The Arduino Buzzer is a simple audio output device that produces tones, beeps, and alerts. It’s commonly used in alarms, notifications, timers, and interactive electronics to add sound feedback.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to connect a buzzer to Arduino, generate tones using code, and create sound patterns. By the end, you’ll be able to use the Arduino Buzzer in projects like alarms, music players, and sound-based alerts.
Table of Contents
How the Buzzer Works
There are two types of buzzers: active buzzers and passive buzzers. Most active buzzers work at a voltage range of 3.3V – 5V and generate sound at a fixed frequency. You can increase or decrease the volume, but you cannot change the sound frequency.
On the other hand, there is the passive buzzer. Passive buzzers can generate sound over a wide frequency range, from ~31 Hz to ~20 kHz. They require a fixed-frequency signal to produce a specific tone. This tone can be changed by adjusting the input signal frequency. We can use a PWM signal or the Arduino tone() function to generate this type of input signal and create different tones.
Arduino Buzzer Circuit
A buzzer has two legs. The positive side is marked with a ⨁ sign. Connect the positive pin to any Arduino digital pin, and the ground pin to the Arduino ground.
If you have an Arduino buzzer module, it has three pins: positive, negative, and signal. In that case, connect the positive and negative pins to the Arduino 5V and ground pins, respectively. Then connect the signal pin to any Arduino digital pin.
Arduino Buzzer Code
A buzzer can be played in many ways. You can generate a simple bip-bip sound using the digitalWrite() function.
The code below uses the digitalWrite() function to turn the buzzer on for 500 ms and then turn it off for 50 ms, which generates a bip-bip sound.
const int buzzerPin = 9;
void setup(){
pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop(){
digitalWrite(buzzerPin, HIGH);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(buzzerPin, LOW);
delay(500);
}We can control the intensity of the tone using a PWM signal. analogWrite(pin, 127) will turn the buzzer on at half intensity.
Note: The analogWrite() function will only work with Arduino PWM pins. You can identify these pins by the ‘~’ marking on the board.
const int buzzerPin = 9;
void setup(){
pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop(){
analogWrite(buzzerPin, 127);
delay(500);
analogWrite(buzzerPin,0);
delay(500);
}Upload the code to the Arduino and listen to how it sounds.
Buzzer with tone() function
It becomes more interesting when we use the tone() function with a buzzer. We get more control over the buzzer sound when using the tone() function.
The basic syntax for the tone() and noTone() functions is given below.
tone(pin, frequency); // or
tone(pin, frequency, duration);
noTone(pin);Parameters
pin→ The Arduino pin on which we generate the tone.frequency→ The frequency of the tone in hertz (Hz).duration(optional) → How long the tone should play, in milliseconds. If omitted, the tone continues untilnoTone(pin)is called.
A call to the tone() function generates a tone on the specified pin, and a call to the noTone() function stops that tone.
Arduino Code for Passive Buzzer
A simple sketch using the tone() function is given below.
const int buzzerPin = 9;
void setup(){
pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop(){
tone(buzzerPin, 500, 500);
delay(1000);
}Upload the code to the Arduino, and you will hear a 500 Hertz tone.
Some useful Buzzer Sounds
Here are a few example buzzer codes that generate useful sounds.
Alarm / Warning Sound
const int buzzerPin = 9;
void setup() {
// Nothing to initialize
}
void loop() {
// Simple repetitive beep pattern
for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
tone(buzzerPin, 1000); // 1000 Hz tone
delay(300); // ON for 500 ms
noTone(buzzerPin);
delay(300); // OFF for 200 ms
}
// Pause before repeating the alarm
delay(500);
}Aubulance siren
const int buzzerPin = 9;
void setup() {
// Nothing to initialize
}
void loop() {
// Sweep up
for (int freq = 600; freq <= 1200; freq += 10) {
tone(buzzerPin, freq);
delay(5);
}
// Sweep down
for (int freq = 1200; freq >= 600; freq -= 10) {
tone(buzzerPin, freq);
delay(5);
}
// Short pause before next siren cycle
delay(200);
}Police siren
const int buzzerPin = 9;
void setup() {
pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
// Sweep up
for (int freq = 1000; freq <= 2000; freq += 10) {
tone(buzzerPin, freq);
delay(5);
}
// Sweep down
for (int freq = 2000; freq >= 1000; freq -= 10) {
tone(buzzerPin, freq);
delay(5);
}
}Play Melodies using the Buzzer
The code below will play the melody of the “Happy Birthday to You” song.
int buzzerPin = 9;
int numOfNotes = 28; // number of notes
char notes[] = "GGAGcB GGAGdc GGxecBA yyecdc";
int beats[] = { 2, 2, 8, 8, 8, 16, 1, 2, 2, 8, 8, 8, 16, 1,
2, 2, 8, 8, 8, 8, 16, 1, 2, 2, 8, 8, 8, 16 };
int tempo = 150;
void playTone(int freqVal, int dur) {
for (long i = 0; i < dur * 1000L; i += freqVal * 2) {
digitalWrite(buzzerPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(freqVal);
digitalWrite(buzzerPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(freqVal);
}
}
void playNote(char note, int dur) {
char noteMap[] = { 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'A', 'B',
'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'a', 'b',
'x', 'y' };
int freq[] = { 1915, 1700, 1519, 1432, 1275, 1136, 1014,
956, 834, 765, 593, 468, 346, 224,
655, 715 };
int spd = 5;
for (int i = 0; i < 17; i++) {
if (noteMap[i] == note) {
int noteDur = dur / spd;
playTone(freq[i], noteDur);
}
}
}
void setup() {
pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
for (int i = 0; i < numOfNotes; i++) {
if (notes[i] == ' ') {
delay(beats[i] * tempo); // rest
} else {
playNote(notes[i], beats[i] * tempo);
}
delay(tempo); // short pause between notes
}
}Nokia Tone
/*
Nokia Tune
Connect a piezo buzzer or speaker to pin 9 or select a new pin.
More songs available at https://github.com/robsoncouto/arduino-songs
Robson Couto, 2019
*/
#define NOTE_B0 31
#define NOTE_C1 33
#define NOTE_CS1 35
#define NOTE_D1 37
#define NOTE_DS1 39
#define NOTE_E1 41
#define NOTE_F1 44
#define NOTE_FS1 46
#define NOTE_G1 49
#define NOTE_GS1 52
#define NOTE_A1 55
#define NOTE_AS1 58
#define NOTE_B1 62
#define NOTE_C2 65
#define NOTE_CS2 69
#define NOTE_D2 73
#define NOTE_DS2 78
#define NOTE_E2 82
#define NOTE_F2 87
#define NOTE_FS2 93
#define NOTE_G2 98
#define NOTE_GS2 104
#define NOTE_A2 110
#define NOTE_AS2 117
#define NOTE_B2 123
#define NOTE_C3 131
#define NOTE_CS3 139
#define NOTE_D3 147
#define NOTE_DS3 156
#define NOTE_E3 165
#define NOTE_F3 175
#define NOTE_FS3 185
#define NOTE_G3 196
#define NOTE_GS3 208
#define NOTE_A3 220
#define NOTE_AS3 233
#define NOTE_B3 247
#define NOTE_C4 262
#define NOTE_CS4 277
#define NOTE_D4 294
#define NOTE_DS4 311
#define NOTE_E4 330
#define NOTE_F4 349
#define NOTE_FS4 370
#define NOTE_G4 392
#define NOTE_GS4 415
#define NOTE_A4 440
#define NOTE_AS4 466
#define NOTE_B4 494
#define NOTE_C5 523
#define NOTE_CS5 554
#define NOTE_D5 587
#define NOTE_DS5 622
#define NOTE_E5 659
#define NOTE_F5 698
#define NOTE_FS5 740
#define NOTE_G5 784
#define NOTE_GS5 831
#define NOTE_A5 880
#define NOTE_AS5 932
#define NOTE_B5 988
#define NOTE_C6 1047
#define NOTE_CS6 1109
#define NOTE_D6 1175
#define NOTE_DS6 1245
#define NOTE_E6 1319
#define NOTE_F6 1397
#define NOTE_FS6 1480
#define NOTE_G6 1568
#define NOTE_GS6 1661
#define NOTE_A6 1760
#define NOTE_AS6 1865
#define NOTE_B6 1976
#define NOTE_C7 2093
#define NOTE_CS7 2217
#define NOTE_D7 2349
#define NOTE_DS7 2489
#define NOTE_E7 2637
#define NOTE_F7 2794
#define NOTE_FS7 2960
#define NOTE_G7 3136
#define NOTE_GS7 3322
#define NOTE_A7 3520
#define NOTE_AS7 3729
#define NOTE_B7 3951
#define NOTE_C8 4186
#define NOTE_CS8 4435
#define NOTE_D8 4699
#define NOTE_DS8 4978
#define REST 0
// change this to make the song slower or faster
int tempo = 180;
// change this to whichever pin you want to use
int buzzer = 9;
// notes of the moledy followed by the duration.
// a 4 means a quarter note, 8 an eighteenth , 16 sixteenth, so on
// !!negative numbers are used to represent dotted notes,
// so -4 means a dotted quarter note, that is, a quarter plus an eighteenth!!
int melody[] = {
// Nokia Ringtone
// Score available at https://musescore.com/user/29944637/scores/5266155
NOTE_E5, 8, NOTE_D5, 8, NOTE_FS4, 4, NOTE_GS4, 4,
NOTE_CS5, 8, NOTE_B4, 8, NOTE_D4, 4, NOTE_E4, 4,
NOTE_B4, 8, NOTE_A4, 8, NOTE_CS4, 4, NOTE_E4, 4,
NOTE_A4, 2,
};
// sizeof gives the number of bytes, each int value is composed of two bytes (16 bits)
// there are two values per note (pitch and duration), so for each note there are four bytes
int notes = sizeof(melody) / sizeof(melody[0]) / 2;
// this calculates the duration of a whole note in ms
int wholenote = (60000 * 4) / tempo;
int divider = 0, noteDuration = 0;
void setup() {
// iterate over the notes of the melody.
// Remember, the array is twice the number of notes (notes + durations)
for (int thisNote = 0; thisNote < notes * 2; thisNote = thisNote + 2) {
// calculates the duration of each note
divider = melody[thisNote + 1];
if (divider > 0) {
// regular note, just proceed
noteDuration = (wholenote) / divider;
} else if (divider < 0) {
// dotted notes are represented with negative durations!!
noteDuration = (wholenote) / abs(divider);
noteDuration *= 1.5; // increases the duration in half for dotted notes
}
// we only play the note for 90% of the duration, leaving 10% as a pause
tone(buzzer, melody[thisNote], noteDuration * 0.9);
// Wait for the specief duration before playing the next note.
delay(noteDuration);
// stop the waveform generation before the next note.
noTone(buzzer);
}
}
void loop() {
// no need to repeat the melody.
}You can find more melodies at the links below.
github.com/hibit-dev/buzzer
github.com/AbhishekGhosh/Arduino-Buzzer-Tone-Codes
github.com/xitanggg/-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Theme-Song
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learned how to create a tone using a buzzer and Arduino. You also learned about the Arduino tone() function. I hope you can now easily include a buzzer in your projects.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Share it with relevant people or groups. Feel free to comment below if you have any doubts or suggestions.
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Is there a way to use both tone() and analogWrite() in the same loop? I would like to control the volume as well as the frequency.