“I recently built a simple 8 key piano using an original NES controller and Arduino UNO board.Unlike conventional Arduino piano projects which require one digital pin for each key / button the NES controller piano used only three digital pins (D5 for nesClock, D6 for nesLatch, D7 for nesDataIn) leaving 5 extra digital pins available for experimentation.
The NES Controller sent pulses of 8-bit information to the Arduino UNO and the pulses were interpreted by the Arduino (bit-banging ) to make sounds via the buzzer module - Build the NES Controller piano and download the sketch then open the serial monitor to watch this process in action.The NES controller piano only played eight different notes (C4 to C5) and my kids tired of playing it pretty quickly - I decided to increase the pianos octave range (C1 to C8) by adding an ultrasonic sensor and create a NES Controller piano / Ultrasonic theremin mash-up that can play 50 notes using only 5 digital pins (+1 for piezo buzzer).Im still a learner when it comes to coding and welcome any feedback regarding my sketch.”