Music box tune tracker. Create or import a tune and turn it into a record for the Fisher Price Record Player toy

music box tune tracker use the same file format (.fpr) from "Fred Record Player" available at https://www.instructables.com/id/3D-printing-records-for-a-Fisher-Price-toy-record-/

Screenshot

Prerequisites

This software uses Python with the Curses library for the User Interface and the Mido library for sound.

pip install mido python-rtmidi

To play sounds, Midi software synthesize is required. I use timidity, which can be installed under Linux Ubuntu with :

 sudo apt install libasound2-dev libjack-dev timidity

and then run with:

timidity -iA -B2,8 -Os1l -s 11100

Run

List Midi ports

Under Linux, midi 'Port name' can be listed with

aplaymidi -l

 Port    Client name                      Port name
 14:0    Midi Through                     Midi Through Port-0
128:0    TiMidity                         TiMidity port 0
128:1    TiMidity                         TiMidity port 1
128:2    TiMidity                         TiMidity port 2
128:3    TiMidity                         TiMidity port 3

Command line usage

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  --port PORT        name of the midi port to use
  --fpr FPR          .fpr file to open
  --mid MID          import from .mid file created with music box tune tracker
  --program PROGRAM  midi instrument code
  --title TITLE      set the title of a new tune
  --low              display low pitch notes first

Example

python music_box_tracker.py --port 'TiMidity port 0'

Using music box tune tracker

Arrow key: Move the cursor
Space: add/remove a note at cursor
p: play/stop
t: play the tone at cursor
r: play the column of tones at cursor
s: save
l: load
x: export to .mid
e: edit title
q: quit
o: move the playing start location to cursor
i: move the playing start location to the right
u: move the playing start location to the left
+: right shift the partition
-: left shift the partition

Convert .fpr to .scad

.fpr file can be converted to .scad file by using the fpr_to_scad.py file

usage: fpr_to_scad.py [-h] [--fpr FPR] [--fprbis FPRBIS] [--scad SCAD]
                      [--thickness THICKNESS]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --fpr FPR             name of fpr file
  --fprbis FPRBIS       name of fpr file for second side
  --scad SCAD           name of scad file to output
  --thickness THICKNESS
                        thickness in mm. Defaults to 3 if one
                        side or 5 if two sides

How to print the name of the song on the disc

The Write.scad and other files are required to have the title of the tune written on the disc

Head to https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16193 and clic "DOWNLOAD ALL FILES". Extract the content of Writescad.zip where OpenScad can find it.

Note: the ' are rendered as ", so in the scad file I replace all ' by ` before rendering.

Convert .scad to .stl

the scad file can be use with OpenScad to create a .stl file to 3D print the record.

Open a scad file then menu Design/Render (F6) then File/Export/Export as STL (F7)

Convert .mid from musicboxmaniacs to .fpr

The maniacs_mid_to_fpr.py program can convert .mid file from https://musicboxmaniacs.com/

It can only convert .mid designed for the Kikkerland 15 music box

usage: maniacs_mid_to_fpr.py [-h] [--mid MID] [--fpr FPR]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --mid MID   file to import. .mid from musicboxmaniacs.com Kikkerland 15
  --fpr FPR   fpr file to write

Thanks

Thanks to FredMurphy to have created and shared "Fred Record Player" source code, it was of a great help, notably to implement the export to scad feature.

More informations on running Fred Record Player under linux are available in the fred_record_player file

phlash / music-box-tune-tracker