Crius "NEO" USB MIDI Keyboard

Hi!I am Crius and I LOVE MIDI Controllers!

The last couple of years I started learning about electronics from nothing to be able to build my own MIDI controllers that would serve my needs , taste and be cheaper overall in comparison with the branded products.

Crius "NEO" is aUSB MIDI Keyboard that consists of 12 buttons connected to an Arduino Leonardo with which we can play an octave (ie 12 semitones).

1. Arduino Leonardo x1 (We can alternatively use the Pro Micro if we want the board to take up less space)

1. Momentary Switches x12
2. Jumper Wires x13
3. Breadboard 830 points x1
4. Micro USB cable x1

Basically we want to make a simple circuit with 12 switches.

So we have to connect 1 pin of each switch with the Arduino GND Pin.

The other pin of each switch with 1 Arduino digital input . * (except Arduino pins1 & 2)

The Arduino through Digital Inputs will read when each switch opens and when it closes the circuit to send the information about the note we have assigned to it.

I used Arduino IDE to write and upload the code to the Arduino Mega

I used the MIDIUSB.h library to send the Midi messages to the DAW Software which you can add to the Arduino IDE from the "Manage Libraries" option at the Tools tab.

After installing the MIDIUSB library we have to choose from the menu Tools the model of Arduino that we use and the Port we have connected the Arduino.

Now we can click Upload and upload the code.

At the time I built this project I didn't own a 3D Printer that would give me a lot of ease to the building proccess so I choosed to go with Plywood and wooden clothespins.

I simply :

1. disassemled the clothespins
2. glued the half-clothespin to the base (also added a small separator piece of plywood between each clothespin in order to keep them from moving around)
3. glued the momentary switches on each half-clothespin
4. daisy-chained all the ground pins of the momentary switches together with the black cable
5. soldered a jumper wire on the other pin of each momentary switch
6. and put back the other half of the clothespins
7. Finally I glued some pices of plywood on top as a cover.

Arduino IDE : https://www.arduino.cc/en/software

I hope you enjoyed the proccess and made one for your self!

You can find everything you need for this project INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONS IN ENGLISH to my website : www.criusdigitalstudio.com

You can find my projects and support me at the following social media and websites:

1. Crius Digital Studio Youtube Channel
2. Crius Digital Studio Thingiverse Profile
3. Crius Digital Studio Github Profile