3D Printers Transform 49 Floppy Disk Drives into Amazing MIDI Organ

What do you get when you combine 2 3D printers, 49 floppy disk drives, an Arduino and 12 creative minds from a German youth club? Answer: a wireless MIDI controllable organ that is very cool.  

It all started with three boys at a German youth club, Toolbox Bodensee e.V, who wanted to use floppy disk drives (do you remember those 5.25” disks when cassette tapes were still popular?) in a creative project. So, they built an organ powered by Arduino? Yes, a Bluetooth enabled organ which can be played by a MIDI keyboard and can play putout 14 sounds simultaneously. Oh, and the sounds are generated with by the motors of the floppy disk drives. 

Here's the floppy Organ in action:


According to 3ders it “took twelve people more than three months to combine all the 49 disk drives (which they gathered by enlisting the help of the their entire surroundings and even the municipality).  It also contains 140 meters of cable, 360 soldering locations and 84 3D printed parts to form the housing – the club's two printers were working non-stop for 30 hours.”

The Floppy Orgel (Organ). Photo Credit: 3Ders.

The Floppy Orgel (Organ). Photo Credit: 3Ders.

The Floppy Organ will be on display at the Maker World convention in Friedrichshafen on 27 and 28 June (booth 320).

Via: 3ders 

Web: Toolbox Bodensee

Rounik is the Executive Editor for Ask.Audio & macProVideo. He's built a crack team of professional musicians and writers to create one of the most visited online resources for news, review, tutorials and interviews for modern musician and producer. As an Apple Certified Trainer for Logic Pro Rounik has taught teachers, professional... Read More

Discussion

Want to join the discussion?

Create an account or login to get started!