MesoTune Is a Musical Magnetic Disc MIDI Controller

This MIDI sequencer rotates magnets to create a beat.

Jeremy Cook
4 years agoMusic

Are you tired of creating beats on a traditional synthesizer or button-based sequencer? If so, then FabroLabs Technologies has just the instrument for you: a 3D-printable sequencer that works with a series of rotating discs instead of traditional buttons.

The main input for this build is a series of eight discs, with magnets arranged around their circumference. Spherical magnets are stuck to the permanently attached magnets to indicate the note sequence to be played, and rotated using a stepper motor. These magnets will incrementally hit Hall effect sensors to trigger the corresponding MIDI effect, and the beat can be physically modified by adding or subtracting spheres. Additional inputs include a 16-key touchpad and eight potentiometers, as well as a four-digit seven-segment display shows the music’s speed in beats per minute.

The unit is controlled by a derivative of the Arduino Mega, called the Mega Pro Mini. This handles the large number of device inputs, controls the motor speed via a driver board, and lights up the BPM display as needed. A secondary ATmega32U4 Pro Micro board connects to a computer as a MIDI interface, allowing you to jam out on a wide range of audio hardware.

It's constructed with 3D-printed and off-the-shelf parts, and the write-up does a good job of documenting the build procedure if you’d like to make your own!

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
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