Eduqas Electronics GCSE Coursework - FULL MARKS (40/40)

Digital Metronome

, Table of Contents


Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... 2
Digital Metronome ........................................................................................................ 3
Circuit Specifications .................................................................................................... 5
User Guide ................................................................................................................... 6
Circuit Block Diagram ................................................................................................... 7
Crystal Oscillator with Counters .................................................................................... 9
Rotary Switch with Counters ........................................................................................ 12
Beats to the Bar Counter ............................................................................................. 15
7 Segment Display ...................................................................................................... 18
Arduino Microcontroller with Buzzer ............................................................................. 21
Circuit Picture and Diagram ......................................................................................... 24
Components List ........................................................................................................ 25
Circuit Specifications Table ......................................................................................... 26
Evaluation/Improvements ........................................................................................... 28
Risk Assessment ........................................................................................................ 28




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, Digital Metronome


Analysis:
All musical pieces have a beats per minute (BPM) that determines how fast the piece should be
played, for example, 60BPM would be a frequency of 1Hz. However, musicians can’t just play a
demanding piece at the specified BPM for the first time without any practice, thus all musicians
start from practicing their piece at a lower tempo, increasing the BPM incrementally once they are
confident with the current speed, until they reach the speed the piece should be played at. The
problem is how to provide the musicians with a BPM to practice their piece with.




Music Notation (showing 4 beats per bar)

The solution is a metronome. A metronome is a device that essentially helps the user with timing
by giving out a beep at a selected BPM. Metronomes also display numbers to indicate what beat in
a bar the user is on. If there are 4 beats in a beat (4/4), the metronome will count from 1 to 4 at a
speed designated by the BPM and reset back to 1, which indicates the start of a new bar.

The aim of this electronics coursework project is to create a metronome with visual and auditory
effects to tell the user how fast the piece should be played, what beat in the bar they are on and
when a new bar has started.



Research:
Firstly, I need to decide what BPMs the metronome should produce and how the BPMs would be
produced. Pieces range from 20 – 180BPM according to articles, but the most common tempos are
Andante, Moderato, Allegretto, Allegro, Vivace and Presto which the general range is of 85 – 180
BPM (source: https://symphonynovascotia.ca/faqs/symphony-101). However, since a metronome
is mainly used for practice and not for real performance, a slower practice BPM range should be
used for this project, around 60 – 150BPM, which is 1 – 2.5Hz.

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