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MusicPlug
Turns your crusty computer keyboard into kids music machine | |
With computers being so cheap these days, we've all probably upgraded our systems a few times in the last 10 years. In the process, you may have kept and extra keyboard around as a spare in case you spilled your coffee in the wee hours of the night.
Kids like computers, even the little ones. My
daughter who can barely walk likes to bash the keys on a regular basis.
This idea is to create a little (independant) music box that plugs into your spare keyboard and allows the bashing to translate into musical sounds - or maybe even some (please no) ELMO.
The little box would consist of a cheapo Microcontroller with a little speaker (maybe $5 total in parts). The box could be battery powered or plug into the wall.
The idea here is that the kids can hash your old keyboard without hashing your computer.
You could get even put the device into and EDU mode where it speaks out the letters/numbers they're pressing.
Sorry old keyboard, you thought you could just lay there and sleep...
MIDIbox
http://www.midibox.org
dig around the forums, there's code for a PS/2 input somewhere [BunsenHoneydew, Feb 09 2007]
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Annotation:
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Involves recycling, children's educational toys, intuititve design, and music. [+] |
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You'd have a wierd talking child. |
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"Daddy, Help Insert Control, Alt I End U. SCROLL LOCK!!!" |
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"Musical keyboards" as in a little synthesizer/electronic keyboard, or actual QWERTY computer keyboards you can play music (well, cacophony) on? |
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But this is different. It would turn a QWERTY keyboard into a musical instrument. Well, noisemaker. Kids like to hammer on computer keyboards, they like the noisy feedback, and they like things that go *beep*. And with that many keys, you could turn it into a serious musical instrument. An advantage over the millions of PC applications that do that same thing would be the portability of a Music Plug (plus a PS/2 keyboard). |
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Yes, this would be a QUERTY board, I am sure. Who is scared of spilling coffee on a MIDI keyboard? Nobody. |
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