Micro:bit Music Controller ·

Check out the demo on youtube

An awesome project to control your media keys through micro:bit buttons and gesture control!
View Demo · Report Bug

Table of Contents

• About the Project
  • Built With
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
• Deployment
• Demo
• Author
• License
• Acknowledgements

About The Project

This controller connects the BBC Micro:bit with a windows pc and acts like a media controller. It has the following functions

• Play: Ability to play/pause music, videos etc.
• Mute: Ability to mute/unmute system volume
• Next: Acts as the next button on a keyboard
• Previous: Acts as the previous button on a keyboard
• Volume Up: Increases system volume
• Volume Down: Decreases system volume

Built With

This project uses the following software and languages

• Javascript
• MakeCode for micro:bit
• WebStorm IDE

Getting Started

These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes. See deployment for notes on how to deploy the project on a live system.

Prerequisites

Here is the list of all the prerequisites you would need to install on your system in order to run this device

• Node.js v10.15.3

https://nodejs.org/en/download/

• npm

https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm

• Python

https://www.python.org/downloads/

• Additional build tools are required to be able to run media keys on windows. Run these commands from an administrative shell to install software dependencies:
  
  Note: You need to install windows build tools version 4.0 or higher
  
  

npm install --global --production windows-build-tools
npm install -g node-gyp

Installation

1. Add all dependencies using npm

   npm install

2. Connect your micro:bit to the computer using a USB stick

3. Run port file to check what port your micro:bit is connected to

   node port.js

   You will get your com port as below:
   
   

4. Change port in server.js file
   
   

5. Run node server to start communicating with your micro:bit

   node server.js

Note: You still need to deploy the hex file to your micro:bit. These steps only install the server. Please go through the deployment below to start using your micro:bit.

Deployment

Copy the Micro:bit Music Controller hex file to your micro:bit and Enjoy!

Demo and Description

Check out the demo on youtube here - View Demo

Below is a list of all controls and gestures for each function

• Play/Pause: Use button a to toggle between play and pause

  1. When you press button a the system starts playing media and displays the below image
     
     
     
     
  2. When you press button a again the system pauses the media
     
     

• Mute/Unmute: Use button a to toggle between play and pause

  1. When you press button b it mutes the volume
     
     
     
     
  2. When you press button b again it unmutes the system
     
     

• Next:
  Tilt your micro:bit to the right to go to next track
  
  
  
  If you ware playing any music on Spotify/Windows it will play the next track and show the below LEDs on successful change
  
  
  
  

• Previous: Tilt your micro:bit to the left to go to next track
  
  
  
  If you ware playing any music on Spotify/Windows it will play the previous track and show the below LEDs on successful change
  
  
  
  

• Volume Up: Tilt your micro:bit upwards to increase volume
  
  
  
  This gesture will increase system volume and show a plus sign on micro:bit
  
  
  
  

• Volume Down: Tilt your micro:bit downwards to decrease volume
  
  
  
  This gesture will reduce system volume and show a minus sign on micro:bit
  
  
  
  

Author

• Jay Kumar - Complete Development - jaykch.com

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details

Acknowledgments

• Serialport - Library for serial communication to micro:bit
• Robotjs - Library to simulate key-presses