El Briano

El Briano is an Arduino Companion I made where I developed the following professional skills:

• Arduino

• Electronic Circuits & Systems

• Woodworking

For further information, read the code documentation or download it yourself, watch the demonstrator video below or visit my recent reflection on this project.

The Code Documentation:

Creative Electronics "Life of Brian"

This code is written for "el Briano," a synth-inspired instrument that plays

different beats according to the state of it's surroundings. When el Briano has space

and light, it displays a lot more range accordingly...

When you press one of 3 buttons on a resistor ladder, a pattern of notes will play.

The initial frequency of the note corresponds to the value of a potentiometer knob,

which the user controls. However, depending on the light level of the user's environment,

the difference in frequency from the notes of each button will become larger to emphasize

el Briano's "vocal freedom."

By pressing the "red button" a record function is toggled that listens for distinct

loud sounds: beats. When 8 beats are detected, the average time between each beat is stored

within the arduino's EEPROM as an interval. The notes that play when the button is pressed will

play in a spaced out pattern according to the stored interval. Users can monitor the beats they record

by observing a blinking LED that indicates a beat registration. If a user wants to reset the recorder,

they simply have to wait 20 seconds from the initial beat to reset their beat counter.

El Briano runs a stepper motor that controls the movement of a piano mechanism. When it receives a

wireless transmission of "boredom" from it's partner Brian, it's piano playing slows down and the

beat recorder is turned on, encouraging users to record a new beat to excite el Briano into playing

fast again.