Pseudonymous maker “thisisnomine,” hereafter merely “Nomine,” has constructed a piano with a distinction: the enticing picket machine makes sound utilizing stepper motors, somewhat than hammers hitting strings.

“This was impressed by quite a lot of tasks individuals have made that encompass motors programmed to spin at completely different speeds to play music. Nevertheless, only a few permit a consumer to play them like an instrument,” Nomine explains. “As an alternative, they’re all pre-set songs, the place notes have been instructed to play for a sure time frame and the consumer would merely hit a button to begin a music. I needed to create one thing that appeared and felt like an instrument, however secretly had an digital skeleton.”

That instrument is undeniably eye-catching from the surface: its oval physique, with a big gap within the center for the sound to flee, is embellished with 4 half-spheres above a piano keyboard constructed from round copper buttons. Constructed from sapele wooden and anigre veneer, its housing goals to reflect the aesthetics of a stringed instrument — and likewise, its creator admits, “does a superb job of hiding the tangle of wires that lurk beneath the keyboard.”

The skin of the instrument is likely to be wooden, however its innards are all digital: two Adafruit MPR121 12-key capacitive touch-sensor breakout boards are related to the keyboard keys, whereas the half-spheres connect with a quartet of NEMA 17 stepper motors related to A4988 drivers. All the pieces is then managed by an Adafruit Metro Mini 328-5V board — turning a contact of every copper key right into a rotation of the motors.

“When music is made historically, the sound is generated by one thing (both a string, a reed, or a membrane) vibrating at a sure frequency,” Nomine explains. “The frequency is what determines the be aware, the next frequency being a excessive be aware (like a flute), and a low frequency being a low be aware (like a tuba).

“This is identical idea that enables the stepper motors to create music. The velocity at which they spin controls the frequency of the ‘clicks’ generated by the steps, which suggests when the motor is spinning slowly it creates a low be aware, and the sooner it spins the upper the be aware will get.”

Nomine has printed a full write-up to Instructables, together with the challenge’s supply code — although and not using a wiring diagram, “as a result of after I was creating this instrument I did not write [it] down, and it has now been many months.”