midi-to-simple-metal-gcode

Convert a MIDI music file to gcode instructions compatible with the Ultimaker 2. The conversion code was obtained from where this repository was forked from. My version for the Printrbot Simple Metal can be found here.

The concept behind how a 3D printer can generate musical tunes is explained here.

##Demo videos on Youtube

Playing the Singapore National Anthem.

The Gcode for these are placed inside gcode_files directory.

##How to convert a midi file for the Ultimaker 2?

Not all midi files can be supported or be converted properly. If my understanding is correct, only 3 notes can be played concurrently at any one time as there are only 3 axes motors available. The code will randomly pick any three notes if there are too many concurrent note playbacks.

###1. Generate the Gcode file

git clone https://github.com/yeokm1/midi-to-ultimaker2-gcode.git
cd midi-to-ultimaker2-gcode
python mid2cnc.py -infile midi_files/national_anthem_singapore.mid -outfile gcode_files/singapore_national_anthem.gcode -machine custom -units metric -ppu 80 80 3200 -safemin 25 25 25 -safemax 170 170 170 -axes X -verbose

Replace the relevant paths with paths to your input and output file. I have set the bed size quite small although the Ultimaker 2 can go much larger to prevent the extruder from going too near the edges.
The "-verbose" argument is optional.

To know what each argument means, check out the original readme file.

I have limited the motor movement to only the X axis as the sounds from the other motors seem to be muffled. You can go ahead and experiment by removing/modifying the axes argument.

###2. Make some modifications to the generated Gcode file

Replace these lines

( Input file was xxx.mid )
G21 (Metric FTW)
G90 (Absolute posiitioning)
G92 X0 Y0 Z0 (set origin to current position)
G0 X0 Y0 Z0 F2000.0 (Pointless move to origin to reset feed rate to a sane value)
G04 P0.0000

with

M107
G0 F7200 X25 Y25 Z170
G92 X0 Y0 Z0

The generated Gcode file seems a little "screwed" at the start because they set the origin at the current position then attempt to move to it (current position) which results in no movement. I removed the other stuff as they have no impact on the musical output.

###3. "Print" the Gcode Copy the Gcode file to the SD card and just let the Ultimaker 2 handle the printing.

##Dependencies

1. Python 2

##Resources

1. Singapore National Anthem Midi file
2. Imperial March on 3D Printer
3. Fringe Midi video
4. Portal 2 Still Alive Score