How to build a sound effect maker with an Arduino board - STEM electronics activity

Introduction

Hello makers!! Welcome back to our website! For newcomers: this is Makersgeneration - Your first choice for Technology activities for kids.

As usual, we bring you another exciting topic today. We will learn how to make a sound effect generator using Arduino, a buzzer, and a few other components you can find in your electronic kit for home. At the end of this tutorial, you should be able to learn how to make a homemade speaker. Feeling eager to get started like I am? keep reading!!

Before we dive straight in, let's look at the workings of this project:

How the sound generator works:

This simple project uses an Arduino board to generate sound of different frequencies which will be played out through the buzzer. It will also consist of a potentiometer which is used to vary the different sound frequencies playing at a time: so you have a variety of sounds to play with.

This project uses the tone() function built into the Arduino IDE to handle the sound generation in the code, thereby keeping our code simple but functional.

Requirements

Arduino Nano or Uno
Compatible USB cable
Breadboard
Buzzer
5 Male-Male jumper wires

Building the circuit

Arduino	Potentiometer	Buzzer
5V pin	Last pin
GND pin	First pin	(—) pin
Analog (A0) pin	Middle pin
Pin (D8)		(+) pin

Circuit diagram.

Actual circuit.

Code


const int buzzerPin = 8;
const int potPin = A0;  // pin that the sensor is attached to

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);

}

void loop() {
  // read the sensor:
  unsigned int potValue = analogRead(sensorPin);

  // apply the calibration to the sensor reading
  potValue = map(potValue, 0, 1023, 100, 2000);

  tone(buzzerPin, potValue);

  Serial.println(potValue);

  delay(200);
}

Video demo

Enjoy your music!!

Congratulations!! you made it to the end.

If you enjoyed working on this project and you'd like to see more fun science projects for third graders, check below for our offering:

Online after-school focused on STEM

You and your children are looking for nice activities to have fun and learn new things and skills. Come join us for online classes such as:

Python coding for kids and teens
Coding for elementary school students
Make video games
Electronics
Digital modeling (Create cars, rockets, rings, etc) for 3D printing and much more with the following link: Online after-schools

Other cute things to make and hand-crafts for kids (tutorials)

If you are looking for more cool Arduino and STEM project ideas to do with your kids, take a look at these other activities:

Newsletter, follow, subscribe, and like the social media

If you like online STEM activities, consider subscribing to the newsletter and social media for updates, and don't miss any STEM events. Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter at the bottom of our website ''www.makersgeneration.net'' for more events, tutorials, and freebies.