This is a quick start guide to start coding the pedalSHIELD MEGA.
I am going to explain just the basic ideas you need to know to progress as fast as possible and then a series of effects from easy to difficult.

1. What Do You Need to Know About the Hardware?
You need to know which pins are used to connects the hardware resources (LEDs, buttons, switch, Display, ADC, PWMs). Then in the effect codes, you will know which pins need to be read or write.



Inputs:
Digital_2: TOGGLE SWITCH.
Analog_4: PUSH-BUTTON_1.
Analog_5: PUSH-BUTTON_2.
Analog_0: GUITAR INPUT JACK.
Digital_12: TRUE-BYPASS FOOTSWITCH.

Outputs:
Digital_13: LED.
PWM_9 (Digital9): OUTPUT JACK.
PWM_10(Digital10): OUTPUT JACK.
I2C Bus (pins 20 & 21) : OLED DISPLAY.

2. Installing the Software.
You would need the Arduino IDE Software. It is available in the Arduino Software page with all the instructions. There is also a "Getting Started with Arduino" guide for more details.

To be able to code and use the OLED display, you will need to install the U8gh libraries, there is a short tutorial that explains how to do it here: https://www.electrosmash.com/forum/pedalshield-mega/290-arduino-mega-u8glib-libraries-installation

Once all the software is installed your system should look like this:



3. Lets Start Coding!
We have a series of pedal effects already coded and available in the forum. All these effects have "educational" purposes. The idea is to have them as a base to start improving or coding your own effects. Therefore, these codes have a balance between performance and complexity so you can understand them easily.

Going from easy to difficult, the natural evolution is:

1. Clean Pedal
2. Volume/Booster Pedal
3. Distortion Pedal
4. Fuzz Pedal
5. Bit-Crusher Pedal
6. Metronome
7. SineWave Generator
8. Daft Punk - Octaver Pedal
9. Delay Pedal
10. Echo Pedal
11. Reverb Pedal
12. Chorus Pedal
13. Vibrato Pedal
14. Chorus + Vibrato
15. Tremolo
16. Multi Effects: Delay + Distortion + Fuzz + BitCrusher

You can Download all the pedalSHIELD MEGA codes in a Zip File:



Related to the OLED display:

• VUmeter OLED Display