-miniband
-========
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+# Code Club - Mini Band Project
+
+Make your own mini band!
+You and your friends can form your own finger-sized band and rock out using Raspberry Pi and Arduino.
+Learn how to build circuits with sensors and outputs and write a simple programme to control your instruments.
+
+## You will make:
+
+* A guitar
+* A set of drums
+* A pair of maracas
+
+## You will need:
+
+* 1 x Raspberry Pi (plus monitor and power supply)
+* USB hub
+* 2 x Arduino Uno boards (with USB cables)
+* 1 x strip potentiometer
+* 2 x tilt sensors
+* 4 x piezo buzzers (the type in greetings cards, easy to get from Maplin)
+* 10K resistors
+* Bread boards (1 per instrument)
+* Card
+* Sugru (or some other modelling material)
+* Electrical tape
+* Plastic drinking straw
+* Pencil
+* Coloured pens (optional)
+
+
+## Software requirements:
+
+* Scratch
+* IDE developer environment for Arduino
+* Py Serial library
+
+
+## Useful links:
+
+* [Pictures](http://bit.ly/codeclubminiband)
+* [Ardunio code](https://github.com/KatJoyWhite/miniband/tree/master/arduino)
+
+
+
+## Pull-down Resistors
+
+You’ll find your analogue inputs receive signal when you don’t expect them to.
+This is because there’s electricty floating around in the system, or something like that.
+
+To fix this, you need to wire each input to ground, through a 10KΩ resistor.
+
+A better explanation can be found [here](http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/DigitalPins).
+
+
+
+## Drum Kit
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8074/8257699966_7585ca06e7.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Code Club Miniband"><
+
+### 1. Make your drums
+
+Take your 4 piezo buzzers and attach a ring of Sugru (or other modelling material) as shown in the picture.
+This will increase the flexibility and resonance of the sensors. Let the sugru set.
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8353/8256628815_6c3872d3ac.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+
+### 2. Connect the circuit
+
+Piezo buzzers generate a small charges when you tap them, so they don’t need a power source.
+Connect one lead from your buzzer to one of your analogue inputs, and connect the other lead to ground.
+Repeat for each of your drums. It is easiest to use a bread board for making your circuit.
+Look at the picture for an example.
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8081/8256628955_f65a76b6fb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+### 3. Program the Arduino
+
+Find the appropriate code from the respository and upload to your Ardunio board.
+
+
+### 4. Set up in Scratch
+
+Find four different drum sounds (or whatever sounds you'd like your drums to make!). Upload the sounds to Scratch.
+
+
+## Guitar
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8070/8257698984_8471e4cf57.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+### 1. Make your guitar
+
+Grab your strip potentiomater, a piece of thin card, and a pencil.
+Lightly draw round your potentiometer on the card and then use this as a guide to draw out your guitar shape.
+(The potentiomater will be the fret board of your guitar).
+Cut out and colour in the guitar and stick down the potentiomater.
+Tape a pencil or stick to the back of the guitar to make it stiffen the fret board.
+
+### 2. Connect the circuit
+
+The potentiomater strip adjusts resistance, so you will need to feed it some electricity.
+Run +5V into one of the strip’s outer pins, and ground into the other outer pin.
+It doesn’t matter which way around you connect these, but it will affect which the direction
+the fretboard runs (high and the top, low at the bottom or vice-versa).
+
+Signal will come from the centre pin, so connect that to one of your analogue inputs and you should be good to go.
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8363/8257699194_a2645e0e06.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+### 3. Program the Arduino
+
+Find the appropriate code from the respository and upload to your Ardunio board.
+
+
+### 4. Set up in Scratch
+
+Find five different guitar sounds and upload to Scratch.
+
+
+## Maracas
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8257698652_4a99ee24b4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+### 1. Make your maracas
+
+Cut 2 short lengths of drinking straw for your maraca handles.
+Using Sugru (or other modelling material), make 2 maraca heads by rolling it up into balls.
+Push the maraca heads onto the straws and mold into a maraca shape.
+Connect lengths of wire to the connectors of the 2 tilt sensors and then push each sensor into a straw until it presses into the Sugru.
+Leave the Sugru to set.
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8222/8256627511_118192e52f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+### 2. Connect the circuit
+
+Connect the +5V port on the Arduino board to one of the pins on the tilt switch (it doesn't matter which way round).
+Connect the other pin to an empty digital input on the board.
+
+<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8257698572_4157db0b20.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Code Club Miniband">
+
+### 3. Program the Arduino
+
+Find the appropriate code from the respository and upload to your Ardunio board.
+
+
+### 4. Set up in Scratch
+
+Find a maraca / shaker sound and upload to Scratch.
+
+
+## Python glueware
+
+Download the music-maker-hander.py file from the repository. Run it with
+ python music-maker-handler.py
+This program sets up a listener for each instrument. When it detects that an instrument has been played, it sends a couple of signals to Scratch.
+The first signal appears in Scratch as a sensor value and is the volume (for drums), pitch (for the guitar), or ignored (for the maracas).
+The second signal is a broadcast message that makes Scratch play the sound in the instrument.
+
+
+## Scratch front end
+
+The Scratch file, music-maker, makes the sounds. It responds to the signals from the Python handler above by playing the appropriate sounds. It also does some visual feedback for the insturments.
+
projects / miniband.git / blobdiff