I’ve been messing around with my fantastic Arduino board. The whole Arduino thing is without question an Italian masterpiece of our generation. I could spend 24 hours a day just messing with it. The software side is as elegant as the hardware side – the idea you can add C++ and Java libs is stunningly brilliant.
Anyways – I wanted to do something with it – and I decided I wanted to build a simple SFX box for my little rock band. We use sequencers and MIDI – but I wanted to do AC/DC’s For those about to rock. The song has some nice cannon fire effects and this really has to be in the mix for a live performance. So I thought that if the Arduino can be used. I’ll be doing a more complex project later using Arduino to drive MIDI for live performance.
So I bought a kit for a the Wave Shield from AdaFruit – very very good business that – and sampled some effects. I then put together a new app based on the supplied player code on the AdaFruit site – hooked up a couple of footswitches on the Arduino and thats it – super fast special effects in WAV format – for the AC/DC song – some nice real cannon fires. Hook it all up to the PA and boom.. nice.
This is the Arduino with a Wave Shield all hooked up in test
Footswitch found in dump… RS good quality – works well on stage
Buy the Arduino at RS Components and get the Wave Shield and info at www.adafruit.com/waveshield. Get the footswitch at your local tip/dump/junkyard/scrapyard
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