Cyber City Circuits’ Mini-Tone Keyboard Is a Badge Piano

Gatherings like DEF CON have created a culture of electronic badge creation, and just about any device you can support with a lanyard around your neck has received the badge treatment. Many of those badges don’t have any purpose except to look cool and showcase impressive PCB art. Others facilitate hacking challenges for people to test their mettle against. Still others provide a bit of lighthearted fun. Various kinds of gaming badges exist, but if you’re more musically inclined you may prefer Cyber City Circuits’ Mini-Tone Keyboard Badge.

Cyber City Circuits has developed other badges, including a neat Mega Man badge and a rockin’ cassette tape-inspired badge. But those are basic and pretty much just light up a couple of LEDs. The Mini-Tone Keyboard Badge is different, because you can play it like a piano. A total of 29 tactile push buttons are arranged along the bottom half of the board. Those are enough to play 2.5 octaves — much less than a full-size keyboard, but enough to tap out some simple ditties. Sound can be output through the onboard speaker, or through the built-in 3.5mm audio jack.

The Mini-Tone Keyboard Badge is controlled by a Microchip ATmega328PB microcontroller, which is compatible with Arduino so you can reprogram it if you want. That’s paired with a CH340 USB-to-serial chip to make programming easier. Four WS2812E individually addressable RGB LEDs are arrayed across the top of the badge to add some lighting effects. Power is supplied through the USB port. If you want your own Cyber City Circuits Mini-Tone Keyboard Badge, it costs just $40 on Tindie right now.