MIDI stands for Music Instrument Digital Interface. It’s the standard communication method for all things music. It’s the way an instrument can talk to a computer. Every musician working in the digital space uses MIDI. Laurie Anderson’s violin? MIDI. Chemical Brothers? MIDI. But why might a DIY MIDI project be useful for you? Here’s more, from MIDI for Makers by Liz Clark:
MIDI is dependable, predictable, reliable and at this point is usually plug and play without too much fuss. This also means that it’s approachable for folks to build their own MIDI devices.
There are a lot of aftermarket MIDI devices available, so why would you want to build your own? When you build your own MIDI controller, you can design it specifically for what you need. If you aren’t quite sure what you want to do with MIDI, you can experiment and test things before committing to a full build. Additionally, you can share your MIDI project’s details with the community for other musicians to benefit from.
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.
