Week 10: Musical Instrument Group Assignment [Izza and Hoor]

For this assignment, Hoor and I worked together to come up with the idea of using the push buttons from our kit as keys for a piano. We used cardboard to create the piano keys and poked the push buttons through the bottom layer. We then used copper tape to cover the push button’s pins and give the alligator clips something to attach to in order to connect the buttons with wires that went into the breadboard. For our analog sensor, we used a potentiometer to control the length of the sound made once a key was pressed. The result can be seen here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/187WqUyYvRZ6KFFVMn0NtSO0ycqEzKyXq/view?usp=sharing

Our circuit diagram can also be seen here:

We’re really proud of the fact that we were able to complete the circuit using a variety of tools like the copper tape and alligator pins and were able to have a creative and working result. We are also really proud of the code that was inspired by the toneMelody exercise we did in class for the pitches. The code can be seen below:

#include "pitches.h"

const int speakerPin = 8;
const int potPin = A0;

const int buttonPins[] = {2, 3, 4, 5};
const int numButtons = 4;

// Define the notes for each button
int notes[] = {NOTE_C4, NOTE_D4, NOTE_E4, NOTE_F4};

void setup() {
  for (int i = 0; i < numButtons; i++) {
    pinMode(buttonPins[i], INPUT_PULLUP);  // Internal pull-up resistor
  }
  pinMode(speakerPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  int potValue = analogRead(potPin);  // 0–1023
  int noteDuration = map(potValue, 0, 1023, 100, 1000);  // Adjusts the lengths of the notes

  for (int i = 0; i < numButtons; i++) {
    if (digitalRead(buttonPins[i]) == LOW) {  // Button is pressed
      tone(speakerPin, notes[i], noteDuration);
      delay(noteDuration * 1.3);  // Pause between tones
      noTone(speakerPin);
    }
  }
}

We had some difficulty getting the buttons to connect with the alligator clips using the copper tape since it kept poking through the tape and was very fragile to move around. Even with a double reinforcement, the pins would still stick through. If we were to recreate it, we may seek another alternative that is thicker. We also encountered an unknown issue with some ghost keys where sounds would appear even if no key was pressed. This could be due to the copper tape issue as well.

Overall though, we are proud of the fact that the piano keys worked when pressed and the potentiometer properly adjusted the length of the notes as seen in the video.