Single Trigger To MIDI, Please Help :)

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Development
1

New here. I'll give a quick rundown of my goal,
Then I'll adress what form of Arduino hardware I think best fits,
Then why I feel it does not,
and then maybe you can help? Please :slight_smile:

Looking to make a SINGLE TRIGGER to MIDI converter
Of course, Piezzo, to MIDI

My Requirements:

SMALL - Think US Dime Coin Sized PCB... FOR EMBEDDED APPLICATION

TRIGGER TO MIDI - Piezzo analog input, MIDI output velocity sensitive (1-127 is it?)

THRESHOLD/GATE - Need to be able to trim/gate low sensitivity
Meaning (X)Hard = Velocity of 1
Anything below (X)Hard is ignored/gated

The smallest Arduino hardware that looks to meet my needs:

The MINI, to actually get the job done
And the MINI USB ADAPTER to interface and program the MINI

Why this is not the perfect solution for me (Even tho it works):

Now, I see that this would work... that the MINI will do the job....

However, in the end I will need something smaller, and don't necessarily need all the advanced i/o and functionality it offers....

That said, it will work, and therefore may be a good start.

However, I am wondering if there is a simpler solution?

Is there an IC out there already pre-programmed to do just this?
One I can just embed in a design with a piezzo and a trim??

I would greatly appreciate any input here.

Thank you

2

I highly doubt you'll find a solution that will fit your size constraints. Keep in mind that a US dime (according to wikipedia) only has a diameter of 17.91mm (0.705in)...

A quick google search came up with the PIC 12F675... housed in an 8 pin dip package.
http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=364

Just about the size of a dime on it's own...

Good luck though! :slight_smile:

3

You can program an AVR tiny to spit out MIDI. They are robust enough you can run one practically naked. Or have a board run off and SMD components soldered to it.

The limiting factors I see right now are battery, and MIDI jack.

It would help to know more of the project. Where is the MIDI being sent? If it is to be sent to a computer for execution of events, you could run it down USB cable and also run power down the same cable. If it is being sent to a sampler, the MIDI spec does not include power over MIDI (although some manufacturers used the two "free" pins to do just that). So you are still stuck with at least a coin cell to power the thing.

Again, a MIDI jack takes up more space than a dime all by itself. So it hardly makes sense trying to shrink the circuit board!