CONCEPT#

I love weird music.

That is the general quest which has sent me into the void of academia, in search of odd sounds and funky beep boops. In my research, I aim to make silly musical instruments and devices that give me the ability to find and harness weird these sounds.

One particular concept I’m interested in is play, especially as it results to musical gamification. As in, what happens to both the listening and performing experience when the music making process looks and feels like playing a game?

In this case, I want to combine my old nostalgic experiences playing arcade machines with my love of odd music theory concepts - in this case microtonality and alternate tuning systems. Basically, the tldr of microtonality is that our music is all wrong and out of tune - at least according to the laws of nature. We decided a long time ago to make our instruments just a little out of tune to give us the ability to play in all keys and have them all sound equally wrong.

Over the years, a lot of people have written music in the “correct” system of just intonation, although ironically it now sounds super weird to our modern ears. One example piece I like for reference is this by La Monte Young.

The problem I’m addressing is that its really hard to get musicians to play with the proper system of intonation! It’s hard to hear and your local string quartet will not be happy if I write a septimally tuned 7th chord for them to play. So I wanted to make an interface to harness these sounds.

tldr: I’m making a microtonal arcade machine

SYSTEMS & DIAGRAM#

Basically, there’s a few parts to this.

One, the physical construction of the arcade machine (which I did in Make Something Big Week) and decorating it to make it look fancy and arcade like.

Two, the input joystick and button system, which I will use a Pi Pico for since I will need 12 digital pins (8 buttons + 4 way switch joystick).

Three, the sound output system, which I’m planning on using a Teensy for since I have familiarity with its audio library and it makes sound synthesis/playback very easy.

And four, the visual LED system, which will handled by a Pi Pico driving a big chained LED matrix.

These systems will talk using UART because its fast and easy and only requires two connections. And in my case, really only one because in these cases the chatter is one way.

SCHEDULE#

Luckily, I’m pretty far ahead in terms of the individual systems working - they all do, but I need to now combine them. Also, systems integration is very important for me because I want this to be something that lasts for potentially years. I have a vision of it being a fixture in my lab space for a while and taking it to conferences and things, so I need it to endure the test of time.

Task	Skills Involved	Status
Build physical shell	CAD, CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing	Near complete
Design logo and graphics	Design, Illustrator	In Progress
Make PCBs	PCB design, soldering	Not started
Install electronics	General fabrication	Not Started
Paint machine	Art, machine tools, spray painting	Not Started
Integrate all systems	Systems integration	Not Started
Test!		Not Started
Compose piece to play for presentation	Music composition lol	Near complete

Week	Tasks
Nov 11	Begin physical construction for “make something big” project. Order remaining sensors, LEDs, etc.
	Work on each system individually.
Nov 18	Complete shell construction. Start designing graphics, order by week’s end.
	Spray paint machine black for graphics, vinyl cut stickers for buttons.
	Design first PCBs for components; begin assembling systems outside the machine.
Nov 25	Thanksgiving Week – no physical fabrication. Work on musical composition and plan presentation ideas.
Dec 2	Install electronics and graphics on the machine.
Dec 9	System integration: focus on robustness, power supply, durability, strain relief, and PCB redesign if needed.
Dec 16-17	Final presentation: playtest, gather feedback, and prepare showcase pitch and presentation.

PROGRESS LOG#

dec 10#

graphics install marquee

arg ip change!!

dec 9 install day!!

testing lights

testing audio

dec 8#

3d print prackets

dec 7#

ok remake audio board

make screen harness

dec 6#

all boards working!!

fuck audio board ahh hwhy

dec 4#

vias

matrix board

dec 2-3#

PCB button board trial and error

speaker install

Nov 22#

Graphgics designing

Nov 18#

painting! + moving

NOv 13#

wow pico has like no mem: 3d list creation makes it OOM

ram so small…. what to do

lights master - receiving from joystick, sending to teensy

got uart working - mostly

sound system online

Nov 12#

erik helping with system integration thoughts..how many microcontrollers..

ahh did i kill it??

yayyay matrix working!

now figure out how to port

Nov 9#

trying to get test led board - what kind of headers?

hole on pcb?

testing hardware - input pullup vs pull down…

Nov 8#

wheee something big cutting!!

Nov 5#

buying speakrers urgh paramters

figuring out where to put pcb

Nov 3#

updated my design, prepared for CAMing…

question of how to cut joystick holes and speaker holes?

should i paint before or after assembly? also spraypaint or not to spraypaint? https://www.pneumaticaddict.com/2014/09/trick-for-spray-painting-mdf.html

multiple jobs, multiple contours or what?

Oct 25#

LED matrix working! with some bugs…

however sound is very crunch - possibly due to CPU being overloaded?

Oct 21#

realized LCD screen monitor == BORING AF - need LEDs

made simulation of software → port

3d print enclosure?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4605737

Oct 16#

Finally rasp pi is set up

I realized though I like look of shiny LEDs that are a bit grainy - so thinking about both AUDIO+VISUAL library is important

https://github.com/ty-porter/RGBMatrixEmulator

copy emulator of LEDs?

• pygame
  • python3 -m pip install -U pygame --user

looking into cool shaders …https://api.arcade.academy/en/development/tutorials/shader_toy_glow/index.html

---

sound#

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeHNVVcuSVs

dx7

Sept. 21#

Made some adjustments to CAD in prep for making model - having a bit of trouble with parameters but working on it.

Currently, my model is a bit high (~3 inches) and a bit narrow.

After fixing those thing (although params of model are pretty unstable / in flux), I made a 20% scale model and exported to try cutting.

At this point, it’s time to start ordering electronics. Immediate needs are something to control all the logic / power the screen and joystick/buttons. In the old prototype, I did use a LED array, but in this case I think I will use a Raspberry Pi with an actual monitor this time to make the screen more proper in its size. This will also give me more control of what’s going on with having to worry about voltages, etc, as well as hopefully give me a better sound synthesis engine.

Sept. 18#

First up - scale models - both 3d printed and cardboard:

Today - I watched and read a lot of engineering content on how to actually achieve the build. I spent some time ensuring that my design was properly parameterized and thought a bit about some of the subtler details of the build - how will this be powered? How will it turn on and off? What will the monitor be? Should I laser cut or saw and etc. Next steps are to ask for some feedback on my CAD and for some electronics advice before I make a scale model.

I have a few CAD issues, but basically I think I’m at a point where I can do a small cardboard scale model to see proportions, then immediate tasks are figure out how to assemble, and electronics (screen, how to mount, etc).

By end of construction-phase I should get it to this level - no top or back plates, but structurally intact and ready for electronics.

Learned that glue + brad nails are good option for fastening as its less visible.

The rest of the day was mostly making tweaks to my design and thinking about the questions I need to have answered before I can begin building. The most important ones are: how to fasten the inner panels, and what kind of electronics am I to use as this affects the width of the machine.

Important Considerations that I need to figure out#

material - seemingly mdf

speakers ?

transport - tiltable wheels?

how to arrange wiring scheme

marquee/lights?

doing graphics?

how to show instructions? tutorial mode?

what to make screen out of ? led? Arduino / RSP monitor? other?

volume control?

coin door?

order to paint / do decals / primer / spray paint etc

plexiglass vs acrycl for marquee

hinge back so it can open?

make it so it can fit through doorway …

t molding on edges

Sept. 14 Ideation + Inspo#

Time to find some inspiration! Looked at many many designs of arcade machines and came up with a few parameters that I thought would be important:

-simple body design is fine, but cool graphics/lights are must

-(retro) futuristic aesthetic will convey what I want musically as well

-don’t want it to be too “boxy” , large, or overall refrigerator like

I did some materials exploration, and overwhelming it seems as if MDF (medium-density fiberboard) is best bet - its not too expensive, strong, and paints well. Cons are that it tends to fall apart when wet, and is slightly less durable than plywood (more expensive).

Acrylic is very common for marquee (top bit) and a few other things, although plexiglass comes up sometimes too. Will need to do a bit more research on which to use.

I found this historical account/description of the various types of arcade machine shapes over time and brands, which was very helpful in seeing what I liked:

https://retromash.com/2016/02/09/building-a-home-arcade-machine-part-3-cabinet-design/

Atari cabinets (above) seem very boxy to me personally, but I do like “Quantum” in particular. Generally, I don’t want it to be too long, or have any huge overhangs because I think they are not nice looking :)

To end, I made a brief CAD, fighting with Fusion a bit, to demonstrate want I want my model to look like in preparation for making a cardboard scaled down model.

There’s also my old prototype I made which should be mentioned too of course.