I already own a monome 40h and i really like it, but I’m always jealous of those bigger machines out there Especially when it comes down to the semi quaver…

Also I find it challenging to understand the insights of such a great little box and would be überproud to create one my own.

So what do I want to build?

Basically this is a list of attributes the final monome shall have (sorted by priority):

• 128 buttons (I like the for factor and if I succeed I can build me just another 256 ) …
• … in one unit (no two 64s which are routed as one device. I want a true 128 in one piece)
• USB + 9V power supply
• Support for the series protocol
• Based on the slightly larger button pads by SparkFun
• Using the SparkFun PCBs for RGB LEDs, too.
• Finally those RGB LEDs will also be included, to support RGB
• RGB extension to the series protocol (hope there will be a quasi standard on this soon, more on this later..)

Also there are some constraints I imposed myself:

• I don’t want to build it, using an Arduino…
• … except for using it to try out hardware layouts and burn the micro controller
• So I want to modify the original 40h firmware and burn it on an ATMega micro controller probably the ATMega32 (as i already got two of those)

I’m not sure yet how I’ll proceed with the illumination of the 128 RGB button, but I don’t want to use the SparkFun SPI RGB LED Matrix BackPack (long name, i know)… But this need a lot of further investigation, and I’m looking forward to it

So stay tuned as the next time I’m going to give a short summary about current running projects that try to build similar or comparable projects.

So first of all, welcome all you monome’ers around the globe. You’ll probably get the idea quite fast

But for all non monome-aware folks just a short introduction:
Monome (pronounce it as you like.. ) is, first of all, a box with an illuminated button grid. Typically 8×8.
It’s mostly used to “create music” but in fact is more versatile than that. Basically it sends information about button presses via USB to the computer which can send information about lighting up LEDs in return. All of this happens asynchron.

There’s lot of open source software that was created for the monome. A list can be found in the monome wiki.

The whole device is open source too, meaning the firmware is open sourced, the hardware layout is open source an we build a great community which is very enthusiastic about helping each other.

Since I got myself one of those precious (only 400 were made of the one i got) devices for last christmas (a monome 40h original with build in accelerometer, yay! ) I instantly fell in love with it. It also got me into physical engineering. And that’s what this is all about…

I’m going to build me a monome!

You got one already?!.. you might think. But that’s not the point. You can’t have enough of those boxes
Further I’m aiming to gain experience with firmware coding, soldering, reading datasheets and everything around. And yes, I looove blinking lights!!!

So again, welcome all of you!!!

In the following days I’ll tell you more about what exactly I’m planing to build. This will be totally abnormal! Trust me