Digital Electronics for Musicians

This is the perfect book for musicians who want to dive into the world of computer music and physical computing. This book is aimed at adventurous musicians who want to learn about music programming with Arduino, sensors, and Pure Data, and how to make new interfaces and even new instruments with that knowledge.

You’ll learn the basics of the Pure Data and Arduino languages, how to incorporate sensors into your musical projects, and how to use embedded computers, like the Raspberry Pi, to create stand-alone projects. Along the way, you’ll learn how to create a variety of innovative (Mark, Michelle, I guess they are innovative, but not 100% sure) musical projects, including an interactive bow for stringed instruments, a MIDI clavier synthesizer, an interactive drum set, a patch-bay matrix synthesizer, a guitar looper, and even a DIY theremin.

If you are a musician or tinkerer who wants to explore the world of electronic and electroacoustic music and musical interfaces with Arduino, sensors, and Pure Data, Digital Electronics for Musicians is the book for you.

What You Will Learn

• Learn the basics of the Pure Data and the Arduino languages
• Learn more about the available sensors on the market, and how you can incorporate them into your musical projects
• Focus on physical computing by combining Arduino and Pure Data, bringing the physical world to the world of the computers
• Make use of additional libraries that extend the capabilities of the Arduino
• Make use of external objects in Pure Data that help achieve certain goals,  depending on the project
• Learn how a Pure Data patch functions and be able to modify other people’s work  that fits your needs
• Learn how the Arduino language works, enabling the modification of already  existing code, according to your needs
• Get insight on the serial communication between the Arduino and Pure Data
• Learn how to approach various programming challenges in different ways

Who This is For

Musicians who want to explore the world of electronic and electroacoustic music and musical interfaces with Arduino, sensors, and Pure Data.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to Pure Data
Chapter 2: Introduction to Arduino
Chapter 3: Embedded Computers and Going Wireless
Chapter 4: Getting Started with Musical Applications
Chapter 5: A Simple Synthesizer Using a MIDI Keyboard and Arduino
Chapter 6: An Interactive Bow
Chapter 7: An Interactive Drum Set
Chapter 8: A DIY Theremin
Chapter 9: Making a Looper
Chapter 10: A Patch-Bay Matrix Synthesizer