Frets on Fire Guitar

Frets On Fire is a popular music game available on several platforms, including Linux and Windows. It is open source and highly addictive.

Our guitar is constructed from a plastic wire cover found in a mall and some scrap parts used for visual effect. Anything will work, as long as you can cut it to a guitar-like shape.

• Arduino dreamer
• Nano expansion shield
• Joystick module
• Button modules

• Create the frame to which you will attach the modules
• Wire them up to your desired pins
• Copy and paste the code, or write it your own.

It's easy to roll your own using the Leonardo keyboard example.

• Add LEDs that blink in red or green when the user plays certain keys
• Add an extra button for controlling menus, to avoid need of use of a keyboard
• Change the key mappings to non-used keys to avoid the game triggering its search function

fof-guitar.ino

/*
  ButtonKeyboardControl as GamePad for Game "Frets On Fire"
 
 Controls the Keyboard from five pushbuttons on an Arduino Leonardo.
 
 Hardware:
 * 5 pushbuttons attached to D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, Direction Key map to D8
 * Return key and Escape maped by Joystick, and attach to A2 adn A1
 
 
 The Keyboard movement is always relative. This sketch reads 
 four pushbuttons, and uses them to set the movement of the Keyboard.
 
 IMPORTANT NOTE: Frets On Fire Key Setting:
 
    Fret #1 - w
    Fret #2 - s
    Fret #3 - a
    Fret #4 - e
    Fret #5 - h
       Tick - Return
   Scondary Tick - d //It needed!!
       Left - q
      Right - r
         up - u
       down - d
       Quit - q
 
 WARNING:  When you use the Keyboard.move() command, the Arduino takes
 over your Keyboard!  Make sure you have control before you use the Keyboard commands.
 
 created 15 Nov 2012
 modified 15 Nov 2012
 by Jose
 
 this code is in the public domain
 
 */
 
  int ButtonState1;
  int ButtonState2;
  int ButtonState4;
  int ButtonState3;
  int ButtonState5;
  int returnKey;
  int DirectionKey;
  int TickKey;
 
// set pin numbers for the five buttons:
const int Button5 = 3;        
const int Button4 = 4;
const int Button3 = 5;
const int Button2 = 6;
const int Button1 = 7;
const int Return = 8;    
const int TickX = A1;
const int TickY = A2; 
 
int range = 5;              // output range of X or Y movement; affects movement speed
int responseDelay = 10;     // response delay of the Keyboard, in ms
 
 
void setup() {
  // initialize the buttons' inputs:
  pinMode(Button1, INPUT);       
  pinMode(Button2, INPUT);       
  pinMode(Button3, INPUT);       
  pinMode(Button4, INPUT);       
  pinMode(Button5, INPUT);
  pinMode(Return, INPUT);
  pinMode(TickX, INPUT);
  pinMode(TickY, INPUT);
 
 
  digitalWrite(Button1, HIGH);       
  digitalWrite(Button2, HIGH);       
  digitalWrite(Button3, HIGH);       
  digitalWrite(Button4, HIGH);       
  digitalWrite(Button5, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(Return, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(TickX, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(TickY, HIGH);
  // initialize Keyboard control:
  Keyboard.begin();
}
 
void loop() {
 
  int buttonBuff = digitalRead(Button1);
  if(ButtonState1 != buttonBuff)
  {
    ButtonState1 = buttonBuff;
      if (ButtonState1 == LOW)
      Keyboard.press('w'); 
      else 
      Keyboard.release('w'); 
  }
  //s
  buttonBuff = digitalRead(Button2);
  if(ButtonState2 != buttonBuff)
  {
    ButtonState2 = buttonBuff;
      if (ButtonState2 == LOW)
      Keyboard.press('s'); 
      else 
      Keyboard.release('s'); 
  }
  //d
  buttonBuff = digitalRead(Button4);
  if(ButtonState4 != buttonBuff)
  {
    ButtonState4 = buttonBuff;
      if (ButtonState4 == LOW)
      Keyboard.press('e'); 
      else 
      Keyboard.release('e'); 
  }  
  //a
  buttonBuff = digitalRead(Button3);
  if(ButtonState3 != buttonBuff)
  {
    ButtonState3 = buttonBuff;
      if (ButtonState3 == LOW)
      Keyboard.press('a'); 
      else 
      Keyboard.release('a'); 
  }  
///////////////////////////////////
  //A
  buttonBuff = digitalRead(Button5);
  if(ButtonState5 != buttonBuff)
  {
    ButtonState5 = buttonBuff;
      if (ButtonState5 == LOW)
      Keyboard.press('h'); 
      else 
      Keyboard.release('h'); 
  } 
 
   //A
  buttonBuff = digitalRead(Return);
  if(returnKey != buttonBuff)
  {
    returnKey = buttonBuff;
      if (returnKey == LOW)
      Keyboard.press('\n'); 
      else 
      Keyboard.release('\n'); 
  }
 
    //Left & Right
  buttonBuff = analogRead(TickX);
    Serial.println(buttonBuff);
  if(buttonBuff != DirectionKey)
  {
      DirectionKey = buttonBuff;
      if(DirectionKey > 650)    
          Keyboard.press('q');
      else
          Keyboard.release('q');
      if(DirectionKey < 450)
          Keyboard.press('r');
      else
          Keyboard.release('r');
  }
 
  //Up & Down
  buttonBuff = analogRead(TickY);
  Serial.println(buttonBuff);
  if(buttonBuff != TickKey)
  {
      TickKey = buttonBuff;
      if(TickKey > 700)    // Tick Key
          Keyboard.press('d');
      else
          Keyboard.release('\d');
      if(TickKey < 300)    // Quit Key
          Keyboard.press('u');
      else
          Keyboard.release('u');
  }
 
  // a delay so the Keyboard doesn't move too fast:
  delay(responseDelay);
}