Serial

It displays text sent from your microcontroller over USB. Use it to verify your sensor is working before adding wireless complexity.

How to Use It

In your sketch, initialize serial communication in setup():

Serial.begin(115200);

Then print sensor values in loop():

Serial.println(sensorValue);

Open the Serial Monitor: Tools → Serial Monitor (or Cmd+Shift+M). Set the baud rate to match your sketch (115200).

You should see values updating in real time.

What to Check

Is the value changing when you interact with the sensor?
What is the range — minimum, maximum, typical?
Is the signal stable, or does it jump erratically?

Answer these before moving on to wireless. A noisy or flat signal is usually a hardware problem.

Setup in This Course

On the microcontroller (Arduino):

Separate each value with a space (e.g., using Serial.print(" ");)

In Max:

Use the serial object with baudrate set to 115200
Parse the serial message with the unjoin object (e.g., unjoin 2 if you have two values)

In Plugdata:

Use the comport external for connecting Arduino to Plugdata. You can find it by installing the library via Deken (Help > Find externals) within the software. Search for comport and install it.

Use comport with deviceID and baudrate set to 115200

Tutorial: Max to Arduino | Pure Data to Arduino

One Reader at a Time

The serial port can only be open in one place at a time. If the Arduino Serial Monitor is open, Max or Plugdata cannot read from the same port — and vice versa. Close the Serial Monitor before trying to receive serial data in your patch.

Serial as a Fallback

If Wi-Fi drops during the event, USB serial is a reliable fallback. Max and Plugdata can both receive serial data.