Instructions

1. Construct hardware

Feel free to do this in a different order, or make changes to best fit the way your work. There is a good deal of soldering, so I recommend having a good clean tip, a good supply of solder, wire, cutters, strippers…etc before starting…time to roll up your sleeves!

These instructions will show pictures using the Sparkfun buttonpad PCB’s, however, with slight appearance differences, this applies to the Monome button pads as well (expect for the inter-pcb & ‘break-off’ pcb connections as the monome boards come 8×8 with header pins built into the pcb itself).

  1. I recommend doing your buttonpads first for sanity reasons. This is where the bulk of the soldering is, and if you get this out of the way first, the rest will seem like the home stretch.
  • LED’s! Solder you led’s as shown in the picture on the right. The led’s go on the top side
    LED Orientation

    LED Orientation

    of the button pads, and there is a printed picture detailing where to put the led’s as well as the proper orientation. Just in case you are just starting out, led’s (like other diode’s) have an anode(+) and a cathode(-) and current flows in a particular direction. The cathode on an LED is usually marked by a flat side of the ring around the LED as well as a shorter leg/lead. More information and pictures can be found on this wikipedia article.

  • Flip the boards over and solder in your regular diodes. Diodes have a mark on them
    Diode Orientation

    Diode Orientation

    (a line) signifying their correct orientation (like led’s, they permit the flow of current in one direction, and block it the other way), so make sure you orient the line properly with the pictures on the circuit board.

  • Next comes wiring all four boards together.  If you haven’t already done so, I would recommend gluing all four boards together.  Once dried, make the interconnections as shown in the picture.  I used header pins, but some people found it easier to simply twist the wires together
    Underside Closeup

    Underside Closeup

    and soldering them directly into the holes.  The choice is really yours.  What’s important here is that LED-GNDx, SWT-GNDx, BLUEx, and SWITCHx all connect to their respective places across all four boards.

2.  If you are using the shield designed by Unsped, you have the “break-off” pcb for your ribbon cables.  Follow this diagram to ensure proper connections.  Look at the diagram closely as this is where

we’ve found most issues arising.  Wiring this part wrong can seriously yield some funky results! :)

  • If you are using the Arduinome shield designed by Unsped, this is the easiest part and you are almost there!  Everything is clearly labeled.  You might want to first solder the sockets for the MAX7219, 74HC164n, and 74HC165n.  Next I would do the resistor & resistor network, caps, and header pins for your cables.  On the capacitor, make sure you pay attention to polarity which is shown by a stripe on the cap.  That should correspond to the “-” on the board.
  • Almost done!  CAREFULLY bend the legs of the MAX, and 74HC16xn chips and put them in their respective sockets.  Attach the shield to the Arduino using the header pins you already soldered.  Either directly wiring or by using ribbon cable connectors, go from your break-off pcb to your shield and you are set!

2. Flash Arduino FTDI Serial

Flashing the Arduino serial number can be done on a PC, and has also been tested on a MacBook Pro running Parallels w/ Windows XP. We cannot be held responsible for any damange that may be caused while Flashing your Arduino, and thank you for understanding.

Before you start, you MUST download the following (PC only)

1. MProg 3.0 http://www.ftdichip.com/Resources/Utilities.htm
2. D2XX Drivers http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm

  1. Install MProg and D2XX Drivers
  2. Run MProg, click on “Device / Scan”. If your arduino is recognized, you should see something similar to the message below
code:
Number Of Blank Devices = 0
Number Of Programmed Devices = 1

3. Click on “Tools”, then “Read and Parse”. The blank fields should now be completed (filled in).

4. Check the box “use fixed serial number” and enter something like a40h-xxx. I use a40h-001 but

you should be able to freely change the “xxx” numbers. This naming is one of the most important parts

in having ArduinomeSerial recognize your Arduinome and making everything work.

5. Click “File”, “Save As” (save anywhere, I.E. desktop)

6. After saving, click the “Flash” / lightning bolt icon. (Program all existing devices, Ctrl+P).

7. If succesful, unplug Arduinome from computer and plug it back in. Run ArduinomeSerial and you will see it appear in your devices list. Close ArduinomeSerial.

3. Compile ArduinomeFirmware and upload to I/O Board (arduino)

  • *** Firmware has been confirmed to flash with Arduino software version 11 and 14+– DO NOT use 12 or 13
  • *** When you download/install the Arduino software, there is a folder (at least on mac os) called “Drivers.”  MAKE SURE you install these prior to proceeding with compiling and uploading the firmware!
  • Make sure you have your arduino selected under the menu, “tools”, “serial port”… should look something similar to /dev/tty.usbserial-a40h-001(or whatever you flashed your serial to)

4. Run ArduinomeSerial, and you are good to go…

ENJOY!

***If you are having any issues, the first two places I would look at a) either your routing/connections from the button PCB’s to the break-off PCB, or if those are 100% right, check your cable orientation from the breakoff pcb to the shield.  I can’t stress how many times simply turning one cable around fixed problems for myself and others!