Dance to the Beat

1. Introduction

The new micro:bits have speakers, which leaves you free to move around in ways you weren’t able to before!

Let’s use movement to create a beat box of your own.

2. Understanding Input

Let’s find out what numbers the micro:bit produces when you move it around.

⇼ Open the ||serial:^ Advanced|| category to show the ||serial:Serial|| label.

⇼ From ||serial:Serial||, drag the ||serial:serial write value ["x"] = [0]|| block into the ||basic:forever|| loop container.

basic.forever(function(){
    serial.writeValue("x", 0)
})

3. See the Console

When your code runs again, you’ll see a button below the micro:bit that says “Show console Simulator”.

Click that button to see what happens.

The graph for the simulator should stay flat at 0 and the text in the console below should say “x:0”.

4. Acceleration Values

For the graph to change with the speed of your movement, we need to replace the “0” with the micro:bit acceleration value.

⇼ Open the ||input:Input|| category and drag ||input:acceleration (mg) [x]|| over to replace “0” in the ||serial:serial write value ["x"] = [0]|| block.

⇼ Change “x” to “a” (for “acceleration”.)

basic.forever(function(){
    serial.writeValue("a", input.acceleration(Dimension.X))
})

5. Look Again

Click the “Show console Simulator” button again.

Now you should see your graph and text change between -1023 and 1023 as you click around on the micro:bit simulator to pretend like you’re swinging it around.

6. Compass Values

For the graph to change with the speed of your movement, we need to replace the “0” with the micro:bit acceleration value.

⇼ Open the ||input:Input|| category and drag ||input:acceleration (mg) [x]|| over to replace “0” in the ||serial:serial write value ["x"] = [0]|| block.

⇼ Change “x” to “a” (for “acceleration”.)

basic.forever(function(){
    serial.writeValue("a", input.acceleration(Dimension.X))
})

Finale

👏 YOU DID IT! 👏

Don’t forget to test your code in the simulator!

If you have a new micro:bit (the one with the shiny gold logo at the top), download this code and try it out!

basic.forever(function () {
    serial.writeValue("Accel", input.acceleration(Dimension.X))
    serial.writeValue("Compass", input.compassHeading())
    music.playSoundEffect(music.createSoundEffect(
    WaveShape.Sine,
    input.acceleration(Dimension.X),
    input.compassHeading(),
    255,
    0,
    500,
    SoundExpressionEffect.None,
    InterpolationCurve.Linear
    ), SoundExpressionPlayMode.UntilDone)
})

basic.forever(function () {
    serial.writeValue("Accel", input.acceleration(Dimension.X))
    serial.writeValue("Compass", input.compassHeading())
    music.playSoundEffect(music.createSoundEffect(
    WaveShape.Sine,
    input.acceleration(Dimension.X),
    input.compassHeading(),
    255,
    0,
    500,
    SoundExpressionEffect.None,
    InterpolationCurve.Linear
    ), SoundExpressionPlayMode.UntilDone)
})