Music box

This is a project for a music box. It is not an ordinary music box as it doesn’t play songs but rather plays different musical tones when different sides of it faces up and gets a gentle tap.

Flip-n-shake/tap music box

You are given a well-decorated box, cube, with one musical note on each side,  flip it so that a desirable musical note faces up, shake or tap on the box, that note will play. When playing, the top side of box will glow with a certain color. Since there are 6 sides to a box, 6 notes can be associated with each side. I’ve built the prototype last weekend and managed to play a few simple songs by flipping and tapping on it. I am adding some video later this week. This box needs a lot of artistic touches in order to attract attentions. That is where I need some help. I hope to find some help at the Art Department. I imagine that when finished, two such boxes can be made so a person can pick them up with two hands and shake them to play as many as 12 notes. Many simple songs can be played with these two boxes.

Here is a demo:

This picture tells the inner working of the box prototype, an Arduino, a buzzer, and an accelerometer:

Please don’t mind the writings on the paper. I am looking for a house and I recycle/reuse paper 🙂

Stage 1: prototyping

The following is a video of the prototype. As you can see, the entire box is very ugly and needs a lot of artistic touch. I will post updates when I get more progress on it.

You have to crank your volume all the way up. I need a louder speaker and a lot of holes on the box!

Stage 2: adding light effects

Update: I’ve added some light effect and removed all the paper 🙂

You have to crank your volume all the way up. I need a louder speaker and a lot of holes on the box!

Stage 3: adding intelligence to the box

Now the box has a favorite tune. If you tap in the first 6 notes of this tune, the box will recognize it and plays the tune. In the future, I will purchase an MP3 shield to play high quality sound, like “Ah, that must have been my favorite tune, the XXX. I will play it for you”. Then it plays the tune in hi-def audio. I’ve removed the box top to make sure the sound volume is loud enough.

Stage 4: adding MP3-quality sound to the box

Check back later for this stage!

Stage 5: adding artistic touch to the box

Check back later for this stage!

Stage 6: adding lights to each side of the box

Check back later for this stage!

Stage 6: displaying the box in public place

Check back later for this stage!