How to Make a Simple PCB Touch Piano

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controllers are often extremely elaborate and expensive. That’s because many of them attempt to reproduce the tactile feel of real instruments. But, on a purely technical level, all a MIDI controller needs to provide is some sort of input and a connection to a computer. That means that it’s possible to create a really inexpensive MIDI controller if you keep it simple, and Msobolak’s tutorial will walk you through how to do that by making a PCB Touch Piano.

Instead of using buttons or switches, which would add to the build cost, this pocket-sized design simply uses copper pads on a PCB to act as capacitive touch inputs. All you have to do is tap the copper pads, and they’ll be registered as button presses on a Teensy 3.2 microcontroller development board. The Teensy 3.2, in turn, connects to your computer and appears as a MIDI controller. With some standard MIDI software running on your computer, those button presses will be translated into musical notes.

To build your own PCB Touch Piano, all you’ll need is the Teensy 3.2 and the PCB. Msobolak’s guide will walk you through how to etch your own PCB, or you can simple have one professionally fabricated. If you’re taking the first approach, you’ll make the PCB design in graphics software, print it out, and then use acetone and ferric chloride to etch the design onto a blank copper PCB. Once you have your PCB, you can simply solder the corresponding pins of the Teensy 3.2, and then flash the provided code to start playing music!