Electronic Music Box

Interactive Object

8-bit music device

2015

The “Electronic Music Box” is a wooden hand cranked 8-bit music box, composed of an Arduino, a rotary encoder, 2048 pin headers, 64 LEDs, 8 shift registers, a single 8-ohm speaker, and some electronic parts such as resistors, diodes and switches.

A melody can be physically programmed with simple computing jumpers using a 16×128 pin grid. Every row is dedicated to a freely programmable tone while the columns are holding places for a maximum of 64 notes and pauses. Rotating the hand crank – which is attached to a rotary encoder – activates one column at the time indicated by single LEDs. When a column is activated, the Arduino micro controller checks if a jumper is set and plays the corresponding tone.