play-v6: real music from Arduino Uno
An exercise in optimization
What is play-v6?
This project started as an 8-bit guitar simulator and evolved into a sophisticated 6-voice music player running on the limited resources of an Arduino Uno.
I wanted to see how far I could get with only a few resistors and capacitors. Looks like I got quite far... and I still have free resources and an endless wish list!
play-v6 is Open source (CC BY-SA). Follow the links on the right side for detailed instructions on how to build the simple filter and start playing music.
The program is ready for the Arduino IDE and for Atmel Studio 6. It is written in plain C: not a single line of assembly language!
(Note: clicking on the above image links to YouTube; their site can set cookies)
Main features
play-v6 is highly optimized C code: in a tight 512-cycle CPU loop it manages to do:
- Six independent 8-bit voices with individual note volume and playing-time voice mixer.
- 31.25 kHz sampling frequency, oversampled at 62.5 kHz for better quality and filtering.
- Up to 16 selectable instruments, each one with its own waveform and ADSR envelope.
- Adjustable tempo, from 2 to 256 quarter notes per minute, 1/64 resolution.
- Works either standalone or via USB-serial remote control.
- Can play both built-in music (Flash memory) and uploaded music (RAM memory).
Tools
Use the computer-side tools (Windows / Linux / OS X) to add music and instruments to play-v6:
- Music compiler with many options and automatic musical accents.
- Instrument generator, including envelope design and note sampler.
- Music packer to replace the built-in music in the on-board Flash memory.
Download
play-v6, rev.1.0 including tools, filter plans and copyright-free sample music (1 MB).
Makefile for people using avr-gcc from the command line.
License
play-v6 by Enrico Colombini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Updated 03/01/19 by Enrico Colombini (erix@erix.it)