It took us a while to stop drooling long enough to write about this amazing machining project. [Denis MO] made a single-lens reflex camera from scratch. The banner image above is not the finished product, but just one step in the production chain. [Denis] has been thinking about doing this project for 25 years and finally took the plunge. From the start, the only parts he planned on NOT making himself were the screws, ball bearings, shutter, curtain fabric, and interchangeable lenses. Everything else is his own creation based off of his own design. Spend some time looking over his project. There’s plenty of information and images of both the machining process, and the drawings he mocked up in the design process. We’ve also included a pic of the finished camera and the contact sheet from his test roll of film after the break.

[Thanks Javi]

[Mojo] has taken a lot of the complex circuitry out of the mix by creating a virtual Theremin. A Theremin is an electronic instrument, usually with two antennas, that senses the proximity of the player’s hands to the instrument and responds accordingly.

This design, called the AirDeck, uses a Wii remote as an IR sensor and two gloves with IR LEDs in them. Data from the Wii remote is processed by a custom Java app that converts it into sound. [Mojo's] interface also includes some alternative options such as a turn-table scratch interface.

In the end this is still just a synthesizer/midi controller and cannot stand up to the real thing. However if you’re not an accomplished player you’ll probably never notice the difference.

We got a tip about a USB CD destroyer. We found its methods amusing as it just scratches the CD as seen above on the left. If you really have data security issues, perhaps something more than scratched plastic should be used. There are a lot of paper shredders that can also shred CDs, what about taking that shredder with the burnt out motor and turning it into a hand-cranked shredder that doubles as a CD killer?

Got a lot of optical media that needs to go? These folks developed the chain-gun of CD shredding with an automatic feed. This consists of a CD shredder and a slew of discs connected with packing tape. As seen in the video after the break, the shredder advances and the next disk is pulled into its jaws.

Microwave has been a popular bringer of death for disc media. The light show and resulting chaotic art (above on the right and after the break) are what make this interesting, but it’s pretty hard on the much-loved kitchen appliance. What we’re really looking for is a way to force a CD/DVD writer to overwrite data. The fact that burnt discs, rather than factory pressed versions, are what normally need to be disposed of makes this a hack waiting to happen. Why isn’t this a standard hardware feature of all drives, and can it be implemented in software?

There’s always the low-tech snap, scratch, or mangle methods. We usually just scratch the foil off the top of the disc.

CD Shredder with automatic feed.

The best microwaved CD.

[denha] has assembled a noise box he calls the XR-NOISE using an XR-2206 multi-waveform function generator. The output has an impressive number of controllable settings, and uses a set of LEDs to indicate sound level and rate. The XR-NOISE uses 1/4″ jacks for both in and out, and can also be controlled by the tap-sensitive mic located on the front of the box. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any further documentation or schematics to provide context, but it seems that this function generator chip has also been used for other audio hack projects as well, including a scratch-synth using resistive pressure sensors.

[via MatrixSynth]

Scratch input allows us to use solid surfaces as an input devices by capturing the sounds they produce. Using a stethoscope and a high pass filter, they capture the unique sounds of specific gestures. Custom software then translates this to actions for applications. The video shows some really cool stuff, like turning an entire wall into an input device. It goes around corners and past doorways. They even talk about potential using your clothes to capture input.

[via Procrastineering]

[nvillar] wanted a relatively cheap way to make a rotary input device for audio mixing. After looking at several options including turn tables and professional audio scrubbers, they decided on the hard drive due to its size, price, and the feel of the disk. The geek factor of using a hard drive as an input device probably didn’t hurt either. They provide schematics and details on how to make it all work. There’s a video after the break of the unit sending signals to a computer. No performances though, sorry.

Aside from what is demoed in the video, DScratch can record and scratch audio directly from the microphone. It also has the ability to send midi data via the DS’s wifi, which in turn can be used to control external MIDI apps. Dscratch also has NDSMotion support. The DS slot and GBA slot DS Motion accessories contain accelerometers and gyroscopes that generate different effects in DScratch when the DS is shook, tilted, and turned. It’s not required for DScratch to work, but it maximizes the app’s functionality.

If you can’t wait for a full version, you can get the Korg DS-10 cartridge. Instead of emulating a turntable, though, this software emulates a Korg MS-10 synthesizer. It can handle music creation and editing like DScratch, but it cannot do midi controlling via WiFi. For that, try DSMI, an open source software suite we covered back in 2006. It consists of software for the DS that controls and sends midi messages via WiFi to the server software on a computer, which in turn feeds it to any running MIDI software. Neither of these do exactly what DScratch does, but they should keep you busy until the full release.

Hobbs’ goal in making the ATTIGO was to create equipment that would allow DJs to play MP3s the same way they would play vinyl records. The first step was finding an adequate touchscreen. Hobbs bought two 17″ touch-screen overlays and put them in a custom wooden housing, then attached both screens to a mixer. The screens display the waveform of the audio, and the user can touch the waveform at any location and drag it back ad forth across a line in the middle of the screen. The music plays faster, slower, or in reverse depending on the user’s motions.

The software that controls the ATTIGO is Max/MSP with a custom patch for the touchscreens. For the graphical interface, Hobbs used Flash, with Flashserver acting as the bridge between Max and Flash. The application register s contact with the touchscreen as mouse clicks, and it also recognizes and uses various other mouse states (individual clicks and extended mousedown moments).

It’s great to see a new interface that goes beyond what FinalScratch and Serato have done recently. Hobbs is currently searching for a manufacturer for the ATTIGO, so you’ll have to wait until then to snag one for yourself. Until then, enjoy this video demo of the ATTIGO in action.

[via psfk]