Mechanical Macro Masher Makes Music

Macro keyboards appear to be increasing in popularity, as a way to speed up your computer input. As it just so happens, I made my own, the JC Pro Macro. Although using an encoder and key switches is nothing new, what does seem to be unique about this design is that it breaks out the two I2C pins, along with a pair of additional GPIO.

The idea was that this could be used for expansion or control of external devices. As seen in the "Mech' Macro Music Maker" video below, it does a great job of pounding out a beat with the solenoid, while playing notes on a small speaker. Notes are manually operated by mashing the keys, and a constant beat can be switched on or off via the encoder's button. One can also turn the knob in either direction to make it tap in proportion to the knob speed.

An "Arduino" Pro Micro board is used to power the device, mounted under the board with headers. The header setup allows for one to easily change the processing unit if needed. This would have been helpful at around 3:15 in the video (before this feature was added) when something or other went awry during experimentation.

JC Pro Macro boards are available on Tindie right now, however a Kickstarter is on the way for a second version with more keys and lights. If that sounds interesting, you can sign up on the upcoming project page to get notified when funding begins!