Accordion Midi Interface

Thread Starter

benammiswift

Joined Jan 30, 2018
2
Hi Everyone

I am an accordion player who loves electronics and tinkering, I've built mics for my accordion etc.

I want to build an attachment to go on the inside of my accordion to allow midi control of Pro Tools.

I was wondering what kind of switch/sensor I could use, I considered mounting a magnet to each of the 18 action rods then using hall effect sensors but 18 analog inputs on arduino, haha nope. I'm a bit stumped, they need to activate freely (not add any pressure to pressing the buttons) and be digital to plug into an arduino. They also need to not make any mechanical noise because this would get picked up by my internal microphone, this ruled out microswitches which I had initially considered.

So I'm stumped, any suggestions greatly received.

Thanks a lot

Benammi
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
Hall sensors should work well. Digital-output and analogue-output types are available. An alternative would be optical sensors.
I'm not familiar with the guts or playing of accordions. Is the rate at which a button is pressed significant?
Welcome to AAC!
 

Thread Starter

benammiswift

Joined Jan 30, 2018
2
Hi there

No in this instance the speed doesn't really matter nor does the pressure on the bellows.

I'll send a picture ASAP of the internals.

Whereabouts can you get digital output hall effects from and how will in make sure i get the right magnets to activate them correctly (ie not using magnets that are so strong they operate neighboring hall effects aswell?)

Thanks a lot

Benammi
 

TQFP44

Joined Sep 3, 2016
51
My early adventures into MiDi was with a Vox 66 note keyboard / organ it had simple wire switches ( open / make ) and a common buss wire I believe they were rhodium plated.. I used TTL IC's to scan the switches , and a Z80 to decode to midi... got so far but never completed , as I bought a bigger organ ELKA E19 , and later successfully added a MiDi interface via a mcu (2 x PIC16F877 ) to that . You may be able to get or make wire switches they came in frame banks ...
ED Contact assemblies ... see page 11
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/5cbe3d_d5e9613507a9413fbb5a17e7bd6998dd.pdf
 
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