It is now time to take this project to the next level: soldering 4 chips to a protoboard, adding an Arduino, a mixing circuit, putting it all into a box, and making music! Finally!.

At this point in the project, we have reliable communication with one SN76489 chip on the breadboard and some form of sound output. In this article, we'll make it play its first note, control it from a computer, and start improving its musicality.

The TI chip can output up to 10 mA, which begs for some amplification. A few components I had bought or salvaged a while ago were looking at me with begging eyes, so this provided a good excuse to indulge.

The first installment in a series were we build a MIDI instrument from a bunch of SN76489s. In this article, we concentrate on setting up communication with a an SN76489 and getting some sound out of it.