Play great sounding melodies and chords on a synthesizer without lots of piano lessons by sticking with notes that sound good together! Modes, such as Major/Ionian, Minor/Aeolian, Dorian, and Mixolydian, to name a few, are sets of relative note intervals designed for this purpose, and now you can build your own keyboard that will play within whichever key and mode you choose -- you can't hit a wrong note!

Your modal keyboard sends notes over USB MIDI to any software synthesizer, or hardware synth with USB MIDI Host capabilities. Pick your key and mode on startup and then start your jam!

For more on modes, check out this video and take a look at this page.

Parts

PCB

You can order these using the Gerber files found later in the guide from a board house such as JLCPCB, or by visiting this OSH Park link. You only need one PCB per keyboard, but most board houses make them in multiples of three or five for a minimum order.

The keyboard uses 21 keyswitches and keycaps.

Top down view of four piles of Kailh key switches in Red, Black, Brown, and Black variations.
For crafting your very own custom keyboard, these Kailh mechanical key switches are deeee-luxe!Come in a pack of 10 switches, plenty to make a...
Out of Stock
Array of many different colored keycaps
Dress up your mechanical keys in your favorite colors, with a wide selection of stylish DSA key caps. Here is a 10 pack different colored keycaps for your next mechanical keyboard or...
Out of Stock
Angle shot of Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040
The Raspberry Pi foundation changed single-board computing when they released the Raspberry Pi computer, now they're ready to...
Out of Stock
Angled shot of 10 6mm tactile switch buttons.
Super-tall clicky momentary switches are standard input "buttons" on electronic projects. These work best in a PCB but
$2.50
In Stock

M2.5 x 16mm screws x4

Get at a hardware store or from McMaster-Carr here.

1 x USB cable
USB A to Micro-B

This guide was first published on Jul 07, 2021. It was last updated on Jun 24, 2021.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Jun 24, 2021.

Text editor powered by tinymce.