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A Physical Music Sequencer using RFID tags

Zoe RomanoJuly 3rd, 2013

A Physical Music Sequencer

Mike Cook prototyped  a diy physical music sequencer  with an Arduino Uno and we agree with him it has a “unique take on the concept an RFID sequencer”.

He wrote us describing it with these words:

This takes RFID tags each one mapped to a note and instrument and placed on one of 32 pegs will generate a music sequence. I designed and built a special RFID reader that has 32 read positions, it took 3 months to wire up. The case was hand built and it was designed to fit exactly into a flight box. It contains an Arduino and outputs MIDI.

It uses 32 red / blue LEDs to illuminate acrylic pegs which light up red when a token is hung on them. The sequence sweep progress is shown in blue on the pegs when the sweep position meets a peg with a token it light up purple and a note is produced. The sequence length can be adjusted from 8 steps to over a million steps before repeating.

You can browse his well-documented page with software and schematic at this link.

Sequencer inside

 

Categories:ArduinoMIDIMusic