Isaac Wellish
Published © CC0

Perfect Pitch Machine

Teach yourself perfect pitch with the PPM! Use Python, sound, and buttons to make a pitch pipe on a Circuit Playground Express!

BeginnerFull instructions provided1 hour2,722

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Circuit Playground Express
Adafruit Circuit Playground Express
×1

Hand tools and fabrication machines

3D Printer (generic)
3D Printer (generic)

Story

Read more

Custom parts and enclosures

Case Top

Top of pitch pipe case (with notes and symbols)

Case Bottom

Bottom of pitch pipe case

4 Screws

Screws to hold the Circuit Playground in place in the case

Schematics

Pitch Pipe Diagram

How to use the pitch pipe

Code

cody.py

Python
The main program file. Download the file and drag to CIRCUITPY drive. Or copy past code into your editor of choice. By default, the lowest note, Ab, will be selected and its light will be on. From here use the up and down buttons on the board to move up and down pitches. This project explores various hardware programming concepts like debouncing a button and creating a counter for which to decide which note is selected.
# The Perfect Pitch Machine (Tutorial: https://www.hackster.io/isaac-wellish/perfect-pitch-machine-c0d8da)
# By Isaac Wellish
# Creative Commons Licence (Anyone can use and hack the code, just give attributions please!)
#
#
# Big thanks to Adafruit! 
# Much of this code was adapted from Adafruit's Circuit Playground Sound Meter tutorial found here: 
# https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-circuit-playground-express/playground-sound-meter
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
# THE SOFTWARE.


#LET'S BEGIN


#import neccesarry libraries
import audiobusio
import board
import array
import math
import time
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull
import audioio
import neopixel

# Threshhold for loudness of sound needed to trigger current pitch
blowThresshold = 5000

# debounce time, how long the debounce time should be to prevent multiple button triggers in one press
debounceTime = 0.2

# pitch length, how many seconds we want the note to sound when triggered
pitchLength = 1

# neopixel brightness
pixelBrightness = 0.05

# the number of samples taken per second in Hertz
SAMPLERATE = 8000

# how many samples we're collecting
NUM_SAMPLES = 160 

# set up note values in Hz. Find frequency values at https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
Ab3 = 208
A3 = 223
As3 = 233
Bb3 = 233
B3 = 247
C4 = 262
Cs4 = 277
Db4 = 277
D4 = 294
Ds4 = 311
Eb4 = 311
E4 = 330
F4 = 349
Fs4 = 370
Gb4 = 370
G4 = 392
Gs4 = 415




#set up the neopixels

pixels = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.NEOPIXEL, 10, brightness= pixelBrightness) #determine beightness (Value can be between 0 and 1)



#
#
#
# Program the two buttons on the board to be able to move up and down pitches
#
#
#

buttonD = DigitalInOut(board.BUTTON_A) #button a is the down button
buttonD.direction = Direction.INPUT
buttonD.pull = Pull.DOWN

buttonU = DigitalInOut(board.BUTTON_B) # button b is the up button
buttonU.direction = Direction.INPUT
buttonU.pull = Pull.DOWN




#
#
#
# enable the speaker
#
#
#

spkrenable = DigitalInOut(board.SPEAKER_ENABLE)
spkrenable.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
spkrenable.value = True






#
#
#
#Taking and analyzing input from the microphone (The hard part...)
#This block of code will essentially allow us to find the magnitude or loudness of the mic input (Your breath!)
#
#
#



# Prep a buffer to record into
mic = audiobusio.PDMIn(board.MICROPHONE_CLOCK, board.MICROPHONE_DATA, frequency=16000, bit_depth=16)
samples = array.array('H', [0] * NUM_SAMPLES)



# Remove DC bias before computing RMS.
def normalized_rms(values):
    minbuf = int(mean(values))
    return math.sqrt(sum(float((sample - minbuf) * (sample - minbuf)) for sample in values) / len(values))

def mean(values):
    return (sum(values) / len(values))









#Create a counter for tracking button presses
#Declared outside scope of while loop so it doesn't get reset to 0 at the beginnning of every loop!

counter = 0



#While loop that loops on forever
#
#This is where the real program functionality runs!

while True:

    #We begin regcording samples from the board's mic
    mic.record(samples, len(samples))
    magnitude = normalized_rms(samples)  
    print("mag = ", magnitude) #print the magnitude of the input blowing so we can track values in the serial console
    
    
    #If statements to know when up or down buttons are pushed
    #We will use a counter to track which pitch is selected
    
    if buttonU.value == True:  # If Up button is pushed then move up a pitch
        pixels.fill((0, 0, 0)) #turn all neopixels off
        counter += 1 #increase the counter by 1
        time.sleep(debounceTime) #to ensure button isn't triggered multiple times in one press we must "debounce" the button by creating a short delay after pressing it
    elif buttonD.value == True: #Do the same for the down button
        pixels.fill((0, 0, 0)) # If Down button is pushed then move down a pitch
        counter -= 1 #decrease counter by one
        time.sleep(debounceTime) #debounce button
        
        
    #If statements for determine which pitch the board is on
    #We will use the current counter value to set which frequency, neopixel, and color should be selected

    if counter == 0:  # Ab
        pixels[9] = (0, 0, 255)
        FREQUENCY = Ab3
    elif counter == 1:  # A
        pixels[9] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = A3
    elif counter == 2:  # A#
        pixels[9] = (255, 0, 0)
        FREQUENCY = As3
    elif counter == 3:  # Bb
        pixels[0] = (0, 0, 255)
        FREQUENCY = Bb3
    elif counter == 4:  # B
        pixels[0] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = B3
    elif counter == 5:  # C
        pixels[1] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = C4
    elif counter == 6:  # C#
        pixels[1] = (255, 0, 0)
        FREQUENCY = Cs4
    elif counter == 7:  # Db
        pixels[2] = (0, 0, 255)
        FREQUENCY = Db4
    elif counter == 8:  # D
        pixels[2] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = D4
    elif counter == 9:  # D#
        pixels[2] = (255, 0, 0)
        FREQUENCY = Ds4
    elif counter == 10:  # Eb
        pixels[3] = (0, 0, 255)
        FREQUENCY = Eb4
    elif counter == 11:  # E
        pixels[3] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = E4
    elif counter == 12:  # F
        pixels[4] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = F4
    elif counter == 13:  # F#
        pixels[4] = (255, 0, 0)
        FREQUENCY = Fs4
    elif counter == 14:  # Gb
        pixels[5] = (0, 0, 255)
        FREQUENCY = Gb4
    elif counter == 15:  # G
        pixels[5] = (0, 255, 0)
        FREQUENCY = G4
    elif counter == 16:  # G#
        pixels[5] = (255, 0, 0)
        FREQUENCY = Gs4
    elif counter > 16:  # if counter goes above 16 set back to 0
        counter = 0
    elif counter < 0:  # if counter goes below 0 set back to 16
        counter = 16;



    #If statement to trigger pitch when user blows into mic
    #We will say that on a any loud sound the pitch is triggered
    
    if magnitude > blowThresshold: #any time we get a sound with a magnitude greater than the value of blowThresshold, trigger the current pitch (can be changed at top where it is defined)
        length = SAMPLERATE // FREQUENCY #create length of sample
        sine_wave = array.array("H", [0] * length) #create an array for a sine wave
        for i in range(length):
            sine_wave[i] = int(math.sin(math.pi * 2 * i / 18) * (2 ** 15) + 2 ** 15) #fill the array with values
        sample = audioio.AudioOut(board.SPEAKER, sine_wave)
        sample.frequency = SAMPLERATE
        sample.play(loop=True)  # Play the sample
        time.sleep(pitchLength)  # Play for length of pitchLength
        sample.stop()  # we tell the board to stop

    pixels.show() #show the desired neopixel light up on board 


#End program!!!

Credits

Isaac Wellish

Isaac Wellish

2 projects • 2 followers
I like making visceral art with technology.
Thanks to Ruiz Brothers.

Comments