Multiple synthesizer projects have been done for the Arduino, but few have been able to utilize the full power of the Arduino processor. DZL from GeekPhysical wrote a 4 voice wavetable synthesizer that is one of the more advanced software based synths for the Arduino. It has wavetables included (sine, saw, square and triangle) and envelopes to create beats.
This instructable will show you how to make a simple sequencer that plays a little melody. You can hear how it sounds here:
It is up to you to modify the code to do many other things. Possible examples could be a midi controlled synth (sample code included), it could be a strange noise machine like this one:
Or you could detect touch and convert it into sound patterns:
Step 1: Parts
You should use the following parts:
- Arduino board
- BreadBoard
- Wires
- 2.2k Resistor
- 100n Capacitor
- 100u Capacitor
- Jack where left and right channel has one wire and one wire to ground
- A pair of computer speakers
Don’t worry if you don’t have the exact values. It will probably work, but might be with lower sound quality. The Arduino is not powerful enough to drive a pair of headphones so you will need some kind of preamp for that – e.g. a headphone preamp like this one.
Step 2: Add the components to your breadboard
Start out with adding the components to the breadboard as the picture depicts. If you want diagram based instructions look at the third slide in this step.
Step 3: Connect to the Arduino board
Connect one wire from pin 6 to the breadboard and one wire from ground to the breadboard.
Step 4: Connect to the speakers
Connect the jack connector to the breadboard as shown and plugin the jack from the speakers.
For more detail: Turn your Arduino into a 4 voice wavetable synth
