The Ondes Martenot was one of the world’s first electronic instruments. Like many other early electronic instruments, such as the Theremin and Trautonium, the Ondes Martenot gave the player control of a continuous band of pitches. There were no stops or keys, but rather a device that allowed for an uninterrupted glissando. They were the electronic equivalents of a trombone or slide steel guitar.
What made the Ondes Martenot unique compared to its more popular cousin, the Theremin, was that it was a tactile instrument. As anyone who’s ever played with a Theremin can attest to, they can be difficult instruments to play with any sort of intuition or accuracy because there are no physical markers to gauge one’s actions with. The Ondes, on the other hand, employed a ribbon-controller composed of a looped string with a ring tied in the middle in which one placed one’s finger and slid the ribbon back and forth to control pitch. In later models this controller was mounted parallel to a keyboard so that the location of the ring, or “la bague,” directly corresponded to the notes above it. This configuration allowed for greater accuracy than the finicky Theremin controller and was more intuitive to musicians familiar with the traditional keyboard.
My Project
With this project I sought to produce an easy-to-make, cheap, digital controller inspired by the Ondes Martenot. Like the Ondes, I wanted the controller to give continuous and fluid pitch adjustments, a deep volume control, and offer a range of timbres.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython tops Tom’s Hardware Best RP2040 Boards 2021 and more #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF
