Mr. Book sent in his strategy for controlling Arduino from a MIDI controller through Processing –
My implementation uses a single DAC IC chip, the MCP4921, which sells for about 2 bucks from Mouser. The current version uses the Arduino, only to read one byte, as a midi note, from the serial connection and sends that to the SX-150. I could have created the full midi circuit to make it a standalone solution, but that increases the cost and complexity of the physical connections. I’ll probably do that on a later revision.
So, in order to receive midi data, I wrote a small Processing sketch that receives midi, and sends the note information through the serial port to the Arduino.
Very excellent – all code available on his site – Controlling a Gakken SX-150 synth with Arduino
6 thoughts on “HOW TO – Control a Gakken SX-150 using Arduino”
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What he’s really done is made a MIDI->CV converter and plugged it into the gakken.. that circuit would work on most analog synths!
Tell me why did you use a DAC. Isn’t any of the analog outputs of the Arduino enough, to produce a CV signal? As far as I know, you can remap a note from a digital input to a voltage on an analog output, after converting it through a remapping table that converts a serial input to a value then convert this value to a voltage and send it out. Without having to buy another component!! And, as far as I know, neighter the 6N138 is needed (see the arduino site, for reference)… Am I missing something?
Luca, there aren’t any Analog outputs on standard Arduinos – only inputs.