Subcycles: Multitouch Music Controller

December 22, 2009 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/7000376]

Subcycles is a sound controller application that [Christian] is using on the third multitouch display that he built. The screen is a sheet of acrylic in an aluminum frame. The image is rear projected onto an area covered with Digiline dispersion film. As with other projects that use the Community Core Vision package, a PS3 eye camera captures the touch information.

This build does a great job of including the audience in what the musician on stage is doing. [Chris] points out that the sight of artists staring at laptops on stage is becoming more and more common. The ‘Minority Report’-like interface that Subcycles uses makes not just for interesting music, but for an added visual reinforcement to the live part of the performance.

[Thanks Mark]

Autonomous Bassline Generator

December 18, 2009 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcqpxd0O6Mw]

We’ve been watching this project ever since [Dann] emailed us about the first prototype back in September. This bassline generator has a lot of functions we like, such as an adjustable melody seed, light-sensitive controls, and device interactivity. Line up a row of them and they’ll sync up the beat, building layers of sound on top of each other (see the first video after the break).

The system is built around an ATtiny84, putting its pulse width modulation channels to work for sound generation. [Dann] has some kits available but he’s also posted everything – the schematics, PCB layout, and code – if you want to throw one together on a breadboard.

Continue reading “Autonomous Bassline Generator” →

Didgeridoo Modded To Include Electronic Manipulation

November 6, 2009 by Mike Szczys 68 Comments

didgeridoo-sound-synthedsizer

It’s not a bazooka, but this altered instrument makes it look like the player is toking off of some type of weapon. [Kyle] wanted to take the already mysterious sounds produced by a didgeridoo then capture and alter them electronically.

The physical build of this project is nothing short of beautiful. He’s mounted several curved control boards to the outside of the instrument. The controls feature six push buttons, five toggle switches, and six potentiometers that interface with an Arduino. The sound is picked up by the device then sent along with the switch settings to a computer via Bluetooth. The computer then works its magic to create the wicked audio effects heard in the video after the break.

His article, linked above, includes several diagrams detailing the synthesis process. They’re a little beyond our understanding but if you know what’s going on, please share your insight in the comments.

Continue reading “Didgeridoo Modded To Include Electronic Manipulation” →

Drone Lab Brings The Excitement Of Hypnotoad Home

October 22, 2009 by Mike Szczys 32 Comments

Drone-lab-hypnotoad

[Peter] tipped us off about his new synthesizer kit, Drone Lab. It has the things we look for a synthesizer: knobs, inputs, switches, wacky sounds. You can get your soldering on with the kit version, or buy these pre-built. Peter bills this as an open source kit but we didn’t see board artwork, just a schematic.

What we didn’t expect is its ability to mimic the Hypnotoad. As seen in the video after the break, the glorious sounds of your favorite television show can now be created in your own home. If you’ve never seen an episode of the Hypnotoad (gasp!) we’ve got that covered after the break as well.

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!

Update: PCB artwork has now been posted just below the schematic.

Continue reading “Drone Lab Brings The Excitement Of Hypnotoad Home” →

The Subway Never Sounded So Good

October 7, 2009 by Mike Szczys 23 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivg56TX9kWI]

Reader [Philippe] tipped us off about this video showing a set of subway steps being turned into a piano keyboard (english translation). The creators wanted to make taking the stairs rather than riding the escalator a bit more fun. They added pressure sensors to each step, then covered them with white and black keys to resemble a keyboard. When a passenger puts their weight on a step, the corresponding pitch is played out loud.

We may have lied in the title as this doesn’t really compare to hearing Josh Bell play for pocket change at your train stop. But coming across this setup on an otherwise mundane commute would really brighten up our day.

Noise Box Synth Lays Down Some Beats

September 29, 2009 by Mike Szczys 16 Comments

arduino_noise_box_synth

[Tim] sent us his Noise Box Synth. The box is a sixteen step synthesizer that can generate sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth waves as well as a collection of sound effects (video after the break). The hardware is simple; an Arduino, four potentiometers, four buttons, a switch, a speaker, and some LEDs. This was a gift for a three-year-old but we’d be just as happy unwrapping it ourselves. We didn’t find a schematic but all of the connections and hardware can be extrapolated from the source code.

Arduino sometimes gets a bad name around here. This project, [Tim’s] first that uses Arduino, proves that the accessibility of the platform makes it possible to jump directly into the deep end. Catch the video after the break. Continue reading “Noise Box Synth Lays Down Some Beats” →

Arduino-human Synthesizer

September 23, 2009 by Jake W 45 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IObPkUFq0hg]

(Thanks to [Aaron] for the tip) As a promo for [Calvin Harris], some of the creative minds at Sony Music have put together an Arduino-based sythesizer composed of 15 bikini clad babes. By analyzing which circuits are closed, the Arduino Mega is able to tell a sequencer which sample to play. The only innovation happens to be that the circuits are painted onto the aforementioned girls with a conductive body paint known as Bare.

Developed by students at the Royal College of Art, the paint is not available for purchase, but they are willing to mix a batch up for art installations or performances. Technical stats (such as resistance) have not been released, but for a washable paint it seems to be performing quite well.

How was the whole project set up? The video below reveals all:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up1wraRnriI]