I had the idea that I could play bass notes with my feet, so the first thing I did was to check that my brain would be able to cope with this – I didn’t want to spend ages making an instrument if I wasn’t going to be able to play it. So to check this out I got a toy floor piano (£5 on Facebook marketplace!) and tested whether I could play it. Here is the test. I’m playing Robin’s Waltz! I sounds reasonable actually, but the sound is very quiet and not in tune (semi-tone out so I had to tune my fiddle out by a long way). So having tested the idea, I got to work on my real one.
After some extensive googling, I decided that I might be able to make what I wanted using a Teensy board.
So I bought my Teensy board and a few buttons and started trying.
The Teensy board connects to the computer via a USB cable. To program it, you have to install something called Arduino on your computer. There are lots of examples of code available on the PJRC website. My first program was called Blink, which just makes the LED on the teensy blink. Initially it didn’t work, but I realised that my USB cable was only powering the Teensy, but was not passing any data. So I bought a new cable from the PI-Hut – the first of many purchases that I had to make to get the project done.
To be continued…..
- Remote workers enjoyed a wonderful team event barn dance at Secret Valley with Barnbuskers Ceilidh Band DuoWith lots of laughter and spirited dancing
- Barnbuskers Ceilidh Barn Dance Band visits the beautiful Wray Valley Trail between Moretonhampstead and Bovey Tracey in DevonA lovely bicycle ride through some of the best countryside the Dartmoor area has to offer!

