#HexBoard MIDI Controller

The HexBoard is a 140-key board designed for techno-musicians, babies, and computer people.

You can order your HexBoard today, or contact Jared if you're interested in assembling it yourself.

#The Team

• Jared DeCook has been writing music, developing hardware, and performing as Shaping The Silence for over a decade.
• Zach DeCook has been listening to music, breaking hardware, and occasionally writing software since the former discovered his exploitable talents.
• Nicholas Fox has been 'hexperimenting' with the firmware since before receiving a HexBoard in the mail.

#HexBoard "Arduino" firmware

The "Arduino" firmware is the default firmware for the HexBoard (and is what this repository contains).

Nightly builds are automatically made when a commit is pushed to SourceHut.

Build artifacts are usually also attached to the tagged releases on sourcehut, and may be found at https://zachdecook.com/HexBoard/firmware/ for posterity.

The files are in the format VX_Y_Z-model0.uf2, where

• X_Y_Z is the version number
• 0 is the model number ("2" for production model, for sale since 2023. "1" for the 2022 development model with the RP2040 processor board).

#Hexperiment firmware

Created by Nicholas Fox, sometimes available at https://github.com/theHDM/hexperiment or at https://git.sr.ht/~earboxer/HexBoard/tree/hexperiment

#Golden Master firmware

Since version 1.0.0, hexperiment has been merged into the main firmware branch. This firmware is only for the production model.

#Building the firmware

If you want to build the firmware, we'll assume you're already proficient at installing software on your computer at this point.

#Using Arduino-IDE

(Instructions to come)

#Using arduino-cli

(You also need to have python3 installed on your system)

# Download the board index
arduino-cli --additional-urls=https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json core update-index
# Install the core for rp2040
arduino-cli --additional-urls=https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json core download rp2040:rp2040
arduino-cli --additional-urls=https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/releases/download/global/package_rp2040_index.json core install rp2040:rp2040
# Install libraries
arduino-cli lib install "MIDI library"
arduino-cli lib install "Adafruit NeoPixel"
arduino-cli lib install "U8g2" # dependency for GEM
arduino-cli lib install "Adafruit GFX Library" # dependency for GEM
arduino-cli lib install "GEM"
sed -i 's@#include "config/enable-glcd.h"@//\0@g' ~/Arduino/libraries/GEM/src/config.h # remove dependency from GEM
# Run Make to build the firmware
make

Your firmware file will be the uf2 file inside the build directory.

#Flashing the firmware

Before flashing, you may want to note your current firmware version in case you desire to revert. Since Version 0.1.0, the version number for the "Arduino" firmware has been in the Testing menu. The checkbox indicates that the version you have is marked as a 'release' (rather than a nightly build).

1. Unplug the HexBoard from your computer, then plug it in while holding the button by the USB port.
2. It should appear as a disk in your computer.
3. Copy the .uf2 firmware file onto that disk
4. The disk should eject, and the HexBoard should automatically reboot into that firmware.