play devices are great for controlling all kinds of musical programs on computers enabling you to record a wide range of sounds from a single keyboard or midi device. Midi devices range from mixing desks to lighting rigs, to DJ scratch and button pads through to Lazer harps, iPads and the standard keyboard. Midi is the way that each of these controllers can talk to computers or to each other and understand the musical messages that are being sent. Remember that Midi is not a sound, it is the instructions for the sound. Making a midi controller is a way to create music via a MIDI interface such as a keyboard, an electronic drumkit, or a computer with midi software (GarageBand, mainstage, logic, ableton live, fruityloops, etc).For more information on MIDI I highly recommend this instructableI also highly recommend visiting Amandaghassaei's page and browsing through her very comprehensive instructables. I also highly recommend sparkfun's midi tutorial.Arduino midi is a DIY movement of digital instruments. It starts with basic keyboards literally made from bananas right through to complex algorithms tracking dancers in 3D space. Arduino adds the capability for a wide range of sensors to suddenly become musical. Bending, turning, distance, light, temperature, pressure... arduino has a huge range of sensors that it is compatible with and adding MIDI to the arduino creates endless musical possibilities. From using light sensors, temperature sensors rain and soil moisture sensors to map the weather into a song, right through to having a drum kit read your midi notes and play itself using motors. This instructable is here to give you tips and get your imagination ticking.Tech specs on MidiAlso there is a lot of helpful information in this instructable which should not be overlooked.In this instructable, each step is independent from the rest. You can mix and match steps for your preference and project. None of the steps are compulsory, there are many different ways to do this.Also, I'm super open to collaboration on this instructable, so if you want to edit, add or correct anything in this instructable, please message me and I'll add you as a collaborator. The goal is to create a highly comprehensive view of arduino midi.