Digi-Nerdy-Gurdy

thingiverse

A few years ago I built a Nerdy Gurdy which is a hurdy gurdy made from laser cut panels and 3D printed parts. I then realised that an electronic MIDI keyboard emulating the keybox layout of a real HG would be useful for practice. I called it the DigiGurdy and that original version is on Thingiverse if you search for; DigiGurdy. Since then the project has been through several design iterations. This new Digi-Nerdy-Gurdy version is made of laser cut ply panels and 3D printed parts, especially the keys. The keybox in particular has been designed in collaboration with Jaap Brand, designer of the Nerdy Gurdy, hence the change in name. Short overview video: https://youtu.be/I4CbSvEB2fY Background: The hurdy-gurdy is an ancient musical instrument (10th century) with drones and melody strings bowed by a rotating wheel, played by pressing keys which contact them at different points. It has in more recent times featured in TV series such as “Black Sails” and “Walking Dead”. A major barrier for beginners is that they are very expensive, built to order with lead times of several months to a year and rather like bagpipes, they are noisy when practicing. For pipers, practice chanters and e-chanters are available to solve this issue while nothing similar is available for the hurdy-gurdy. The Digi-Gurdy and now this all laser-cut Digi[Nerdy]Gurdy with detachable keybox, are electronic devices, with correctly placed keys, that output MIDI via a USB cable to an attached or wirelessly paired phone or iPad running suitable MIDI player software, for practice anywhere using headphones, thus preventing eviction or divorce! Main features of this new version are: 1) New PCB which places key stems in more correct positions when viewed from rear of keybox. This means key stems are no longer in centre of each key, therefore.... 2) All new 3D designs for each key. As in a real hurdy gurdy the keys for higher notes are more complex as they overlap each other to some extent but must still not interfere with each other. 3) I tried a snap-into-place key design but stems do not look nice when viewed from rear. Therefore they have holes in ends of stems to take a 3mm diameter 6mm long bolt. Bolts screw straight in as holes just slightly undersize......see, I make life easy for you. 4) Keybox now is fully laser cut ply and glued together. However top panel is removable with 4 screws so a) you then have access to rear of PCB to make any repairs and b) you can make a more elaborate top panel should you wish later on. 5) Keybox is removable from soundbox, but will still fully function as a MIDI device emulating a hurdy gurdy (but without crank). This keybox will then fit into a bag should you wish to practice at work in lunchbreak or take it on holiday. 6) Keybox "docks" with a soundbox designed by Jaap Brand of Nerdy Gurdy fame, to create a proper gurdy shaped instrument with keys and crank in correct positions relative to your body. Crank is on end of soundbox. Special connector plug allows it to dock and undock easily. 7) Soundbox is much easier to construct than Nerdy Gurdy version as less curvaceous. This is a deliberate compromise to ensure easy buildability and almost no clamps are required when gluing it together. 8) MIDI sockets provided in keybox should you wish to use an aftermarket plug in MIDI Bluetooth dongle to transmit wirelessly to your paired iPad or phone. These are recessed now, to protect the dongle better. 9) Internal battery holder (a mobile phone emergency battery bank) is embedded in left hand end of the keybox. Should you wish to go fully wireless (i.e. when using a plug-in MIDI Bluetooth transmitter), the keybox can no longer draw power from the attached (via USB cable) phone or iPad and instead will now need its own power supply. Loop the short USB lead danging from left hand end of keybox around and plug it into this rechargeable battery module, and the keybox will now run on this internal power. 10) Four detailed build videos for the Digi[Nerdy]Gurdy are below. Also there are two setup and use videos showing how to navigate and use the tunings menu, how to connect to an iPad or Android phone, and also how to use the internal battery module should you wish to go wireless when using a plug-in MIDI Bluetooth transmitter dongle. Build videos: https://youtu.be/24alM-BPFCU https://youtu.be/fJMO52L9p8s https://youtu.be/V5a81HjGtzg https://youtu.be/STn_R84A0JQ Setup and use videos, tuning setup, pairing with iPad/Phone or Android phone: https://youtu.be/adyx8mwOBWk https://youtu.be/acmJpbKHEQg Message me for more information such as PCB design, the soundfont file required for playback on the attached devices. Additional information can also be found here: https://hackaday.io/project/165251-the-digi-gurdy-and-diginerdygurdy Video clips of it being played. Nigel Eaton playing an early version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEdFkLzU7B8 Here he is playing the detached keybox of latest version: https://youtu.be/iTZL8fyQtHo A more recent DigiGurdy being played - the new DigiNerdyGurdy sounds the same as the one in this clip, tuning menu has since been improved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZzTbZ0fibg