You can learn a lot about tinkering with microelectronics, but now thanks to Adrian Cruceru’s latest raspberry pi In this project, you can learn how to play the piano using microelectronics. A Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller powers his RP2040 Piano Helper project and can be programmed to help students learn any song they like. Simply press the corresponding key according to the LEDs to play new songs on the fly.
Pico controls a series of LEDs that line up with the keys on your keyboard (or piano). LEDs light up on certain keys so the player knows which key to press next in the song. When not in use, it can also have a nice gradient effect. Pico charts a song by interpreting a MIDI file to determine the notes and the duration of the notes.
To learn a new song, simply find the MIDI file of the song you want and run it through the converter. You can select songs from the browser window. Songs can be programmed to light up keys at predetermined intervals, or use appropriate timestamps from the original song. This versatility allows you to gradually learn songs at your own pace.
To create the project, Cruceru uses a Raspberry Pi Pico module connected to a WS2812B LED strip. Then adjust this strip into place above each key on your keyboard. Each LED corresponds to a specific note (or key), so your MIDI file will always light the correct note.
The code for this project was written from scratch using Micropython by Cruceru. Cruceru kindly helped open source the project. If you want to take a closer look at the code and see how it works from the inside, check out the official RP2040 Piano Helper project page. GitHub.
This is one of the smartest Raspberry Pi projects you should see in action. To check out a video demonstration of the RP2040 Piano Helper, visit the original thread shared above. reddit or watch the video YouTube. Also, be sure to follow him for more cool projects and upcoming updates.
