We began by combining an Arduino Mega with an instrument shield and touch sensor.  Then we assigned each pin a unique tone which can be played either alone or harmoniously with other notes.  Through our Sparkfun instrument shield, we have the ability to shift between instruments, which would be a key aspect of our instrument.  Next steps were to refine the exact sounds we wanted, set up buttons to navigate them, add LED’s which will blink and fade to the beat, and build it all into a mobile and attractive package.

Once the touch points were correctly correlated with our sounds, it was mostly a matter of piecing everything together into an aesthetically pleasing container.  We wanted to add a visual aesthetic that complimented the sound, so we chose to have various LEDs glow with each note played.  For that reason, we settled on a combination of frosted and clear acrylic to help the light resonate and bounce within the box, embracing and showing off the wired internals rather than hiding them.

The result ended up being a sort of retro-modern, definitely wacky instrument!