I, Me, We and She, likey arty viddy gamey techy singy songy funny makey posty. Believe, we’re tailing the bliss like white on rice and frown on sad clown. And isn’t that all there is to it? Send messages to
It seems there’s a rash a voice changer circuits going ’round major electronics publications. 03/08 issue of elektor - cylon voice05/08 nuts & volts - build a voice changer07/08 everyday practical electronics - galactic voice This is a problem because I really like voice changers . . . and have less than no time to build them.
Here’s the first working version of the Staccato guitar effect pedal. I ended up choosing the name based purely on sound description. It uses the Ampeg Scrambler distortion circuit and passes the signal through a Vactrol for a softened gating effect. Every time I try to record a sample of it in action, I end up playing around with it much longer than necessary. But this is a good sign.Controls from Left to right:Pots - Texture, Blend, Rate, WidthFootSwitches - Bypass/Power, Staccato-ON/OFFThere’s switch built into the texture pot that acts as a big ol’ gain boost as well as a DC Jack in the rear with reverse polarity protectionHere’s a sample I recorded off of a little practice amp I rescued from the dumpster. It starts off Dry, then uses the straight distortion, and finally, adds the staccato gating/tremolo effect:Staccato Proto sample AAC 1,009KB
MAKE & Me Posted on January 24th, 2008 at 3:52 pm by Collin
I’ve just been appointed MAKE Flickr Pool Curator! I’m very psyched about this new role I’ll be fulfilling at makezine.com. I honestly couldn’t imagine a publication I’d want to work with more. I’ll be on the lookout for great projects in the pool and adding some hacks/how-to’s/how-not-to’s of my own as well. We’ll be upping the interactive ante with some contests and prizes for user projects. It’s a natural progression - MAKE shows people how to do cool things, people show make how to do cool things, repeat.
IR LED Glasses Posted on January 18th, 2008 at 1:53 pm by Collin
After viewing Johnny Lee’s incredible head tracking demonstration using the Wii hardware I had to experience it for myself. I had a pair of LED safety googles lying around and decided it was time to put them to better use.
I start with a tiny light dependent resistor and an amber 3mm LED (use a yellow LED if possible). These two are going to be good friends.
I pushed the LED and photoresistor flush together, then place the kissing components down on a bit of electrical tape.
Thus begins a very long staring contest.
Now roll the tape around a couple of times. Bend the component leads apart and press the tape together in between in order to keep light out.
I then take a thin strip of black tape and wrap it between the leads horizontally.
Squeeze around on the tape a bit in order to seal any openings. (Remember the round leads go to the resistor, the square-ish ones to the LED) You can check to see if there are leaks by hooking the resistor leads to a multimeter - in a dark room shine a flashlight on both ends of your new vactrol. If the flashlight changes the resistance reading on your meter then you have a leak and need to seal the package a bit more.
This is definitely a quick fix, (a sturdier vactrol should be constructed using epoxy or perhaps silicone adhesive) but I’ve found these to be a great way to control resistance. Just add a little LED flasher circuit and you’re good to go for all sorts of effect pedal, synth, and general electronics mods and designs.
I’m currently working on building my very own EEG via instructions from the OpenEEG project. It’s a fascinating project to say the least. Above is a shot of one of the active electrodes I’m using with the project. These electrodes are then encased in silicone and wired to the main enclosure via shielded cable. I’ll have some readings/results posted as soon as I get some fine silver fashioned into a comfortable interface.
I ran across this video posted a while back on Hacked Gadgets regarding a research project being conducted at the University of Plymouth.
I am currently conducting research along the same lines but my concept for utilizing the EEG signal differs signifigantly. In this usage the computer is basically “playing along” with a live reading of the subjects mental state. This approach is intruiging (and seems quite enjoyable for the test subject) but I see the interpretation or judgement made by the programming as a major leap in assumption. The researcher seems to acknowledge this. Perhaps it was the only way to make the dynamic legible and fun. Amplifying the EEG readings and retaining a version to-scale of their raw form is what attracts me to the topic. The ability to flatly reference a commonly invisible/inaudible organic characteristic - and apply that characteristic to active expression. That seems useful.
The ArduinoSynth is my first attempt at microcontroller programming( and pretty much any coding at all beyond a little html). It took me a bit to get started but it’s turning out to be a fun way to learn the language.
So far it’s a 12-note monophonic synth with transposition selection via one 10K pot. I’m using a gutted toy keyboard for the switches and a simple low pass filter to smooth the output a bit. Here’s the schematic:
Features I’d like to add:
- Another octave (maybe add a transpose switch on each of the next octave, then they can share pins with the first)
- Last note hit priority
- Portamento (note-slide)
- Real sine wave out (no external filter, please)
- Polyphony (I had it working badly, need better math)
- any real keyboard feature in existence(or not) attack, decay, waveform, vibrato, etc.
Source can be found here.
Audio sample here
Sample with no LPF here
Some years back I was in the habit of taking requests. You made the title, I made the tune. I’d almost forgotten about that era til someone sent me a very kind email asking if those songs were still available for download. Well now, yes, they are . . . once again: