The Arduino OctoSynth

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Summary of The Arduino OctoSynth

The OctoSynth is an Arduino-based polyphonic synthesizer capable of producing eight pulse width modulated tones simultaneously, forming a musical scale. Essentially, it functions as an 8-key electronic organ that plays multiple tones within a single scale. The project includes programming the Arduino with specific code and assembling components like headers, wires, copper tape, and a speaker into an enclosure for performance.

Parts used in the OctoSynth:

Arduino
12 Male headers
8 Uniformly LONG Wires
Copper Tape
Enclosure (e.g., styrofoam base)
Power Jack and Battery
Speaker

What is the OctoSynth you may ask? The octosynth is a polyphonic synthesizer that is able to produce eight Pulse Width Modulated tones that form together a musical scale. In English terms, it is a 8 key electronic organ that can play more than one tone at once but only one scale.

Special thanks to Joe Marshall who wrote the very useful code.

As suggested in the title, it runs on Arduino.

So before we get started, let’s see what is sounds like. Shall, we?

Step 1: Parts of The OctoSynth.

You will need:

An Arduino
12 Male headers (2 together and another six together. Also, another 4 together(Optional))
8 Uniformly LONG Wires ( By long I don’t mean 3 meters but it means a decent 10 inches or maybe, 20 centimeters.)
A Certain Amount of Copper Tape (Get a roll to be safe)
Enclosure (I used styrofoam as a base but if you want an enclosure, which is totally fine, you can use one. The length will depend on the wideness of you choose.)
Power Jack and Battery
Speaker