DIY engineer 3D-prints new musical instrument and makes it open-source
Brady Y. Lin, who is essentially a music YouTuber, has shared his latest creation with the world, and this time, it is open source. The new instrument is an improvement over the “8-bit Arduino Violin” he made 4 years ago, when his knowledge of electronics was more limited.
For the new instrument, he used the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 as the microcontroller of choice. He also used a 16-bit ADS1115 ADC to sample the analog inputs. He equipped the neck of the instrument with a linear potentiometer which has over 32,000 discrete values, allowing for a smooth control of pitch.
He also added four pressure-sensing buttons (representing the four strings on a violin) to the bout. This allowed him to control the volume simply by applying more or less pressure. The instrument itself is powered by MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), allowing for a wide range of sounds.
As for the body, he 3D-printed all parts right in his home. He named the instrument Stradex, and since this is the first iteration, he called it Stradex1. As mentioned earlier, the project is open source, and you can access the resources needed via the GitHub page.
Before embarking on this project, he had built other things, including a harp playing robot, a MIDI-powered drum, the 8-bit Arduino violin, a PC game controller, and more.
Source(s)
Brady Y. Lin (linked above) and GitHub
