Using 4 micro:bits we can create an interactive music experience.
Each micro:bit wristband controls the volume of a particular instrument depending on the intensity of movement detected by the magnetometer. The playback speed is controlled by the average movement of all 4 micro:bit wristbands.
- 4 micro:bits
- 4 micro:bit battery packs
- 1 Micro USB cable
- Basic command line knowledge.
This tutorial requires Node JS to run. You can find instructions on how to install Node JS here
Using the command line, navigate to the location of the code and run npm install. This will now install a few modules that our code need to run.
Installing the modules will create a folder in our project called /node_modules. Navigate to the folder called /node_modules/bbc-microbit/firmware folder. The hex file in here will need to be transferred to each micro:bit via USB cable before we continue.
Now we will need to discover the ID codes of the four micro:bits that will be used for the project.
To do this, run the command node discover.js. Make sure your bluetooth is on, and all four devices are switched on. With luck 4 devices will be detected and their IDs logged for you.
Now copy open a code editor and edit the main.js file. At the bottom of the code there will be four lines that you will need to copy the ID code into for each into.
Once you have done that, run node main.js and open a web browser. Navigate to http://localhost:3000 to check if everything is working! You may need to calibrate the magnetometer by moving it in a circle beforehand.
If you want to look deeper into how the project works or want to tweak it a bit, try reading the code and changing bits of it.