Arduino Monome Process Diary

Hi folks!

For my Arduino Project, I originally wanted to replicate something that combined the Makey Makey's capabilities with the power of the Arduino. After combing through multiple pages on Instructubles, I found a project that I thought was simple, innovative, and accessible enough to be exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, the project simply used the Arduino software and didn't fully use the power of the microcomputer. However, I did find an Arduino companion project that involved less steps and less materials, making it even more accessible than the Makey Makey project! 

What is the project? It's a Cardboard Monome, which is an interface device that has been most popularly used as an electronic musical instrument. Musicians such as Imogen Heap have used the Monome to push the boundaries of their craft and create new artistic visions of what is considered "music." Yet, the creators of the Monome stress that the device is not primarily an instrument. In fact, the developers of the Monome have stated, "The wonderful thing about this device is that it doesn't do anything really...it wasn't intended for any specific application." [1] The possibilities for utilizing the Monome are endless, with the only barriers being the extent of your imagination. However, I personally can't justify dropping $700 on something that "doesn't do anything." Plus, I just want to experiment what I can do with Monome, so why I should I pay that much to tinker? Lucky for me, the Arduino Monome can be constructed with a few cheap materials and some lines of open access code. Let the making and tinkering begin!

[1] https://www.engadget.com/2006/04/14/music-thing-monome-controller/

Step One: Build the Grid!

Basic Materials for an Arduino Monome: Cardboard, Copper Tape, and the Arduino

Step Two: Download & Edit the Code!

Downloading the Code from Github. Big thanks to jdeboi, the writer of this code and the creator of this project!

Editing the Processing Code so it knows I'm doing a 4x4 Monome.

Step Three: Iterate to Step One!

Step Four: Plug In the Arduino & Upload the Code!

Connected copper tape to jumper wires that are attached to the Arduino.

The jumper wires are in slots 2-9, each slot representing a row or column of the Monome.

Had to attach more copper tape on the edges so that wires could reach all rows and columns. Didn't make for the strongest connection.

Alright, the code is ready! Let's download!

Step Five: Play Some Tunes! 

Voila! 

One of my biggest stumbling blocks in this project was this error I kept running into while trying to play my Processing code. It said that "ddf.minim was not in the library." It turns out, I was missing a Java library that could manage sounds in Processing. The writer of the code failed to mention that in her instructions, so I was stumped for quite some time. Finally, I figured out thanks to the Google and Stack Overflow, so it ended up working in the end. Yet, for this reason, I would not say that the Arduino is as democratizing as it's cracked up to be. You still need a certain amount of programming experience in order to figure out errors when they arise. While creating something like a Cardboard Monome can make it exceptionally easier to create music out of cheap materials, to be truly democratizing, a device must also have lower barrier of entry than the skill of programming that Arduino (and the software it works with) requires.

Resources:

https://www.google.com/#q=installing+minim+processing+3

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29869973/using-processing-sound-library