Qwertsichord

Turn your qwerty keyboard into a fun musical instrument. No GUI. Linux only.

The ultimate goal: Raspberry pi + usb keyboard + usb speakers = amazing live performance = legions of adoring fans

Prerequisites

• Linux Desktop, running X11 (with the xev utility)
• FluidSynth
• Nodejs 4+

Setup

Installation:

git clone https://github.com/twitchard/qwertsichord
cd qwertsichord
npm install

Server

Currently qwertsichord is configured to detect and connect to a running instance of fluidsynth. So start that up:

fluidsynth /usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2 -s -a pulseaudio

Execute

Qwertsichord doesn't source keyboard events itself, but relies on the xev utility and parses its output from standard input via xev-emitter. So you must have xev installed on your system and pipe its input into qwertsichord like so:

xev | node index.js

You may want to disable autorepeat.

xset r off

Usage

Your right hand is a 'pipe'. It sounds one note at a time, and you basically count in binary to go up the C major scale.

E.g., your index finger alone is middle C. Your middle finger is the D above middle C. Your index finger plus your middle finger sounds the E above middle c, and so on and so forth. Further more, stretch your index finger towards the middle, and that key counts as a sharping key, and raises whatever note by a half step.

The left hand controls the 'drones'. These operate upon the same 'binary counting' principal, but hitting a combination of keys triggers the corresponding 'drone' to be sounded indefinitely, until the combination is pressed again to turn it off.

It's kind of a fun, bagpipe experience. Try playing "amazing grace" or something.