Play music using MIDI and simple circuits (such as touching an apple and a banana at the same time).
Follow these instructions to get started.
You'll need to install the Arduino IDE to program your device. You can download it here.
If you've purchased the kit for the Magical Musical Objects class at the Children's Museum of Bozeman STEAMlab, then the Arduino you're using is called a Pololu A-Star Mini LV and it requires installing separate drivers for Windows. Follow these instructions, provided by Pololu.
After the drivers have been installed, you should be able to select the Arduino Micro or Arduino Leonardo from the Board menu as they use the same chip (ATmega 32U4). You can also add a Pololu A-Star 32U4 entry to the Board menu by following the "Arduino add-on" section here.
Download the MUSE Arduino library. Install the library by following the instructions under Importing a zip library on Arduino's site.
To play music on your computer, there's some setup required so that your Arduino can behave as a MIDI device.
MIDI is a protocol for digital music devices to communicate. Digital keyboards, for example, use MIDI to communicate with your computer. Hairless MIDI allows your Arduino to act as a MIDI device connected to your computer. You'll need to install and set up Hairless MIDI by following the instructions here.
Windows users will need to download and install loopMIDI. Once installed, run loopMIDI and click the + button to create a virtual MIDI port that Hairless MIDI will be able to send MIDI events to.
On a Mac, GarageBand is a great option for playing back your MIDI events. On Windows, Anvil Studio is a free application that we used in the Magical Musical Objects class at the Children's Museum of Bozeman STEAMlab. You'll need to configure your synthesizer to play the notes sent from your Arduino. In Anvil Studio, you can go View - Synthesizers, MIDI + Audio Devices. Then check the "MIDI Thru enabled for selected MIDI Out device" checkbox.
To play music using a synthesizer, you can connect your Arduino using a MIDI cable (included with the kit, purchased from the Children's Museum of Bozeman STEAMlab). There's a single line of code that you'll need to insert at the very top of your file to enable this behavior:
#define MUSE_USE_SERIAL1