I plan on making a compact version of a musical instrument called Mridangam (an Indian musical instrument). The original instrument is pretty huge and there are different variants of it to produce different kinds of sounds. Hence, I want to make a miniature version of it and also want to change the functionality of the instrument from one variant to another by using a switch. I want to be able to control the sound of the instrument based on the force exerted. I plan on using an stm32 microcontroller. Can anyone give me an idea of how i can go about implementing this project? How can I produce the different sounds of this instrument and how to go about doing the signal processing?

 

Hello,

As I did not know what a Mridangam was, I did google a bit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mridangam
It looks like a sort of percursion instrument.
Perhaps a search for percusion synth might help.

Bertus

 

can i use arduino midi program to produce the sounds of this musical instrument? And based on the force, it should produce high or low volume sound

 

Hello,

Midi is only a command structure for eletronic musical instruments.
It can not produce sound on its own.
You will need a midi synthesizer to produce the sound.

A Raspberry Pi would be a better choice for a synthesizer.
Have a look at the following links for some possibilities:
http://sandsoftwaresound.net/rpi-soft-synth-get-started/
http://andrewdotni.ch/blog/2015/02/28/midi-synth-with-raspberry-p/
http://jacquespi.blogspot.nl/2013/07/synthesizer.html
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pi-synthesisers/

Bertus

 

okay, so all i want to do is to touch a piezo sensor and based on the force applied, i want it to play the sound of the mridangam. I want to use different piezo sensors to produce different sounds of the mridangam. Can i use the midi synthesizer for this?

 

I saw an article where they digitized the sound of different instruments, then played it from memory at different frequencies to make music. It was a keyboard that could play any sound you want, from a choir to frogs croaking.

 

I would pursue the design idea suggested by DNA. Even a low end STM32 such as STM32F103RC has enough memory, ADC, and DAC which would allow you to digitize any percussion sound and be able to play it back.

 

//joke warning//

you could always get a hint from this video..

 

I saw an article where they digitized the sound of different instruments, then played it from memory at different frequencies to make music. It was a keyboard that could play any sound you want, from a choir to frogs croaking.

cool..can you send me the link to the article?

 

I would pursue the design idea suggested by DNA. Even a low end STM32 such as STM32F103RC has enough memory, ADC, and DAC which would allow you to digitize any percussion sound and be able to play it back.

So your'e saying that I can interface piezo sensors to stm32 and based on which sensor i touch, it plays the corresponding note of the instrument stored in memory?

 

So your'e saying that I can interface piezo sensors to stm32 and based on which sensor i touch, it plays the corresponding note of the instrument stored in memory?

I made no reference to piezo sensors. You can use any sensor that works for you.
What I said is you can use an STM32 MCU to both record and playback the percussion sound with all the desirable playback options.

 

Not sure I got this. When you beat on your "bongo"......and you want to select the variant.....where does the sound come from?

Does the sound comes from an amp and speakers?......or do you want sound coming from "bongo"?

Will the "bongo" be connected to external microprocessor?

Can you draw a picture?

 

Not sure I got this. When you beat on your "bongo"......and you want to select the variant.....where does the sound come from?

Does the sound comes from an amp and speakers?......or do you want sound coming from "bongo"?

Will the "bongo" be connected to external microprocessor?

Can you draw a picture?

The sound should come from the speaker. I'm not going to use a real 'bongo'. I just want the different sound that the 'bongo' makes to come out of the speaker based on the sensor i touch and with what force i hit it with