Echo And Reverb In A Pretty Little Box

November 22, 2019 by Lewin Day 4 Comments

These days, if there’s a chip worth using, there will be a cheap pre-built module on eBay to make using it even easier. It’s a great time saver, and projects that used to take a couple of weekends can now be completed in a rainy afternoon. [lonesoulsurfer] knows how it is, and took advantage of this very approach to build this tidy echo & reverb effects box.

The build starts with a PT2399 echo/delay line module sourced of eBay, a part that we’ve learned much about thanks to the hard work of others. A resistor is cut off the board, enabling echo as well as reverb functionality. It’s laced up in a box with a couple of pots and a switch to control the effect, and hooked up with 6.5mm audio jacks to enable it to be easily used with guitars, synths, or karaoke machines.

It’s a fun build, and one that could serve as as a useful component in a larger setup. Adding a 3PDT switch could make it more useful as a guitar pedal, or it could be integrated into a Eurorack module, too. We’d particularly love to see the results possible from stuffing five of the modules in a single box and routing them into each other in new and exciting ways. If you pull that off, drop us a line.

Replica Marshmello Helmet Is A Tidy Halloween Build

November 22, 2019 by Lewin Day 2 Comments

As the saying goes – you don’t need a stylized, bedazzled helmet to have a successful career in EDM, but it helps. Marshmello is the latest in a long line of musicians to sport bespoke headgear, and [MikeTheSuperDad] undertook the construction of a replica for Halloween.

The build starts with a piece of concrete form tube as the base of the helmet. This is combined with 3D printed components to create a grid in which to place WS2812B LED strings. These are controlled by an Arduino Pro Mini, which is responsible for handling the animations. Further 3D printed parts are used as templates to cut out the characteristic eyes and mouth, as well as to cover the top. Plastic sheeting is then used over the top of everything to diffuse the LEDs and provide the final look, with black mesh behind the eyes and mouth making them properly stand out.

Marshmello should be lauded for creating a helmet with a distinctive visual style, while remaining easy to replicate, unlike popular Daft Punk builds of years past. Building a replica could serve as good practice before starting out on your own unique build. Video after the break.

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Icosahedron Glows With The Best Of Them

November 22, 2019 by Lewin Day 1 Comment

Glowables come in all shapes and sizes, and we’re always keen to see the multitude of different ways hackers find to put great masses of LEDs to good use. [cabrera.101] wanted to get in on the action, and whipped up a rather flashy icosahedron.

The build uses high-density 144-LED-per-meter strips for the edges, with 60-LED-per-meter strips used for the tubes that connect to the stainless steel ball in the centre. An Arduino Mega controls the Neopixel strips, with the wiring carefully planned out to ensure all LEDs have adequate power and signal to operate correctly. Not one to skimp on the juice, [cabrera.101] outfitted the rig with a 5V, 60A power supply – something that would have seemed ridiculous in 1992, but barely raises an eyebrow today.

It’s a build that would make a perfect whatchamacallit for a science fiction film. The reflections of the edge lights on the central sphere are particularly scintilliating. If you’re new to the realm of glowables, it’s easy to start – there are plenty of tools to help, too. Video after the break.

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Feel The Virtual Road With Force Feedback

November 22, 2019 by Gerrit Coetzee 7 Comments

When you’re driving your virtual supercar around the Italian countryside the last thing you want is an inauthentic steering wheel feel, that’s where Open FFBoard comes in. Racing game enthusiasts will go to impossible and sometimes incredibly expensive lengths to build extravagant simulators. [Yannick] feels many of these products are just a little too pricey without much need.

Right now his board is still in a process of iteration, though it can integrate with Assetto Corsa already. You can see in the demo video after the break that it responds quite realistically to the video game state, however problems keep cropping up in search of solutions. Motor drivers burn out and power resistors are added: that energy has to go somewhere. Next up will be switching to the increasingly popular Trinamic drivers. Either way we can’t wait to see the next revision and to get another amazing simulator build sent in to us, maybe centered around the Open FFBoard.

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Thea Flowers – Creating A Sega-Inspired Hardware Synthesizer From The Ground Up

November 22, 2019 by Lewin Day 5 Comments

For those who grew up with video games, the legendary sounds of consoles past are an instant nostalgia hit. [Thea Flowers] first got her hands on a gamepad playing Sonic the Hedgehog, so the sounds of the Sega Genesis hold a special place in her heart. Decades later, this inspired the creation of Genesynth, a hardware synth inspired by the classic console. The journey of developing this hardware formed the basis of [Thea]’s enlightening Supercon talk.

[Thea’s] first begins by exploring why the Genesis sound is so unique. The Sega console slotted neatly into a time period where the company sought to do something more than simple subtractive synthesis, but before it was possible to use full-waveform audio at an affordable price point. In collaboration with Yamaha, the YM2612 FM synthesis chip was built, a cost-reduced sound engine similar to that in the famous DX7 synthesizer of the 1980s. This gave the Genesis abilities far beyond the basic bleeps and bloops of other consoles at the time, and [Thea] decided it simply had to be built into a dedicated hardware synth.

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East Coast RepRap Festival Comes Alive In Second Year

November 22, 2019 by Tom Nardi 2 Comments

By pretty much any metric you care to use, the inaugural East Coast RepRap Festival (ERRF) in 2018 was an incredible success. There was plenty to see, the venue was accommodating, and the ticket prices were exceptionally reasonable. But being a first-time event, there was an understandable amount of trepidation from both exhibitors and the attendees. Convincing people to travel hundreds of miles to an event with no track record can be a difficult thing, and if there was a phrase that would best describe the feel of that first ERRF, it would probably have been “cautious optimism”.

But this year, now that they had some idea of what to expect, the 3D printing community descended on Bel Air, Maryland with a vengeance. In 2019, everything at ERRF was bigger and better. There were more people, more printers, and of course, more incredible prints. Activities like the 3D Printed Derby returned, and were joined by new attractions including full-body 3D scanning and a shooting gallery where attendees could try out the latest in printable NERF weaponry.

The official tally shows that attendance nearly doubled over last year, and with growth like that, we wouldn’t be surprised if the ERRF organizers consider relocating to a larger venue for 2020 or 2021. As far as problems go, growth so explosive that it requires you to rethink where you hold the event isn’t a bad one to have. The Midwest RepRap Festival, which served as the inspiration for ERRF, found they too needed to move into more spacious digs after a few years. Something to keep in mind the next time somebody tells you the bubble has burst on desktop 3D printing.

Trying to distill an event as large and vibrant as ERRF 2019 into a few articles is always difficult. Even after spending hours walking around the show floor, you would still stumble upon something you hadn’t seen previously. As such, this article is merely a taste of what was on hand. The East Coast RepRap Festival 2020 should absolutely be marked on your calendar for next year, but until then let’s take a look at just some of what made this year’s event such a smash.

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Hackaday Podcast 044: Supercon 2019 Special

November 22, 2019 by Elliot Williams 5 Comments

Half of the Hackaday writing staff was at the 2019 Hackaday Supercon this weekend, and our own Kerry Scharfglass took the opportunity to interview everyone. Meanwhile, Elliot wandered around the soldering irons just about two hours before the Badge Hacking Ceremony, collecting stories of projects that worked, and those that didn’t.

Put the two together, and you’ve got an audio collage that gives you a peek into at least one facet of Supercon life, and gives you a chance to put voices to the words you read here every day!

We’ll be back to our normal programming next week.

Tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Direct download (60 MB or so.)