Auduino Granular Synth

The Auduino Project

Using an Arduino Uno Board (Open-source electronic prototyping platform) we can make a basic synth using Granular Synth techniques.

For this Project you will need the following materials:

1. Computer (Mac or PC)
2. (1) Arduino Uno Board
3. (1) USB Cable
4. (1) BreadBoard
5. (1) Mono or Stereo Output jack
6. (5) 5Kohm linear potentiometers
7. (5) knobs (not necessary only for cosmetics)
8. (1) Some kind of container (carboard box, cookie jar)
9. Jumper Wires  65 pcs of 22 AWG jumper wire ,100mm
10. Some time and patience

This image is off of the Tinkerit website that helped me with my first Auduino project.

I started with a cookie jar. I cut 5 holes in the top for the 5k Pots.

I then cut two holes on the side for the USB cable and the Mono Input Jack.

The next step was building a cardboard rest in the cookie jar so everything could sit correctly at the right level and installing the Mono Input Jack.

It is now time..... I hooked up my Arduino to a bread board using jumper wires, add the 5k pots and connected the output mono jack.

After this setup it is important you follow these steps:

1. Download the source code from the the Tinker.it Google Code site. 
2. Load it into the Arduino environment, set up your board type and serial port, then hit the Upload button. 
3. If you've never used Arduino before, you'll need to download the development software from the Arduino site.

The "Code" you load into the Arduino is basically a list of functions and interruptions telling the Arduino platform what to do / perform. 


It is important to test your Arduino before any kind of further installation. One cable misplaced or a 5K pot not properly connected will produce no sound. 

After testing and confirming the Arduino was performing the synth code, I then carefully attached the cookie tin top and the 5k pots together.

Here's a bottom view...

Then I placed the Arduino inside, connected the output mono jack, and hooked up the USB cable.

I finished it off with adding my knobs to the 5k pots...