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Music Archive: Music

November 6, 2009

Full MIDI drumset with Guitar Hero and Rock Band drums

A demo on how to create an 11-piece MIDI drum kit using Rock Band and Guitar Hero drum sets together. It includes velocity-sensitive triggers and a high-hat open/close pedal.

Create a full MIDI Drumset with Guitar Hero and Rock Band Drums

November 5, 2009

AIRduino guitar

Ever wished that when you play air guitar, it would make real sounds instead of just the ones from your best death metal face? David Fournier, Jean-Louis Giordano, Monireh Sanaei, Maziar Shelbaf and Gustav Sohtell are here to help. They build the AIRduino guitar, a wearable virtual instrument. Open source with full documentation, naturally. [via Fashioning Technology]

November 4, 2009

Skatchbox instrument amplifies plucking, picking, & scraping

Tom Nunn demonstrates the "skatchbox" a simple percussion box outfitted with contacts mics and a plethora of objects for scraping, tapping, swiping, etc. The shuffling and raspy textures the boxes make are pretty unique, certainly warranting further investigation by audio experimentalists out there. And if you've got some plastic combs, a piezo disc, and a flat box building one of these should be a breeze.

Patchable digital synth with Arduino

From the MAKE Flickr pool

The Arduino-based synth project formerly known as binder synth is now known as Adasynth - and it sounds like development is coming along right nicely. Davitr0n provides some background on his project -

The goal of this project was to make a patchable synthesizer as versatile as we can while keeping the cost down. Since I know how to program C++ and have a basic understanding of electronics we chose to use an arduino. So far we’ve stayed pretty true to that goal. With just the arduino, a resistor chip, some recycled wood, and a lot of help in the form of interface components (plugs and jacks) from my old electronics teacher we have a working synthesizer.. and to be honest the results so far are much better than we expected.

Here's hoping he posts source/schematic - patchable digital synthesis looks like fun!

Pocketpianokit Crop

Arduino Pocket Piano Synth Kit

Digital Mixtape plays mp3s old school style

MAKE subscriber Justin fused the convenience of digital music with the feel and playback functionality of a cassette -

It is a cassette tape adapter and a micro usb port hooked up to a tiny mp3 player that I picked up at target. Its a simple build and only took an evening. Its an on going project I started a while back.

Neat idea! More pics plus earlier versions of the project can be found on Justin's blog. Hmmm ... maybe the next incarnation could have FF/REW capabilities triggered by turning the spools?

November 3, 2009

New synth engine for Arduino Pocket Piano!

Designed for use with the Pocket Piano shield for Arduino, Marc Nostromo's Squealer synthesis engine-

The engine implements a small monosynth with a few waveforms, a HP/BP/LP continuous resonant filter, decay and a few little own tricks that generate a LOT of aliases, making a great dirty digital synth. Since the Pocket Piano has only 3 potentiometers available for control (the 4th one being hardwired to the volume), I use a "page" system to implement series of 3 parameters to fiddle with. To switch "page", use the rightmost note of the A.P (NOT the one under the led, the one left to to it). To help you know which page you are at, you can use the led: it will flash a number of time equivalent to the current page you are at.
Here's the parameter list:

Page 1: wave selection / octave / release

Page 2: filter type (continuous lp-bp-hp) / filter cut-off / filter resonance

Page 3: wave loop position / wave loop length (makes the oscillators go wako)

The audio samples sound quite awesome! Grab the relevant Arduino code here. [via Create Digital Music]

November 2, 2009

Tentacle-box: A mobile music station with beat-synched lights

The Tentacle-box is a mobile DJ station housed inside an old freestanding Philips radio. The music is from a car stereo hooked to a 12-volt batter jumper, and an Arduino multiplexes the lights. Check out the link for more information, and the Arduino source code.

It should be able to work without being connected to an outlet. It should have lights and it shouldn't be to heavy to move around. Ateast not by a small wagon. And it should be loud. Not Mötorhead loud but loud enough. It should also be cheap enough so that I would not cry if it got trashed or stolen after a few gigs/parties.

In the Maker Shed:

IMG_8205 2.JPG
In the Maker Shed: Arduino Duemilanove

October 30, 2009

Build an autonomous bassline generator

This is very cool - Dann Green of 4ms Pedals has posted schematics, code, and parts list for the Autonomous Bassline project. The ATtiny84 based module is also available in kit form with an optional heavy-duty enclosure. And if this thing wasn't awesome enough as is - an infrared clock signal can be used to drive the unit.

October 29, 2009

Audio looping & manipulation in RAM

Sebastian built an experimental record/looper circuit, resulting in some interesting sample contortionism -

This circuit currently has a few ways to manipulate audio. These are:
A record button allows the user to sample incoming audio to a RAM buffer
A potentiometer sets the input level
A potentiometer sets the sample rate / pitch for playback. The changing of sample rate can be recorded if desired, by physically changing the position of the pot during recording.
The address lines A0 - A18 can be manipulated ie. moved around, removed, replaced, giving a wide range of effects such as stuttering, repeating and basic granulation.
Although this does not sound like heaps of manipulation, keep in mind that this circuit can absolutely mangle a sound beyond recognition. The ADC is running at its maximum speed, and as such the sample rate can be varied greatly for example.

Read on for further explanation of this RAM Music.

Controlling a MIDI synthesizer with light

I like where Youtube user DanieleMattei is going with his video Filter control via light blob tracking in Processing. Using OpenCV and Processing (what else!), he rigged up a way to control the parameters of his MIDI synthesizer by waving a flashlight around. It doesn't look too complicated to set up, and might be a fun way to compose something as a group. With a web cam built into your laptop, you could set up a mobile sound station that anyone with a flashlight (or bright cellphone screen) could play.

How-To: Mini drum synth on protoboard

Far beyond simply open-sourcing the schematic, Eric Archer posted a full step-by-step for recreating his Mini Space Rockers drum-synth kit on protoboard. Hmm … I get the feeling he really wants us to build these =] - very awesome.

Included with the project is a list of 25 variations for achieving a wide range of different sounds, all the way from "Thump Bass" to "Space Hawk" -

First choose which sound you’re going to build. […] Thats how you determine what values to use for capacitors C1, C2, and C3. What they do: C1 and C2 set the pitch range and affect the pitch envelope. C3 determines the decay time of the sound. I’ve tried up to 100uF here, which gives some looooong sweeps.

So build a wee space rocker, won't you? - and be sure to post some audio of the results.

YouTuber datenkrieger75 built quite an excellent technobox featuring a patchable circular sequencer, a Gakken SX-150, and Mini Space Rocker circuits. Things start to sound prett wild (and eerily voice-like) around the 1m30s mark.[via Create Digital Music]

October 28, 2009

Coin Sequencer, a tangible sequencer

Thiago Teixeira made this Coin Sequencer, which allows you to lay down tracks using spare change. It's an older project (from before 2005?), but is new to me. As the turntable spins, the coins go under a row of infrared sensors, which send on/off signals to a computer to turn the music on and off. I like the simplicity of using a turntable and IR sensors- I recently made a project like this, but used a computer vision system and some custom hardware to achieve basically the same effect. Nice work! [Thanks, Stuart!]

Halloween sounds from guitar effects + photocell mod

This installment of EHX's Effectology series outlines a variety of methods for using their stompboxes to create some rather convincing spookiness. Clever work, but the real highlight is the simple schematic for light control seen @ the 3:45 mark.

A photocell soldered between the ground and tip/sleeve terminals of a 1/4" plug is then connected to the expression pedal input of a self-oscillating EQ effect - instant photo-theremin. nice.

October 27, 2009

The gravity-powered xylophones of Charles and Ray Eames

eames musical tower ball falling (Custom).jpg

eames musical tower ball loading (Custom).jpg

eames musical tower piston loading (Custom).jpg

eames musical tower ball return (Custom).jpg

These "musical towers" are featured in the short film 901: After 45 Years of Working by Eames Demetrios. 901 documents the dismantling of the office of famous U.S. designers Charles and Ray Eames in 1988 following Ray's death. The Eames office was a kind of maker fantasy-land, with finished and unfinished projects scattered about, meticulously organized tools and supplies, and wonderful little gewgaws in every nook and cranny.

The first few minutes of the film feature a delightful bubbling xylophone soundtrack that is eventually revealed to be coming from these prototype toys designed by the Eameses themselves, and installed in their office for their own amusement.

The towers are wooden boxes six inches square and about 15' tall, fronted with acrylic, and having sides slotted to accept metal xylophone keys which fit loosely enough to allow free vibration and easy rearrangement. The slots for the keys are angled toward one another, slightly, so that the surfaces of the keys present a series of alternately-sloped platforms for a small hard plastic ball which, when dropped from the top of the tower, will plunk its way slowly down to the bottom, playing a little tune as it goes. The balls are injected using a manual pneumatic piston which shoots them up a pipe to the top of the tower.

There does not seem to be any video of the towers in operation available online, but 901: After 45 Years of Working is available on the first disc of The Films of Charles and Ray Eames, which also includes final and rough draft versions of the classic Powers of Ten. Highly recommended.

October 26, 2009

Ultimate Air Guitar Hero

We've covered all sorts of Guitar Hero mods, but none as minimal as this. By using a standard electromyograph attached to the forearm, researchers at Microsoft's Muscle-Computer Interface group were able to determine the position and pressure of all five fingers. Sure, this might be useful for hands-free interfaces of the future... but wouldn't it be so much more fun to finally bring your awesome air guitar skills to Guitar Hero?!

via waxy and procrastineering.

October 24, 2009

DIY MIDI footpedal, made in one day

MAKE subscriber thom writes in to tell us about Marc Fischer's ambitious project to do something creative every day, for a year, and document it. One of his latest projects is a DIY MIDI footpedal, made from a pocket-sized MIDI keyboard and some blocks of wood. I would not have considered doing this, but it looks like it came out really nice. He doesn't mention it in his write-up, but an interesting side effect of re-purposing the keyboard in this manner is that the foot pedals will be velocity sensitive, opening up some new possibilities for control.

This is just one of his excellent projects, he has also made drone boxes, a music box, a felt monome case, a light speaker, and lots of wonderful photographs.

Back in 2008, I participated in the Thing-A-Day project, which is a similar idea but only lasts for a single month. I nearly drove myself crazy trying to make an electronics/physical computing project every day, but it was definitely a great way to force myself to actually work on things. I would recommend a project like this to anyone who just needs that extra bit of motivation to actually start getting things done. Good luck on finishing the year strong, Marc!

October 23, 2009

Making Football Hero

Phil Clandillon and Steve Milbourne have another maker-friendly music project.

Football Hero is basically an experiment to create a Guitar Hero type game played by footballers. The game was constructed in a warehouse in West London, and a talented young team of freestyle footballers were drafted in to participate. We created the game to promote the Kasabian single Underdog.
The game was powered by the open source GH clone Frets On Fire, and we used two enormous projectors to create a three story high image on the side of the warehouse wall. The coloured buttons on the typical guitar controller were replaced by five huge pressure sensitive pads which were carefully positioned on the wall in order to line up with the game's descending notes. The idea being that the footballers would try to hit the pads in time with the music in order to play the Kasabian track Underdog. Each of the pads contained a piezoelectric vibration sensor, and these were wired back to an Arduino, which in turn was connected to the MacBook Pro we used to run the software.

Phil's projects have a habit of bringing together some very talented people, and these footballers are no exception.

Paul Wood (Woody - the guy in red) was one of five guys that in 2006/7 travelled to New York with the aim of making it all the way to Buenos Aires to meet their hero, Diego Maradona. The five lads bought their flights to NY by busking around the UK. They arrived penniless in the states and raised all the money they needed by performing street football & freestyle all over the USA, Central and South America. Their trip was filmed and released as the documentary In The Hands Of Gods. Paul has since set up a freestyle academy and a junior soccer school here in the UK.

Read full story

Musical Go boards

Some years ago, a conversation with my old friend Billy Baque turned to the subject of adapting board games for sightless play. When it came round to Go, Billy mentioned having read of an antique Korean board, hollow inside and strung with wires along the lines of the grid, the wires being tuned such that each intersection produced a unique musical interval when a stone was placed upon it. Whether this was simply an aesthetic embellishment or a means to make the game more accessible to sightless players, he did not know.

I was fascinated, and made every effort to run down Billy's original reference, which I eventually determined was R.C. Bell's Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, Revised Edition. From p.100:

Traditional Japanese boards are made of a solid block of wood about eighteen inches long and sixteen broad, and some five inches thick, fitted with four detachable feet about three inches high. The board and feet are stained yellow. A square depression is cut into the underside of the board to lighten it, and also to increase its resonance; the pieces making a pleasant click when placed upon it. The Koreans have gone a stage further and some of their boards have wires stretched beneath to produce a musical note when the stones are played.

"A musical note" tends to suggest that the board as a whole played a single tone, interval, or chord, rather than a unique tone or interval for each playing position. Still, it seemed worthwhile to try to run down Bell's original reference, which, thanks to his meticulous bibliography, I eventually found was Stewart Culin's 1895 Korean Games with Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan, which is out of copyright and available in its entirety on Google Books. From p. 91:

The Korean board, pa tok hpan, differs from that of Japan, in being made in the form of a small hollow table, while the Japanese board consists of a solid block of wood. The Korean board is resonant and by an arrangement of wires stretched within emits a musical note when a piece is played. A specimen in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania (Fig. 96) is eleven inches high and about sixteen inches square.

Again, "a musical note," but the language in both cases is ambiguous.

Culin's Figure 96 is reproduced at the top of this post. I've contacted The Penn Museum to see if collection number 16,431 still exists and/or if they have any record of it. I was hoping, at least, to show you all a photograph. Can't seem to get anyone to respond, however. If anyone has any information about this artifact or about musical go boards in general, I would love to have it. Please drop us all a comment or e-mail me directly.

South Korean band makes music from found objects

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout met with Noridan, a South Korean band that makes its instruments from cast-off objects.

Noridan's eco-friendly music

October 22, 2009

Drill-powered "fort" speakers

MAKE subscriber John Kelbley was doing some expansion/improvements on his kids' "fort" and wanted to deliver music to the (unpowered) space. His solution was to use the rechargeable powerpack from an an old 12 volt Ryobi drill and use the drill body as a stand for two outdoor speakers he found on clearance. Amplification is provided by a Sonic Impact T-Amp he cased inside the gutted drill body. Love the volume control where the drill chuck used to be.

The Best Sounding Drill I've Ever Owned!