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March 13, 2009

Music controlled lights via Arduino

Gerrit sent us a link to his Arduino project that syncs a strand of lights to the beat of the music. He uses Processing to analyze the sound, and an Arduino to control the relay. He plans on upgrading to solid state-relays in the future, along with making an enclosure for safety. Thanks Gerrit!

I used the minim library for processing for beat detection. It takes input from an iPod, detects the beats for it, and then sends commands to the Arduino board to turn on and off a relay switch.

More about Music controlled lights via Arduino

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Posted by Marc de Vinck | Mar 13, 2009 01:00 AM
Arduino | Permalink | Comments (0) | Suggest a Site

Music controlled lights via Arduino

I used the minim library for processing for beat detection. It takes input from an iPod, detects the beats for it, and then sends commands to the Arduino board to turn on and off a relay switch.

More about Music controlled lights via Arduino

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino Family
Make: Arduino

Musical bra

Here's a fun project, and a feat in soft circuitry for sure: the musical bra, with very detailed instructions!

Laser-etched Kindle 2

We miss Phillip loads already, as he enjoys his well-deserved MAKEcation. We figured he'd be far from idle. He writes:

Not too long ago there was an xkcd comic featuring the Kindle we knew someone would eventually laser etch a new Kindle 2 but we didn't expect it to be us! Here's the first ever laser etched Kindle 2! Sean brought his over to the Adafruit shop today and we "experimented" - it looks great!

First laser etched Kindle 2! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - "Don't Panic"

New Parallax gas sensing module

This looks pretty interesting. Just got this info from Parallax PR:

The CO Gas Sensor Module is designed to allow a microcontroller to determine when a preset CO gas level has been reached or exceeded. Interfacing with the sensor module is done through a 4-pin SIP header and requires two I/O pins from the host microcontroller. The sensor module is mainly intended to provide a means of comparing carbon monoxide sources and being able to set an alarm limit when the source becomes excessive.

Features:
Uses the MQ-7 CO Gas Sensor
Easy SIP interface
Compatible with most microcontrollers

For details, visit Parallax and search on "27931." The module is priced at $30.

iPod Shuffle first-look and take-apart

Caption: Is this the future? A single IC, a battery, and some user interface components?

Kyle and our pals over at iFixit.com got ahold of the 3rd gen iPod Shuffle and they just had to tear it apart.

Amazingly, at least on our scale, both halves weighed 5 grams. That means the entire functional half of the iPod weighs only about 20% more than a single sheet of letter size paper.

iPod Shuffle 3rd Generation First Look

Lockwasher's motor art

We've posted about artist Lockwasher's awesome robots and rayguns and other items made from found objects. Here are some pics from his Motor Art collection.

Motor Art [via Low-Tech Magazine]

Creating a plant sensor system with Arduino and Chumby

Brian O'Connor gave this recent presentation at DorkBot SoCal (March 8, 2009) on combining a homemade moisture sensor, an Arduino, and a Chumby to create a system for monitoring the health of his plants.

Video: Arduino + Chumby = Fun! with Brian O'Connor [Thanks, Thomas!]

Multi-touch Surface Table at Make: Day

Kyle Phillips is an Interactive Designer here in the Twin Cities and we're all super excited to welcome him to Make: Day this Saturday! His project combines a custom-built, multi-touch surface table with software that configures and displays information from Digg.

Kyle writes,

"What Matters Most" is a multi-touch application exploring the media-viewing habits of Internet users. By aggregating information from digg.com "What Matters Most" displays the most popular media of the moment and shows what topics and stories people are showing the most interest in, the user is able to navigate topics, stories and comments and helps show what media we value most.

For more information, check out the video on Kyle's website:

Make: Day is this Saturday, March 14th from 10am -3pm at the Science Museum of Minnesota!

Rob Higgs' crazy Corkscrew contraption

The Corkscrew is an ingenious mechanical sculpture comprising almost 300 found objects which have been cast in bronze and assembled to create a priceless object trouves. The Corkscrew is not only an amazing sculpture, which dramatically emerges from its fabulous cabinet, but is quite simply a work of pure, mechanical genius which removes the cork from a bottle of wine and then pours the wine under its own power.

Rob Higgs bio

Tripoli Minnesota at Make: Day

One of the coolest things at Maker Faire each year is the local rocketry groups who display their best rockets and swap stories with attendees.

We wanted that same opportunity at Make: Day, and that's why we're happy to welcome Tripoli MN!

Photos by Todd Schweim

The members of Tripoli MN will have a bunch of their rockets on display and share a brief overview of modern high power rocketry, propulsion and electronics. They'll also demonstrate the simulation programs used to predict things like max speed and altitude of a particular rocket and motor combination. These guys really know their stuff, go ahead and try to stump them!

Also learn how to join your local club to start building and flying rockets of your own.

Make: Day is this Saturday, March 14th from 10am -3pm at the Science Museum of Minnesota!

Soft tilt-sensing bracelet

Hannah Perner-Wilson made this simple tilt-sensing bracelet using pads of conductive fabric and a metal beaded charm. The charm dangles and moves, touching one or two of the pads at a time, which can indicate which way your wrist is facing! Great for body-reactive sound and visuals in dance performance.

UNT Make launch party

Our fellow dorks, nerds, makers and crafters at the University of North Texas (UNT) have formed an unofficial UNT Make chapter. They're throwing a launch party on April 17, 2009 and promise collaborative music, art, projects from local makers, and stuff to make and nerd out about. Lots of great music, too.

See the Facebook invite here.
UNT Make

Story of the Telharmonium

This enjoyably quirky documentary tells the tale of Thaddeus Cahill's Telharmonium, the monstrous forerunner of the analog synthesizer, making music before even the age of popular radio -

The Telharmonium was a 200-ton behemoth that created numerous musical timbres and could flood many rooms with sound.

Beginning with the first instrument, constructed in the 1890's, and continuing with the installation of the second instrument at Telharmonic Hall in New York, the rise and fall of commercial service, the attempted comeback of the third Telharmonium, and ending with efforts to find a home for the only surviving instrument in 1951, this documentary provides a definitive account of the first comprehensive music synthesizer.

It's a shame the video compression is so heavy on this one - though it might be oddly appropriate given the instrument's own technical challenges. Keep in the mind that the accompanying soundtrack is not actually a Telharmonium. Unfortunately no recordings exist of the instrument, though those who did hear it note the clarity of its sinewave voice. [via Oddstrument]

More:

Relay organ plays the sound of switching

iPhone art by Jorge Colombo

Love this finger-painter iPhone art by artist Jorge Colombo, done in the Brushes application.

iPhone Sketches [Thanks, Tatia!]

Exploring sound with the star-synth modular

Skot Wiedmann of Motus Mavis explores unknown soundscapes via his mysteriously beautiful star-synth. The dual-wheel touchpad controls steal the show in this one. Around those free-spinning silver dials are what appears to be pressure sensitive pads - perhaps similar to the neoprene interface of the Continuum Fingerboard. Whatever the tech may be, the design is inspiration alone - certainly gets me thinking outside the 'box' … and usual panel arrangements. [via Califaudio]

ArduPilot 2.0 Beta released

Chris Anderson, of DIY Drones, sends us word that ArduPilot 2.0 Beta has been released. It has built-in stabilization, making it a full-functional autopilot -- no third-party stabilization unit required. It uses the same $25 ArduPilot hardware, so all existing owners should be able to upgrade without issue. This is pretty amazing -- the functionality of a >$1,000 autopilot for less than $100! Go DIY Drones!

ArduPilot 2.0 Beta Code Released!

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Intercept PPM signal from any receiver with Arduino

One way to monitor the business end of a RC device is to tap into all of the servo outputs on the receiver and decode their respective PWM signals. A much simpler interface, however, both in terms of wiring as well as code, is to find the multiplexed PPM signal and digest the values for all of the channels from a single feed.

Jordi from DIY Drones has a nice tutorial and demo video which shows you how to intercept the raw PPM signal with an Arduino and just about any common Futaba receiver (and probably many others). His demonstration also shows how to probe an unfamiliar receiver so that you can discover the pin that's outputting PPM.

How to hack the PPM signal from any receiver (Futaba) with Arduino

Speaker cozies for art exhibitions

Recently my boyfriend Alex had a video piece to exhibit in an all-white gallery, and he needed sound. There were limitations as to what could be drilled into for mounting things, but there were eye-bolts in place where speakers would likely go. I stitched up these little outfits for my grey desk computer speakers and, with a fabric strap and two D-rings, fashioned a hanging mount solution that worked quite elegantly in the space. Oh, and in case you're wondering, he used MATLAB.

Flashback: Diminutive Balls of Fire

What do you get when you mix a glo-plug, a large binder clip, flash cotton, a momentary pushbutton switch, and a few other ingredients? One serious way to get someone's attention! Back in lucky MAKE Volume 13, Joel Johnson showed us how to shoot fireballs from the palm of our hands with the Orpheus Shooter. As Joel writes in the intro, "You can buy one from most magic shops for around $50, but if you build one on your own, you'll not only save a few bucks, you'll also learn how easy it is to add fire effects to any electronics project. (And what gadget couldn't stand a little more spurting flame?)" Word!

The super-fun Orpheus Shooter uses a minimum number of parts and can be pretty fully concealed in your hand:

The glo-plug is the only disposable part, usually bearing a rating of 50 ignitions, but Joel claims to pull at least twice that number from his. Plus, there are online sources like starlight.com that sell them for about $5 a pop. Here's the glo-plug glowing:

And here's the Orpheus Shooter project in our Digital Edition. For plenty more trickery, pick up a copy of MAKE Volume 13 in the Maker Shed!

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