Leo and Gopika Make Bagpipes – Introduction to Interactive Media

Inspiration:

Gopika was inspired by this video of a Coldplay performance, in which it appears like the band is playing music on lasers in the air. We decided we would try to make an “air guitar” in a similar style. We would use six ultrasonic distance sensors that acted like “strings” and buttons that acted like the frets on a guitar. However because ultrasonic distance sensors need a clock, and each Arduino board only has three, we were limited to how many distance sensors we could use. We ended up with two distance sensors, each controlled by two buttons.

Process:

We first built a circuit with the ultrasonic distance sensor to see what kind of ranges were measurable. Next, we added a buzzer to the circuit, and wrote code to play a note whenever a given distance was triggered. For example, between 0 and 60 cm, every 10 cm corresponds to one note.

We added control buttons to the circuit next, one of which turns the system on (starts detecting distance) and the other changes the octave. Each code had two arrays of notes, each a full octave, giving the buzzer access to two full octaves of notes. If the button is pressed, the higher octave is played, if the button is not pressed, the lower octave is played.

Challenges:

We had a lot of trouble wiring the buttons into the circuit. At first, they didn’t work at all, and pressing the button wasn’t even being detected. Next, the press would be detected, but it would lag the system so that no tone was played for a few seconds. Finally Gopika realized that we had wired the circuit incorrectly and the buttons finally worked.

Final Work:

See if you recognize the song:

And with the octave change:

Main Code:

#define echoPinC 12 
#define trigPinC 11 
const int BUTTON_PIN = 7; // Arduino pin connected to button's pin
const int BUTTON_PIN2 = 8;
# include "pitches.h"

String notes6[7] = {"C4", "D4", "E4", "F4", "G4", "A4", "B4"};

int notes[7] = {NOTE_C6, NOTE_D6, NOTE_E6, NOTE_F6, NOTE_G6, NOTE_A6, NOTE_B6};
int notesHigh[7] = {NOTE_C7, NOTE_D7, NOTE_E7, NOTE_F7, NOTE_G7, NOTE_A7, NOTE_B7};

long durationC;
int distanceC;

int playNote;

bool start = false;

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:

  pinMode(trigPinC, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(echoPinC, INPUT);
  pinMode(BUTTON_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(BUTTON_PIN2, INPUT_PULLUP);

  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
   int buttonState = digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN); // read new state
int offState = digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN2); 

 if (offState == LOW) {
  start=true;
 }

if(start)
{

  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
digitalWrite(trigPinC, LOW);
  delayMicroseconds(2);
  digitalWrite(trigPinC, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(10);
  digitalWrite(trigPinC, LOW);
  durationC = pulseIn(echoPinC, HIGH);
  distanceC = durationC * 0.034 / 2; 

  Serial.print("DistanceC: ");
  Serial.print(distanceC);
  Serial.print(" cm");
  Serial.print("mapped: ");

  int constrainedInput=constrain(distanceC, 1, 70);
  
  int mappedNoteC = map(constrainedInput, 1, 70, 0, 6);

Serial.println(notes6[mappedNoteC]);

  if (buttonState == LOW) {
   Serial.print("button unpressed: "); 
  // noTone(4);
  playNote = notesHigh[mappedNoteC];
  
  if(distanceC > 70){
   noTone(4);
  } 
  
  }
  else
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
   Serial.print("button pressed: ");
      playNote = notes[mappedNoteC];
  }
if (offState == LOW) {
   Serial.print("button unpressed: ");
  noTone(4);
}
 else
  if (offState == HIGH) {
tone(4, playNote);
  }
  if(distanceC > 70){
    noTone(4);
  }
}
}

#define NOTE_B0  31
#define NOTE_C1  33
#define NOTE_CS1 35
#define NOTE_D1  37
#define NOTE_DS1 39
#define NOTE_E1  41
#define NOTE_F1  44
#define NOTE_FS1 46
#define NOTE_G1  49
#define NOTE_GS1 52
#define NOTE_A1  55
#define NOTE_AS1 58
#define NOTE_B1  62
#define NOTE_C2  65
#define NOTE_CS2 69
#define NOTE_D2  73
#define NOTE_DS2 78
#define NOTE_E2  82
#define NOTE_F2  87
#define NOTE_FS2 93
#define NOTE_G2  98
#define NOTE_GS2 104
#define NOTE_A2  110
#define NOTE_AS2 117
#define NOTE_B2  123
#define NOTE_C3  131
#define NOTE_CS3 139
#define NOTE_D3  147
#define NOTE_DS3 156
#define NOTE_E3  165
#define NOTE_F3  175
#define NOTE_FS3 185
#define NOTE_G3  196
#define NOTE_GS3 208
#define NOTE_A3  220
#define NOTE_AS3 233
#define NOTE_B3  247
#define NOTE_C4  262
#define NOTE_CS4 277
#define NOTE_D4  294
#define NOTE_DS4 311
#define NOTE_E4  330
#define NOTE_F4  349
#define NOTE_FS4 370
#define NOTE_G4  392
#define NOTE_GS4 415
#define NOTE_A4  440
#define NOTE_AS4 466
#define NOTE_B4  494
#define NOTE_C5  523
#define NOTE_CS5 554
#define NOTE_D5  587
#define NOTE_DS5 622
#define NOTE_E5  659
#define NOTE_F5  698
#define NOTE_FS5 740
#define NOTE_G5  784
#define NOTE_GS5 831
#define NOTE_A5  880
#define NOTE_AS5 932
#define NOTE_B5  988
#define NOTE_C6  1047
#define NOTE_CS6 1109
#define NOTE_D6  1175
#define NOTE_DS6 1245
#define NOTE_E6  1319
#define NOTE_F6  1397
#define NOTE_FS6 1480
#define NOTE_G6  1568
#define NOTE_GS6 1661
#define NOTE_A6  1760
#define NOTE_AS6 1865
#define NOTE_B6  1976
#define NOTE_C7  2093
#define NOTE_CS7 2217
#define NOTE_D7  2349
#define NOTE_DS7 2489
#define NOTE_E7  2637
#define NOTE_F7  2794
#define NOTE_FS7 2960
#define NOTE_G7  3136
#define NOTE_GS7 3322
#define NOTE_A7  3520
#define NOTE_AS7 3729
#define NOTE_B7  3951
#define NOTE_C8  4186
#define NOTE_CS8 4435
#define NOTE_D8  4699
#define NOTE_DS8 4978

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