Lab 7 - MIDI Output

This lab featured my old friend, MIDI. The breadboard circuit was pretty straightforward but did not work at first. After a bit of troubleshooting I realized that pins 4 and 5 on the MIDI output jack were switched. After that realization, the lab was working as it should have and I started thinking about making an instrument. Earlier in the semester I attempted to make a drum trigger but was unsuccesful. This time, I used the code from the lab but instead of using a switch, I connected a trigger I made from a piezo element and a practice drum head. When struck, the piezo outputs enough voltage to bring a digital input high. With the Arduino, the high input is sent out to my computer as MIDI data which is running Ableton Live 4. When I hit the drum trigger, a sample of a drum is triggered in LIve. The triggering was pretty accurate with occasional hanging notes. For some reason it was more responsive after the first time I used it. The second time, in class, the triggering was not as tight and I couldn't reproduce the same rolls as I could earlier. I think with some software tweaks, better trigger response can be achieved.