Clock Box

Arduino-based clock generator for musical electronic instruments, featuring both MIDI and analog clock outputs. This was one of my first DIY projects, originally conceived for friends who needed a reliable master clock to sync their hardware setups.

There’s a knob to control the tempo (from 30 to 240 bpm) and a simple switch for start/stop. A LED for indicating the beat. The project is really easy to build, with only a handful of components. In my first version, I wired all the MIDI outputs together — which isn’t the proper way to handle MIDI outs. Sometimes it works, but for a more reliable setup it’s safer to use a MIDI thru box, like the MIDI Solutions Quadra Thru.

Component List:

4x 220Ω resistor
3x Jack socket
1x MIDI DIN female output
1x Arduino Nano (any other Arduino might do the job but this one is cheaper)
1x LED
1x Toggle button
1x 10kΩ potentiometer (4.7kΩ or 100kΩ are Ok too)