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Everything Testudo

Welcome to Everything Testudo, the official companion blog for the amomii Testudo Kit. This community hub is designed to take you seamlessly from your very first through-hole soldering joint to uploading custom C++ sketches in the Arduino IDE. Whether you are hunting for precision soldering techniques, looking to modify code logic for the Neon Tennis, IR Hacks, or Mini Grand shields, or troubleshooting a tricky compilation error, you will find all the step-by-step instructions, expert tips, and diagnostic guides you need right here. 

Testudo
Mini Recordion

Mini Recordion

Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Mini Recordion code to your device, there are two ways to do it: 1.Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. Go to Mini Grand Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Mini Recordion. Read about the amomii Link tool. 2.Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!) Go to Toolbox. What it Does This project transforms your Mini Grand piano into a digital recorder and player. By using RGB lights and pitch-shifting capabilities, you can turn your Mini Grand into an instrument that records your performances into memory banks. Getting Started: Master Mode When you first power on the piano after uploading the code, you start in Master Mode. You’ll know you’re there because most of the light strip will glow red, except for LED 5, which glows green. From here, you have two main paths: Free Play or Record. Practice with Free Play Mode If you want to warm up, press KEY 5 (the one under the green light) to enter Free Play Mode. This lets you play the piano normally to practice your skills. While in this mode, you can use the POT_A0 dial to adjust the pitch. When you are finished practicing and want to go back to the main menu, press KEY 6 and 7 together. Recording Your Performance To start recording a sample, press KEY 6 and 7 while in Master Mode. The recording doesn’t actually start until you hit your first note. The system tracks the notes you play, how long you hold them, and the pauses in between. There are a few things to keep in mind while recording: The Limit: Because of memory constraints, a single recording can have a maximum of 60 key presses. If you hit that limit, it stops automatically. Stopping: When you’re done with your sample, press Keys 6 and 7 again to finish. Managing Your Memory Banks Once a recording is finished, you enter Bank Mode. The lights will change: LEDs 0–3 turn blue, LED 4 is purple, LED 5 is green, and LEDs 6–7 are red. In this mode, the first four KEYs (0–3) represent your Memory Banks. Blinking Red Key: The bank is empty. Solid Red Key: A sample is already saved there. To save your new recording, simply press the bank key where you want it to go. This will either fill an empty spot or overwrite what was already there. Other Options in Bank Mode Before you save, you have three other choices: Listen: Press KEY 5 (green) to hear your performance. Delete: Press KEY 4 (purple) to scrap the recording and start fresh. Re-record: Press KEY 6 and 7 (red) to try the performance again immediately. Playback After you save a sample, you return to Master Mode. You will now see solid red lights on KEYs 0–3 indicating where your saved sounds are. You can now press those keys at any time to play your samples back like a sampler.

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Neon Ticker

Neon Ticker

If you’re anything like me, you set timers multiple times a day. Boiling an egg? Set a timer. Brushing your teeth? Set a timer. Putting a limit on screen time? Set a timer. While most of the time it’s easy enough to do on my phone, I don’t want to have to rely on it for everything. Besides, sometimes my phone isn’t easily accessible, or it’s in my pocket and I don't want to have to set it somewhere to keep an eye on the time if i need to check it before the timer is up.  With the Neon Tennis device, I can now easily keep a timer somewhere close to where I often find myself needing one. In my case, I set a lot of timers while cooking, so I’ve got one on my fridge, ready to go whenever I need it. With the 32 LEDs on the device, and the integrated amomii Glow strip, a quick glance from across the room is all it takes to let me know approximately how much time I’ve got left until time’s up. Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Neon Ticker code to your device, there are two ways to do it: 1.Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. Go to  Neon Tennis Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Neon Ticker. Read about the amomii Link tool.   2.Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!) Go to Toolbox. How it Works Neon Ticker is set up to be used in 5 minute intervals, starting from 5 minutes, and going up. Simply use KEY 3 and 4 to set your time. Once your time is locked in, KEY 1 will get the timer started, and also acts as a pause function. KEY 2 will reset your timer. The amomii Glow strip will shine green as your timer begins, and transition to red as you slowly count down to zero. In addition, the 32 LEDs on the Neon Tennis PCB will slowly fill up, starting at the bottom right, and finishing at the top left, in order to give you a quick visual indicator of how far along you are in the countdown. Once the timer hits zero, a chime will go off, and the amomii Glow will flash to let you know the time is up.  Easy as pie! That is, it’s as easy as pie as long as you’ve got a timer set up so you don’t leave it in the oven for too long and burn the crust. But you’d never let that happen, right?

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Neon Mind

Neon Mind

In our modern world, there’s almost nothing we actually have to commit to memory anymore. Whether you’re setting reminders on your phone, you’ve integrated some sort of task app into your daily routine, or you’ve got one of them fancy AI agents keeping track of your schedule, passwords, and anything else you might need to store, exercising them memory muscles is something can seem almost antiquated, in a way. What that means is that your actual memory and ability to recall information might not be the well-oiled machine that you’d like it to be. Don’t believe me? Set a timer for 5 minutes and go onto your video platform of choice. Watch 5 minutes of short form videos. Click or swipe whenever you want until the timer’s up. Done? Good. What was the third video you watched? Maybe that took you a bit to remember, or maybe you don’t remember at all. That’s not a knock against you, that’s just the world we’re in. One of the projects we’ve made for the Neon Tennis device is a simple, old fashioned memory game. Watch the LEDs light up, and repeat the pattern by pressing the corresponding buttons. The better you are, the longer the sequence gets. Stretch your memory legs and go for the high score. Challenge others to see who can remember the longest sequence! Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Neon Mind code to your device, there are two ways to do it: 1.Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. Go to Neon Tennis Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Neon Mind. Read about the  amomii Link tool. 2.Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!) Go to Toolbox. How to play Neon Mind is primarily a one player game. The goal of the game is to see how long a sequence you can commit to memory.  Starting at 1, the Neon Tennis PCB will light up one of 8 LEDs situated on the four corners of the device. Each LED has its own corresponding color on the amomii Glow strip, and also plays a  unique sound, if either of those help you to remember the sequence more easily. After the LED lights up and turns off, it’s your turn to press the correct button. For step one, simply hit the KEY 1-8 that’s next to the LED that lit up. If you did that right, the game continues. The game will now light up 2 LEDs in succession, and you must press two KEY buttons in the correct order to continue the pattern. Once successful, the game will continue adding one step to the sequence after every time you’ve successfully inputted the correct pattern. The official Guiness record for the longest memory sequence in this type of game is 100, set in 2024. Typically anything above 30 is considered an excellent score, whereas scores in the 8-15 range are considered more of an average score for normal play. While a good memory might not be as critical as it used to be, why don’t you give your memory muscles a good workout with Neon Mind?

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The amomii IR Hacks board set up as a weather station with its temperature and humidity sensor and weather icons

Weather Station

To put a little bit of added functionality into your IR Hacks device, one of the projects we've included is Weather Station. Simply put, Weather Station uses the built-in temperature and heat sensor to give you a reading of your surroundings. Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Weather Station code to your device, there are two ways to do it: Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. a. Go to IR Hacks Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Weather Station. b. Read about the amomii Link tool. Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!)a. Go to Toolbox. What it Does Using the temperature and humidity sensor on the IR Hacks device, the Weather Station gives you a reading of your current surroundings. By default, the temperature is set to Celsius, but if you want it to output in Fahrenheit instead, the SW1 button on the amomii Blink will change that for you.  

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The amomii IR Hacks board used as a calculator, shown beside a pocket calculator and number pad

Calculator

The next project we can add to our IR Hacks device is a simple calculator. Using the number keys for our input, and the A-D keys for the functions, we’ve got a simple, compact device that you can use for all your simple arithmetic needs! Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Calculator code to your device, there are two ways to do it: Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. a. Go to IR Hacks Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Calculator b. Read about the amomii Link tool.   Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!)a. Go to Toolbox. How it Works For this calculator, the number keys 0-9 represent the numbers 0-9 (obviously). For the other functions, starting from the bottom left, the * key clears the memory, # is our equals sign, D is +, C is -, B is *, and A is /. From there, it works just like you would expect a calculator to work. It calculates.  

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The amomii IR Hacks board running Space Invaders, with a pixel-art alien invader graphic

Space Invaders

Space Invaders started as an arcade machine all the way back in 1978. One of the first videogame megahits, it has now found its way, after all these years onto the 1.5x2.5cm screen of the amomii Blink. Simple to control, but difficult to master, one of the first videogame fads to sweep the world is now available in the palm of your hand, thanks to the amomii IR Hacks device! Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Space Invaders code to your device, there are two ways to do it: Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. a. Go to IR Hacks Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Space Invaders. b. Read about the amomii Link tool. Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!)a. Go to Toolbox. How to play Space Invaders uses a total of 4 buttons on the IR Hacks device. Press 4 to move your laser cannon to the left, press 6 to move it to the right, and press 5 to fire your laser cannon.  The object of the game is to destroy all of the incoming invaders before they get too close. They are grouped into 3 rows of 6 invaders, and move together as a unit horizontally across the screen. Once they hit the edge, they will move one row closer to you and rebound to travel horizontally in the opposite direction. If you allow any of the invaders to get close enough to the bottom of the screen, it’s game over and the humans lost! So shoot them all before it’s too late!  

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The amomii IR Hacks board running a Snake game, with pixel snake trails in the background

Snake

Eat and grow. That’s how it works. The more you eat, the bigger you get. That’s life, and the idea behind the game Snake. Invented in the arcades of the 1970s, the game reached iconic status when it was an included game in the Nokia 6110 in 1997. The game is simple, addictive fun at its best. Now, using your IR Hacks device, you can get your game on and see how long your snake can get! Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Snake code to your device, there are two ways to do it: Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. a. Go to IR Hacks Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Snake. b. Read about the amomii Link tool.   Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!)a. Go to Toolbox. How to play This game uses 5 buttons on the IR Hacks device. To control your snake on the screen, button 2 is up, 4 is left, 6 is right, 8 is down, and 5 will reset the game. Eat a dot, and it gets added to your snake. The longer your snake gets, the more careful you have to be. If your snake touches any part of itself, or any of the edges of the screen, the game is over. You get 10 points for every dot you eat. If you can get to 250 points, or 25 dots eaten, that’s a great score!

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Hands playing Tic Tac Toe on the amomii IR Hacks board, its Blink OLED screen showing a noughts and crosses grid

Tic Tac Toe

Some games are timeless. Tic Tac Toe is certainly one. Three in a row games have been traced back as far as 1300 BC in ancient Egypt. So when we built the IR Hacks device with its 4x4 button grid, adding a tic tac toe game project seemed obvious. Our version is a two player game, featuring these two guys: Kissy face 😚, and Grimace 😬. Kissy uses the heart symbol, and Grimace chose the poop symbol. Ready to play? Find an opponent and let’s go! Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Tic Tac Toe code to your device, there are two ways to do it: Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. a. Go to IR Hacks Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Tic Tac Toe. b. Read about the amomii Link tool. Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!)a. Go to Toolbox. How to play For this game, only buttons 1-9 will be used. They are mapped to correspond to the 3x3 grid you see on the screen. The object of the game is of course to get three of your symbols in a row while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Kissy 😚 will go first. Simply press the button that matches with the spot on the grid you want to fill. Once done, you’ll see Kissy 😚 change to Grimace 😬 and it’s time for player 2 to choose a spot on the grid. Keep going back and forth until you have a winner, or a tie game. To play another game, simply press any of the buttons 1-9 to reset the board. 

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Banner for the amomii Neon Tennis project showing the retail box and the assembled game board with lit LEDs

Neon Tennis

You’ve put in the hard work, and the Neon Tennis project is finished. Now it is time to play. The main game for this project is, of course, tennis. Serve, return, volley, smash! If you know tennis, then I’m sure you’re quite aware of the potential for lots and lots of damage if you want to play a game of it inside your living room. With the Neon Tennis game, we’ve shrunk the game down to fit onto your device, and you’re way less likely to break a window when you play. Whether you’ve got a friend that wants to play a game with you, or you just want to test your skills against the machine, Neon Tennis puts the game in your hands. Let’s get started! Uploading the Project  If you haven't already uploaded the Neon Tennis code to your device, there are two ways to do it: 1.Use amomii Link. amomii Link is our proprietary tool for uploading code directly from our website. Go to Neon Tennis Link and choose your project. Today we’re picking Neon Tennis. Read about the amomii Link tool. 2. Manual Installation: Go to the Toolbox, download the code and upload it to your device using the Arduino IDE (if you don't know what that means, use option one!) Go to Toolbox. How to play You can start by choosing whether you want to play a one or two player game. If you’re playing against the computer, you can then choose the difficulty next.Once that's done, let’s get playing. Your serve!The row of LEDs on the left is the strength indicator for your serve; the fuller the bar, the stronger the serve. But, be careful, if you hold the button for too long, it's a fault. Double fault, and you’ll lose a point. When it comes time to return the ball, you have some options. You have two return buttons on both the left and right side of the board. The outer buttons will return the ball straight back (up the line), and the inner buttons will return the ball diagonally (cross court). So that’s it? Not quite. The colored LEDs also come into play. You must time your return properly. Press the button when a green LED is lit up, and you’ll miss the ball entirely. Press it when yellow is lit, you’ll return it at a regular speed. Press the button when the red LED is lit, and your return will get a speed boost! Returning the ball when the LED is red multiple times in a row will keep increasing in speed, making it much harder to hit! For now, that’s all you really need to know. For a more in depth description of the gameplay and rules, they can be found here: Official Neon Tennis Rules Now you’re ready to have a little fun with your amomii Neon Tennis! You’ve put in the work, after all, so give it a go and practice smashing aces against a friend, or the device itself! 

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