I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/27/airport-express-speaker-mashup/
[Wei] salvaged the internals from an Airport Express that had a blown power supply. From there he built this streaming music box. The case is from an IKEA clock with the face removed. He added some decorative fabric around a grill to make an acoustically transparent front panel. Inside you’ll find the Airport guts connected to a USB charger (replaces the dead PSU) and a set of powered stereo speakers. This simple mashup looks good and frees up space in your junk-parts box.
August 27 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/27/iphone-drum-machine-isnt-synthesized/
There was a time when a drummer would grab some sticks and lay out a groove using the items around him as instruments. [Lsa Wilson] would rather not work quite that hard and has chosen to do the same thing by tapping on an iPhone screen. As you can see in the clip after the break, many of the items in the room around him have been fitted with solenoids. Each is connected to an Arduino which is then controlled by Open Sound Control and interfaced with the iPhone via TouchOSC. We love the sounds being created and can’t help being reminded of the Multixylophoniomnibus.
August 27 2010, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/17/building-a-discrete-digital-analog-converter/
Want to take back control of how your digital audio files become sound? One thing you can do is to build your own digital to analog converter. This one is made from discrete components, centered around a resistive ladder. Yes, there are a couple of integrated circuits in there which are used for demultiplexing the incoming signal but the magic happens in that R-2R network. The project is an interesting read and makes a point of looking at the issues raised when trying to precision match resistors. Apparently it can be done with 0.1% components if you have a lot of them and a multimeter that can measure down to seven decimal places.
[Thanks Bigbob]
August 17 2010, 2:38pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/16/androidome-monome-for-android/
[Ewan Hemingway] tipped us off about his new Android app, Androidome. This is the first one he’s turned out after going through our Android development tutorials. It combines an app running on his Android 2.1 device with a computer running Max/MSP 5. The two don’t needed to be tethered, they just need to be on the same wireless network. This won’t be the best solution if you’re doing live performances, as the buttons on the screen end up being quite small. But as you can see after the break, it’s a great way to get into working with the Monome interface and decide if you want to build a dedicated physical version of the tool.
August 16 2010, 11:47am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/15/more-car-audio-input-hacking/
[Dave] pulled the head unit out of his dashboard to add an iPod input. He took a much more invasive route than the other hack we saw a few days ago. He actually patched into the audio lines going from the Dolby reader head chip to the amplifier.
The first step was to trick the deck into thinking it had a cassette inserted. He scoped an enable pin on one of the chips to discover the timing and emulated that signal using a PIC microprocessor. From there he popped off the chip that reads the tape data, patching directly into the audio out traces. This presented some noise issues when charging the iPod but [Dave] fixed that with some decoupling capacitors.
August 15 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/15/ym2149-gets-new-life/
[MicroMinded] took us way back to our childhoods with his experiments and subsequent YMstream music player based on the Yamaha YM2149 sound generator used in old arcade systems, computers, and even phones (think chiptune). This reminds us of the Chipophone, only this time the sound is achieved from ICs used back in the day, rather than MCU waveforms.
There is still some work to be done to make the music player have a bit more functionality, but for now source is available if you want to make your own. Of course you might come across a small problem; finding an SSG is a tad bit more difficult than say, an Arduino. If a good resource is found, please share it in the comments!
[Thank you Andrew Kretschmer for sending in the chiptune mp3s]
August 15 2010, 9:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/12/adding-an-input-to-an-old-head-unit/
Tape decks in cars? Yes, that used to be quite common before optical media took over road. [Nirav Patel's] 2004 Toyota Corolla had a deck that he used with a tape adapter in order to listen to music from his iPhone. But one day something happened and, although the adapter still worked, the cassette player started making distracting noises. [Nirav] set out to quiet the noise and install an auxiliary audio input for the sound system. There were some tripping points along the way, like breaking everything and starting a small fire, but perseverance got him to his goal. Because these units are built with compatibility for things like CD changers they have a communications bus called AVC-Lan. This protocol has been sniffed out and documented, and [Nirav] even found an existing audio-input hack that he based his design around. Now he’s able to plug directly into the dash and ditch the cassette adapter.
We’ve seen [Nirav's] work a few times before. He’s shown us a first person shooter controller and his site was a resource in our Launchpad programming with Linux post.
[via Make]
August 12 2010, 10:43am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/08/05/bluetooth-multimedia-remote/
[Mathieu] spent three months developing this multimedia remote control. It connects to a PC via USB or Bluetooth and communicates with Winamp to pull down track information for display on a Nokia LCD screen. It can also be used as a wireless headset via the two on-board jacks. [Mettieu] thinks it’s just a small hop away from working as a Skype client if you take the time to write a plugin for that API.
August 5 2010, 5:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/07/26/long-arms-required-electronic-trombone-2/
Sadly, the video above is the only information we were able to find on the “Double Slide Controller” trombone, built by composer Tomás Henriques. As well as, the instrument took first place in the Georgia Tech Center Guthman Musical Instruments Competition. Right in front of a Bluetooth bow for violins, and a circuit bending group from New York, and…wait; it beat out our favorite modified didgeridoo? Better luck next year.
July 26 2010, 9:27am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/07/25/guitar-effect-shield-for-maple/
[Okie] designed this audio effect shield for Maple. You’ll remember that Maple is a prototyping system built around an ARM processor, so there’s plenty of power and speed under the hood. First and foremost, the shield provides input and output filters to keep noise out of the system. From there a set of potentiometers let you change the effect, with the manipulation like echo, distortion, and ring modulation happening in the firmware.
July 25 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/07/13/shred-air-with-theremin-hero/
Remember those Ebay auctions of air guitars going for several thousands of dollars? We don’t either, but Theremin Hero (more info in the YouTube description) is about as legit as you can get to actually rocking on nothing but air.
Much like using a theremin to control Mario, the vertical antenna acts as the fret board while the horizontal one detects strumming. Combine the output of the theremin with some custom software (yet to be released) and Guitar Hero and you have Theremin Hero Air Guitar.
[via Bob's House of Video Games]
July 13 2010, 1:30pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/07/13/electronic-vuvuzela/
Want to annoy fellow fans but don’t have the lung power to do the job? [Hunter's] electronic vuvuzela is just the thing you need. The plastic noisemakers were so prevalent at the world cup this year that some folks came up with audio filters to remove the sound. The electronic rendition is much smaller, using a 555 timer to mimic the instrument on a small speaker. [Hunter's] build has buttons for five different notes which can be altered with some potentiometer. There’s no schematic but then again for something that’s annoying you don’t want to make it too easy to replicate.
July 13 2010, 6:43am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/30/physical-tone-matrix/
[Andrew Jenner] pulled off something amazing with this Physical Tone Matrix. He wanted to build a physical version of a flash applet he had seen. Two layers make up the main user interface. The top layer is a sheet of acrylic that acts as a touch interface and below there’s an LED matrix. [Andrew's] touch interface uses wires running throughout the acrylic as contacts which are polled via transistor pairs. As you can see in the video after the break it works well and we like the fact that there’s a tactile component (due to the bumpy wires) you don’t get when working with a touchscreen.
The 16×16 grid of LEDs on the bottom layer correspond to each ‘button’ on the touch matrix hand have some extra functions such as playing Conway’s Game of Life. This fantastic build still has a couple of kinks to work out, most notably the interference in the audio circuit, but we’re quite impressed at what he’s achieved quickly. Plus, this is more economical than a monome and larger than some of the monome clones we’ve seen.
June 30 2010, 4:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/26/cd-controlled-lawn-mower/
[Oliver Nash] was enlisted by his parents to fix their robotic lawn mower. They owned a Robomow which happily navigated their yard to keep the grass at a nice level. These robots rely on a perimeter wire with a special signal running through it to ensure they are inside of the mowing area. Confronted by a dead perimeter module, [Oliver] ordered a new unit and disassembled the old module to study the components. He also measured the signal generated by the replacement unit. In the end he was able to produce a replica of the signal using audio software, burn it to a CD, and playback the recording using the perimeter wire. It’s a bit of a zany idea but it worked.
June 26 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/25/yukikaze-music-visualizations/
[Taichi Inoue] put together this beautiful visualization system called Yukikaze, japanese for “snow wind”. Basically a spectrum analyzer, Yukikaze is delightful to watch. We would love to see what kind of response he gets, as most of the footage shows very slowly changing smooth jazz. While we don’t think he gets crisp EQ visualizations out of this since it is a single large chamber, we still think it is amazing to watch.
[via MakeZine]
June 25 2010, 8:34am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/21/audio-breakout-box-for-macbook-pro/
[Billy] wanted to use the audio connector on his MacBook Pro for input and output at the same time. He knew it could be done because Apple sells headphones with built-in microphones that work with the computer. He set out to build a breakout box so that he could connect the components of his choice to the single port. Using a scart-RCA adaptor box he scrapped the scart plug and wired the RCA jacks to the Apple headphone wires. He can now patch the pickup of his guitar to the mic connector, send it through the MacBook, and run the output back to his guitar amp.
June 21 2010, 2:30pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/18/velosynth-annoys-those-around-you-as-you-ride/
We’ve always put stock in ‘the quieter the better’ when it comes to road bikes. You’ll find this truth if you spend 100k on the back wheel of someone with a sqeaky rear derailleur. But apparently the folks at Effalo never learned this lesson as they’ve produced a bike computer that generates noise as you ride.
Perhaps it just takes some ingenuity to turn this into a beautiful music maker along the lines of the Force Trainer hack. No problem because the velosynth is a hackable design. The case was made with a vacuum form and inside you’ll find a bunch of small breadboards. The JeeNode, which is an Arduino/Xbee combination, serves as the heart of the device by taking speed and acceleration data from the bicycle wheel. From there it is passed on to various modules, Bob’s your uncle, and sound comes out. Check out their sales pitch after the break and if you’re starting to get some ideas about using this check out the open source info they’ve provided.
[Thanks Kristian]
June 18 2010, 10:28am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/15/vuvuzela-removal/
We’re hearing complaints everywhere about the noisemakers called Vuvuzelas during the world cup. Whether you are a fan of the sport or not, you can appreciate when a fellow hacker gets annoyed and start hacking. [Tube] has created a software filter that manages to remove the sound of the Vuvuzela from the videos. He shares the process of how it was all created, using Logic Express and a Mac mini (Google translation). Maybe this will also provide some relief from the constant stream of Vuvuzela whining as well.
[via DVice]
June 15 2010, 9:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/12/massive-midi-station-ditches-the-monitor/
Who need’s a touch screen when you’ve got 800 inputs each backlit with an RGB LED? This impressive controller was built by Ander for use in his performances. He did it with the intent to get rid of the computer monitor in his setup. We think there’s something to be said about that. It seems weird to go to a performance and see the artist staring at a screen the whole time. Unfortunately we don’t have too many details about the hardware but we can tell you that he’s using Ableton Live on the software side of things.
June 12 2010, 9:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/11/wiimote-controlled-rubens-tube/
While we could be content following our “kiddie d-day” as [Caleb Kraft] suggested. We know you can’t continue such an awesome Friday without trying to blow yourself up first.
This Wiimote Rubens’ tube caught our eye. A PVC Aluminum irrigation pipe is drilled with holes and propane is pumped through. A speaker on one end creates changes in pressure and a neat light show follows suit. [ScaryBunnyMan] went further though, with a collection of software and a Wii Remote he “plays god” controlling the music, and thus, the fire. Check out a fun video after the split.
[Via Make]
June 11 2010, 4:29pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/10/dmx-keyboard-display/
This keyboard display has an RGB LED for each key that is addressable through the common stage lighting protocol, DMX. The project video, seen after the break, does a good job of walking us through the concept. By using a MIDI to DMX converter box [John] can show MIDI signals coming from a keyboard on the appropriate key of the display. By further monkeying with the firmware in the converter box he shows a plasma effect on the whole keyboard, making the corresponding light for each pressed key pop out in bright white. Jump to about 3:45 to hear and see “Sweet Child o’ Mine”.
This isn’t the first time [John's] been caught with a slew of blinking lights. He helped create the giant LED Christmas tree that brightened up our holiday.
June 10 2010, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/05/adding-compact-flash-to-an-old-sequencer/
[Shoji Ito] has a beloved sequencer that went out of production ten years ago. Unfortunately the storage options are also 10 year out-of-date as SCSI is the stock option for storing his loops. Using a series of adapters he added Compact Flash storage to his Akai MCP-2000 Classic. The board has a connector for 25-pin SCSI which he wired to a 25-pin to 50-pin SCSI adapter. From there he connects a SCSI to IDE board, and then an IDE to CF. Subsequent versions of the Akai Classic have floppy drives in the front left corner so he used this method to mount he CF slot. Now he’s got plenty of storage with very little change to the appearance of the looper.
June 5 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/01/modern-recordings-on-wax-cylinder/
If you thought you’d never have a chance to release your hit single on the wax cylinder think again. A band obsessed with the Victorian era did just that, having a DIY’er produce the cylinders for them. The story was covered by the BBC and includes a lousy attempt to build a phonograph to play back the recording. The video shows their craftsmanship (or lack of it) but it’s not even in the same realm as the masterpiece we saw last September. You do, however, get to see the production equipment used at about 2:45 into the clip.
[Thanks Charles]
June 1 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/31/bluetooth-boombox/
[Nathan] took this boombox and outfitted it for Bluetooth streaming. He took a Motorola DC800, which is meant to make headphones wireless, and connected it to the stereo inputs. The controls for the Bluetooth module were routed to the stock tape deck controls and a little bit of frosted spray paint adds a blue glow to the cassette window. Now he can stream music from his phone, including internet radio, which he’s done in the video after the break.
Did he find the most annoying demo video music ever? You be the judge.
May 31 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/30/crossfade-curve-tweaking/
Tired of the disappointing performance from the crossfader on his Numark MIXDECK, [dj JD] cracked it open and made the crossfade curves adjustable. It’s a super-simple hack that just introduces two 100k trimpots to the crossfade slider. The change led to a higher volume level on the current channel until the slider was much nearer to the center. The added adjustment feature might be nice to have as two more knobs on the board but [JD's] method leaves his equipment with a stock appearance. Is this a more refined version of circuit bending?
May 30 2010, 1:29pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/30/moving-speakers-to-mix-audio-tracks/
These speakers play different audio tracks depending on which orange square the sit atop. They’re RFID aware and the orange tiles are tags. If you get tired of a track just move the speaker to a different one, or place the speakers next to each other to play the same song. We’re sure there’s a project for us here, it’s just going to take some thinking to figure out what we want to do with it. But the concept is certainly intriguing. Check out the video demonstration after the break.
[Thanks Ferdinand]
May 30 2010, 10:01am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/23/spark-plug-music/
This is (video above) perhaps the most abstract way of playing sounds…ever. Yes, we’ve heard Hard Drive music and Obsolete technology bands, but [DJ Sures] brings us the first ever, spark plug instrument.
Much like Velcro and Teflon, the musical spark plug is claimed to be an accident. After testing energy use vs. spark power with his flare stack ignition controller, [DJ Sures] noticed that different frequencies could be produced. It was only a matter of reprogramming before death metal Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is heard. Now he just needs to refine it a bit and build a full stereo cabinet.
May 23 2010, 3:20pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/18/composing-music-with-the-force-trainer/
In the ongoing quest to make the Force Trainer useful [Hunter Scott] developed a music composition platform for your mind (channel Jack Black’s voice for the last half of that sentence). Using the Force Trainer’s serial port [Hunter] feeds the data stream into a computer via an FTDI cable and uses Processing to make the music. It’s good, and the demos on his site are worth the click, but we still can’t get enough of the shocking video from back in March. But we digress, let [Hunter] walk you through his setup in the video after the break.
May 18 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/15/kaossilator-on-the-cheap/
We recently stumbled on a way to turn a regular laptop into a poor man’s Kaossilator. Using the touchpad of your laptop, some PureData software, Touchpad2MIDI and a couple custom patches, [zenpho] has set everyone up to create that crazy electronic music that kids listen to these days.
But what was that? You cant afford a whole laptop, and need to make this happen on an even tighter budget? Oh, we’ve got your back. Using just the trackpad and an Arduino, [Bastiaan] has created a basic PS2 to Arduino to USB link which can be parsed by your favorite language of choice into a working MIDI interface. Good news for all the lazy hackers out there, he’s planning on swapping out the Arduino for a Teensy, and making a real USB to MIDI interface.
May 15 2010, 6:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/12/midi-gloves/
We’re being inundated with glove-based peripheral hacks. This is another final project from Cornell, keyboard out of the equation by adding 8 piezo sensors to a pair of gloves thereby shunning the pinky finger. We like this one because it’s easy to build and the midi interface implementation is well documented if you want to build your own.
As you can see after the break, this is easy to use with music software like Garage Band because it is a standard MIDI device. In addition, a MATLAB interface allows for custom mapping in case you want to change what each finger does.
We remember our first introduction to glove-based performances with Tod Machover’s Bug Mudra many years ago. We hope the music input hacks we’re seeing will lead to a whole new generation of music innovators.
May 12 2010, 1:10pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/10/color-a-sound/
This is an interesting take on a music box. [Blair Neal] is using an overhead projector with a roll of transparency to make a synthesized music box. A camera watches the projected image and feeds data to Max/MSP to produce the sounds. Customization merely requires creative image analysis. In this case, different colored pens or different tracks can be assigned to a sound with the speed of the track based on how fast you wind the transparency spool.
May 10 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/03/headphone-tube-preamp-kit/
If you’re curious about tube amps but don’t have a firm enough knowledge base to dive right in you might want to try a kit. [Mark Houston] reviewed one such kit and we enjoyed reading about his experiences. It comes with everything you need save soldering tools, an enclosure, and the final connectors ([Mark] used RCA connectors). There is a full schematic available and the assembly instructions take you through tube matching and using that piece of copper coil you see in the picture to wind your own inductor. Consider trying this primer before you jump into building a single tube, multiple tube, or an amplifier of your own design.
[Thanks Gio]
May 3 2010, 7:59am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/29/hacking-game-boy-for-sound/
[Gijs] cracked open his Game Boy and added some parts to give him more sound synthesis control. He uses Little Sound Dj (LSDj), a popular Game Boy program used to pump out those classic 8-bit sounds. The unit seen above and heard in the clip after the break has an added potentiometer and circuit board. He’s got a few other hacked Game Boys on his site as well, including an Arduino generating random music on the handheld.
April 29 2010, 1:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/28/part-arcade-part-guitar/
Finally a guitar that all of the arcade gaming geeks can jam with. [Mike Davenport] sent us his 8bit arcade based guitar for his senior project. Details are a little sparse if you intend to build you own at the moment, but he does mention the basics: such as it uses an FPGA for logic and function, the strings and joystick modify pitch, it has selectable waves and other parameters, and even includes save banks! Check out a video of him playing street fighter rocking out after the break.
April 28 2010, 6:33am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/26/midi-piano-instructor/
The MIDI piano instructor is a tool aimed at those who wish to learn to play piano, but don’t want to take lessons. The LED bar mounted above the keys lights up to show you exactly what key to press and when. We’ve seen this available in some electronic keyboards for some time, but this unit would be able to fit any standard sized keyboard. Check the page for schematics and pictures.
[via Flickr]
April 26 2010, 4:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/22/get-serious-about-building-a-sequencer/
This is the fourth generation MIDIbox sequencer which has a features set that’s several screens long. We’ve embedded the teaser video of this 16-track marvel after the break. You can use it via a traditional MIDI connection or with USB. Standalone Ethernet features are also in the works. It’s fully documented and you can etch your own PCB if you’re brave but it might be easier to get in on the group PCB buy if you just have to have one of these. There’s no all-in-one kit, but that will just make the taste of success sweeter once your soldering iron cools down.
[Thanks Juan]
April 22 2010, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/22/vfd-as-a-sound-amplifier/
[Alessandro Lambardi] had some vacuum flourescent displays that he pulled from junked VCRs. His latest project is an experiment to use one of the VFDs as a headphone amplifier. This means he’s trying to use them as vacuum triode amplifiers, aka vacuum tubes. He did get it to work but as he suspected, the output is fairly low power. It may be possible to use this setup as a preamp and build an actual tube amp to use along with it.
Update: Thanks to [Fallen] for mentioning that we’ve covered this concept in the past.
[Thanks Muris]
April 22 2010, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/19/gently-stroke-this-drum/
The silent drum is played with your hands. It acts as a midi device by analyzing the movement of the rubbery black drum head. As you can see in the photo, one side of the body is clear and the other is white. A light shines up into it to boost the contrast and a camera picks up the black head as it moves past the white side of the shell. [Jaime Oliver] has provided an interesting look at the analysis method used with this instrument and there’s also a system of notating a composition for future performance. See and hear it played in the demo after the break.
[Thanks Elijah]
April 19 2010, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/17/zune-gets-hacked-openzdk/
Here is one that really got some of us at the HAD offices excited (yes, we own Zunes). The introduction of the Open Zune Development Kit. Sure, there was XNA, and we even toyed around with it. But anyone will quickly realize just how limited XNA is, especially with older hardware.
OpenZDK is in its infancy, with only one application thus far (don’t worry, you can still use XNA apps too). But we wanted to give it a shout out and let the hacker community make this potential into a reality.
[Thanks Galen]
April 17 2010, 2:03pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/16/vigorous-exercise-keeps-the-tunes-coming/
There are cars that increase the radio volume as you drive faster, and video games that ramp up the music as your gameplay improves (we’re looking at you SSX Tricky). Now you can add that feature to your workout with [Polymithic's] Motion Feedback MP3 Player. It uses a passive infrared sensor to detect motion so there’s no need to wear any electronics. But if you used some Bluetooth headphones you could bring the system with you to the gym, just don’t exercise so hard that you blow your eardrums out.
[via Hacked Gadgets]
April 16 2010, 12:00pm | More »