This is an introduction on how to make a keyboard with a few buttons, a multiplexer and a arduino that can talk to a computer interface that can play tones through the computers speakers.

Part list:

  • 1x Arduino
  • 1x breadboard
  • 8x buttons
  • 1x 8-port multiplexer (preferably a )
  • Assortment of cables

Now, lets get going!

Step 1: Connecting the Circuit

Follow the Fritzing Schematic on how to connect it on a breadboard.

Order doesn't matter, but i would recommend to do it in this order:

  1. Connect the powerlines of the breaboard to GND and +5V
  2. Add the multiplexer and connect it to V+ and GND
  3. Connect the read pin of the multiplexer to 13 and the read ports to A0, A1, A2 and A3
  4. Add buttons and connect them to the multiplexer

The schematic is very simple and shouldn't be a problem.

Step 2: Prepare the Software

You can download the code for the arduino and interface from this github link.

1. Prepare the Arduino

First off, we need to upload code to the arduino which reads the buttons and communicates to the computer for the interface to work.
If you have not already, you will need to download the Arduino IDE to upload the code.

Now open up the Arduino IDE, connect your arduino via USB to you computer and press the deploy button. Make sure that the software successfully uploaded.

2. Prepare the Processing Interface

Now we need to prepare computer interface.

The computer interface is written in processing, and you will need to download the Processing IDE to run the interface.

Step 3: Try It Out!

Make sure that the ardino is connected to your computer and start up the interface from the Processing IDE. Everything should work out of the box now.
If you have any issues, put a comment down below and i'll help you :)

<p>Is the keyboard an actual one or something provided in software? I don't get it.</p>
<p>You can choose to either use your computer keyboard, or make a keyboard from the circuit on step 1 so both are possible.<br>But it's no challenge to simply run the program, so making the keyboard is where the fun is :)</p>

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