I’ve finally completed a second hardware platform. It now features:
- 128×64 Monochrome display
- Much more ergonomic design
Here is a side view showing most of the mechanical elements:
The bottom handle is the top of a cane. The pitch control is attached to the handle, it’s a throttle for an electric bike.
On the side is a joystick which provides 2 continuous controls and a push button, along with two additional push buttons.
On the top are four switches representing the 4 valves. The first 3 valves are constructed by using a sticky felt pad to attach a real valve finger button to a lever action micro switch. These are a bit delicate but I’m really pleased with how they feel. The fourth valve is just a miniature push button. For a future experiment im going to try attaching a larger surface to the push button and see how it feels. Here is a detail of the valves:
Here is a detail of the pitch control. Note there is an additional push button on the bottom, within easy reach of the handle:
Here is a better view of the front:
You can see the display on the left side of the front. I used a BERP for a mouthpiece receiver. The plasticky blob next to the wood dowel is RTV sealing a plastic tube into a hole at the end of the BERP.
One immediate problem, when I inserted a mouthpiece it made the device really front heavy. Plastic mouthpiece should solve the problem.
I’ve used every pin on the pro micro. Schematic coming soon.
Next steps:
- integrate display into the software to provide better feedback as to the note selected
- figure out cool stuff to do with the extra buttons, ideas:
- 8va valve
- key change
- patch change
- hold pedal?