We see all sorts of different Arduino clone boards, but now and then a totally different idea shows up on Tindie. This piano-shaped Arduino clone has 8 tactile buttons and 8 piezo beepers. It uses the less-common ATmega4809 (part of the megaAVR 0-series). This chip packs much more punch than the traditional ATmega328P, including 48K of flash, 6k of SRAM, a hardware multiplier, and a great selection of peripherals — not to mention 41 GPIO! With Arduino Day coming up on March 25th, this is also a great way to introduce someone to Arduino or just make something cool!
This board also provides USB-C for power, and 2 Qwiic/STEMMA QT connectors for I2C-based peripherals. An onboard WS2812 RGB LED is a nice touch. Though this is Arduino-compatible, it doesn’t conform to the standard Arduino pinout, so normal shields won’t work. However, this board is aimed at beginners, or as a gift to anyone interested in microcontrollers. Having a huge array of I2C sensors to pick from means it can be used in a wide range of projects, and the buttons and piezo elements could be used for all sorts of things, musical or otherwise (annoying beeps every 12-15 minutes?)
If you’re interested, check out the video below for a quick look at the power-up sequence and built-in piano firmware!
