We’ve seen QWERTY keyboards recycled into various music controllers, but here’s a DIY project that makes actual sounds:
A home-made synthesizer based off of an old function generator and a standard qwerty board. Three wave types–sin, square, sawtooth–and HI+LO outputs. It connects to the keyboard with a stereo 1/4″ cable (TRS) so new controllers can be made.
QWERTY Keyboard analog synth [Matrixsynth]
Funny: after all these years of talking about how great dedicated music controllers are as a way of getting away from your standard computer input, people just keep finding ways of reusing that input. Previous examples:
QWERTY Keyboard Instrument: Samchillian Tip Tip Tip Cheeepeeeee
Custom USB Keyboard for Controlling Ableton Live
Pimp my Ableton Controller: Custom Keyboards, Custom Paint Jobs
… and, for your feet:
Get loopy with the DIY $10 Ableton Footcontroller (no soldering required)