Generative AI Now Encroaching On Music

March 22, 2024 by Bryan Cockfield 62 Comments

While it might not seem like it to a novice, music turns out to be a highly mathematical endeavor with precise ratios between chords and notes as well as overall structure of rhythm and timing. This is especially true of popular music which has even more recognizable repeating patterns and trends, making it unfortunately an easy target for modern generative AI which is capable of analyzing huge amounts of data and creating arguably unique creations. This one, called Suno, does just that for better or worse.

Unlike other generative AI offerings that are currently available for creating music, this one is not only capable of generating the musical underpinnings of the song itself but can additionally create a layer of intelligible vocals as well. A deeper investigation of the technology by Rolling Stone found that the tool uses its own models to come up with the music and then offloads the text generation for the vocals to ChatGPT, finally using the generated lyrics to generate fairly convincing vocals. Like image and text generation models that have come out in the last few years, this has the potential to be significantly disruptive.

While we’re not particularly excited about living in a world where humans toil while the machines create art and not the other way around, at best we could hope for a world where real musicians use these models as tools to enhance their creativity rather than being outright substitutes, much like ChatGPT itself currently is for programmers. That might be an overly optimistic view, though, and only time will tell.

A raspberry pi-based digital readout above an old lathe

Roll Your Own DRO With An Added Twist

March 22, 2024 by Dave Rowntree 4 Comments

When using a manual machine tool such as a lathe or milling machine, there can be a lot of pressure to read the position and feed the axes at the correct rate. That’s why modern machines typically have some form of digital read-out (DRO). [Stefano Bertelli] has created a simple Raspberry Pi based DRO with an additional twist, that of a linked motor drive output.

A view of the custom RS485 interfaced DRO readout and motor controller — Realtime encoder position reading and motor control are best done with a dedicated microcontroller, ideally with a proper RTOS.

The axes that need to be monitored should be mechanically attached to a position sensor like a linear encoder or a rotary type. Using a linear sensor with a linear axis instead of a rotary encoder on the downstream dial is better. For the readout unit, [Stefano] used a WaveShare 7-inch touchscreen module with a Raspberry Pi 3 for the UI of the readout unit. The Pi has a custom-designed HAT, that performs power conditioning and provides a robust RS485 interface. Connected via that RS485 link is another custom PCB based on an STM32F411 with a few supporting power supplies and interfacing components. The job of this board is to interface to the position encoders, reading positioning pulses using interrupts. There is an additional stepper motor drive courtesy of a ULN2003 Darlington driver to allow the control of a single motorised axis. An additional motor driver module is required, which should be no surprise since driving a milling machine axis will require a fairly beefy motor. This GitHub repo contains the FreeRTOS-based firmware for this board. This motor drive has the ability to be connected to a measuring axis in a programmable way, enabling one axis to be adjusted to follow or jump in controlled steps with another. This feature can significantly simplify certain types of machining operations, as [Stefano] elaborates in the video.

Lastly, the Raspberry Pi runs a simple Python application with Kivy for the GUI. As [Stefano] explains in the video below, this makes debugging and modification quite simple.

Adding DROs to an older machine is an obvious but valuable hack. Here’s another way to do it. If that’s too much work, then you could just hack a digital readout calliper in there.

Continue reading “Roll Your Own DRO With An Added Twist” →

YouTuber Builds Onewheel With Tracks Instead And It’s Not Great

March 22, 2024 by Lewin Day 15 Comments

The one-wheel is a triumph of modern sensor and control technology. That made it possible to sense the acceleration and position of a platform with a single wheel, and to control that single wheel to keep the platform stable and level, even in motion. [RCLifeOn] has now taken that same concept and made it more hilarious by swapping out the wheel for a track.

The original idea was to build an electric snowboard, which worked just okay. Then, it morphed into a tank-based one-wheel instead. It’s a bit silly on the face of it, because a track is more stable than a wheel. That’s because instead of balancing on a small flattened spot of a tire, it’s got a wider, flatter footprint. But that means there’s no real need for balancing control as the track is statically stable.

The 3D-printed track assembly is driven by a powerful brushless motor via a gear drive for additional torque. Riding it is difficult on 48-volt power as it easily throws [RCLifeOn] off the board with its raw torque. At 24 volts, however, it was just barely ridable with some practice. But it was ultimately pretty terrible. It was either not moving at all, or jerking so hard that it was impossible to stay on the thing.

We’d like to see this concept tried again, perhaps with a rubber track and a more refined controller. Video after the break.

Continue reading “YouTuber Builds Onewheel With Tracks Instead And It’s Not Great” →

Build Yourself A Vacuum Tube VU Meter

March 22, 2024 by Lewin Day 5 Comments

Volume unit (VU) meters are cool — it’s an undeniable fact. For some reason, humans just dig lights that flash along with sounds. You can build a VU meter using LEDs, or bulbs if you’re trapped in 1972. Or, you could use special vacuum tubes. [mircemk] did just that in their latest VU meter project.

The 6E2 vacuum tube is the part for the job in this case. You might think a specialist tube like this is expensive, but they can be had for just a few dollars from online retailers. They were often used as tuning indicators, but here, they’re used as a responsive VU meter instead. However, instead of a single bar going up and down, you get a pair of bars that raise to meet in the middle.

[mircemk] explains all the circuitry required to drive the tubes, and how to hook them up to create a two-channel stereo VU meter. The final circuit largely relies on a transistor, a diode, some passive components, and a DC-DC boost supply to generate 250 V for the tubes.

The final result looks pretty neat, particularly as it’s built into an old-school blue project box. We’ve seen similar projects from [mircemk] before, too. Continue reading “Build Yourself A Vacuum Tube VU Meter” →

Hackaday Podcast Episode 263: Better DMCA, AI Spreadsheet Play, And Home Assistants Your Way

March 22, 2024 by Al Williams 4 Comments

No need to wonder what stories Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Al Williams were reading this week. They’ll tell you about them in this week’s podcast. The guys revisit the McDonald’s ice cream machine issue to start. This week, DIY voice assistants and home automation took center stage. But you’ll also hear about AI chat models implemented as a spreadsheet, an old-school RC controller, and more.

How many parts does it take to make a radio? Not a crystal radio, a software-defined one. Less than you might think. Of course, you’ll also need an antenna, and you can make one from lawn chair webbing.

In the can’t miss articles, you’ll hear about the problems with the x86 architecture and how they tried to find Martian radio broadcasts in the 1920s.

Miss any this week? Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, leave your comments!

Direct download in DRM-free MP3.

Continue reading “Hackaday Podcast Episode 263: Better DMCA, AI Spreadsheet Play, And Home Assistants Your Way” →

a DIY smoke grenade pours out smoke from a vape pen assembly

R/C Smoke Grenade Rolls With The Changes

March 22, 2024 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

[Davis DeWitt] gets to do something that many of us only dream of — build cool working props for movies. This time, the director asked for a realistic smoke grenade that can roll up to a mark and stop on it every take, pouring out smoke the entire time.

[Davis] decided on a hamster ball-esque design that uses a pair of motors that he can control remotely, plus the innards from a vape pen and a tiny fan to distribute the smoke. The motors spin 3D printed wheels using printed gears attached to the shafts, which drive the whole assembly forward or backward.

In order to get everything to fit inside the printed canister, [Davis] had to use the smallest components he could find, like the Seeed Xiao SAMD21 and the DRV8833 motor driver. The whole thing is powered by a pair of 18650s, which, as you might imagine, really factored into the weight distribution scheme. In this case, the batteries act as a pendulum and keep the inner assembly level and not spinning wildly inside the canister.

Finally, it was time for the smoke grenade aesthetics. After what seemed like endless sanding, priming, and masking, [Davis] had a really good-looking smoke grenade that just needed some vinyl lettering and fake wear-and-tear to be complete. Be sure to check it out in action after the break.

We don’t see a lot of grenades around here, but when we do, they’re often keyboards.

Continue reading “R/C Smoke Grenade Rolls With The Changes” →

This Week In Security: Loop DOS, Flipper Responds, And More!

March 22, 2024 by Jonathan Bennett 8 Comments

Here’s a fun thought experiment. UDP packets can be sent with an arbitrary source IP and port, so you can send a packet to one server, and could aim the response at another server. What happens if that response triggers another response? What if you could craft a packet that continues that cycle endlessly? That is essentially the idea behind Loop DoS (Denial of Service).

This unique avalanche of packets has been managed using specific implementations of several different network services, like TFTP, DNS, and NTP. There are several CVEs being used to track the issue, but CVE-2024-2169 is particularly odd, with the description that “Implementations of UDP application protocol are vulnerable to network loops.” This seems to be a blanket CVE for UDP, which is particularly inappropriate given that the first DoS of this sort was first reported in 2009 at the latest.

More details are available in a Google Doc. There some interesting tidbits there, like the existence of cross-protocol loops, and several legacy protocols that are vulnerable by design. The important thing to remember here is you have to have an accessible UDP port for this sort of attack to take place, so if you’re not using it, firewall it.

Flipper Flips Back

We’ve covered the saga of the Flipper Zero vs the Canadian government, in the context of car theft. The short version is that Canada has seen an uptick of car thefts from organized crime. Rather than meaningfully dealing with this problem, the Canadian government went looking for scapegoats, and found the Flipper Zero.

Well now, Flipper has responded, and put simply, the message is “stop the madness”. There has never been a confirmed case of using a flipper to steal a car, and it’s very unlikely it’s ever happened. On a modern car with proper rolling-code security, it’s not meaningfully possible to use the Flipper Zero for the theft. The two primary ways criminals actually steal cars are with dedicated keyfob repeaters and CAN bus hackers.

There is a petition to sign, and for Canadians, Flipper suggests contacting your local member of parliament. Continue reading “This Week In Security: Loop DOS, Flipper Responds, And More!” →