Otomatone as a MIDI controller
3,625 views · Published 21 January 2018 · 2:07 · Indexed 3 October 2026
Channel: Jason Hotchkiss · 2018 · Science & Technology
Just a bit of an experiment to see if I could make one of these crazy things into a MIDI controller! Using an Arduino to read analog inputs and generate MIDI. Sounds from Reason. Using the ribbon pot was pretty easy - I have it mapped to pitch bend with a MIDI note ON at middle C sent when pot is pressed and note OFF when released. Controlling mod wheel by squeezing the mouth took more thought and a bit of luck! Inside the otamatone's mouth is a shiny metal rod that gets progressively obscured by a bit of black plastic as the sides are squeezed - just a simple IR reflective surface sensor pointing at the metal gets enough voltage swing to use for mod wheel control! At the moment its tethered to breadboard/arduino Uno by short wires hence the claustrophobic video clip - wanna put a small PIC board inside it so that its self contained with just a MIDI out. I'll try to document all the steps in a blog post soon!
