My dream is to build a low-cost 60s combo organ with the era-appropriate look and sound. The organ would look like a Vox Continental with a Z-shaped chrome stand and bright red Tolex covering. It would sound like either a Farfisa or a Vox — nothing too nuanced with all of the drawbars or tabs turned on. I’d like to use a cheap and lightweight MIDI controller as the keyboard. The controller would drive a low-cost sound generator.
I am actively prototyping Arduino-based designs. This section of the site contains the Arduino sketches and code. Have fun!
The MidiVOX diagnostic program is an Arduino sketch to check out parts of a Narbotic Instruments MidiVOX shield. Rename the “loop” functions and rebuild in order to test a particular section of the shield.
I used the MidiVOX to build an Arduino-based ROM-pler for sample playback (the MidiVOX combo organ). Here are links to the source code files for the sketch.
Farf.h | Farfisa waveform arrays |
Vox.h | Vox waveform arrays |
Tables.h | Generator-related tables |
ComboOrgan.ino | Interrupt handling, setup and loop code |
Update 22 July 2016: If you’re into retro, be sure to check out the Arduino lo-fi beat box project. Filled with lo-fi TR-808 goodness!