noce fears putnam

I was lucky enough to be at the debut performance of this intriguing act. Much of the music was made via monome 40h. Nicely recorded and a very enjoyable listen: nocefearsputnam.com

DIY EEG machine

the OpenEEG project

"The OpenEEG project is about making plans and software for do-it-yourself EEG devices available for free (as in GPL). It is aimed toward amateurs who would like to experiment with EEG."

microbusiness usa

Inspired by the business model of monome.org, I did a bit of googling about microbusinesses and the opensource business model:

A nanocorp is a ruthlessly small business - Sohodojo

Wikipedia: Small business, Mesoeconomics, Micro-enterprise: "Broadly stated, a micro-business is a business started with as little capital as possible, or less capital than would be usual for a business. More precisely, the term is often used in Australia to refer to a business with a single owner-operator, and no employees."

Excerpted from the monome.org manifesto : "we strive for economic and ecological sustainability. careful design practice allows us to contribute to culture and preserve the environment by choosing domestic, high-quality, and responsible providers and production facilities. we acknowledge that our future will depend on our ability to support and maintain a local, regenerative economy."

eXtropia.com: "The open source business model relies on shifting the commercial value away from the actual products and generating revenue from the 'Product Halo,' or ancillary services like systems integration, support, tutorials and documentation."

Wikipedia: Open source hardware

Writings on Open Source Hardware - opencollector.org

the Open source Hardware project

MAKE:
Open source hardware, what is it?

Wanted: Nobody - Businesses with 0 employees use outsourcing to get the job done By Jim Hopkins, USA TODAY (December 11, 2006)

More:

Help Not Wanted - Rise of the nanobusiness
Small Is The New Big

LED notes

TB029 from microchip.com discusses multiplexing LEDs: TB029

Maxim APP NOTE 1880 from maxim.com: Charlieplexing - Reduced Pin-Count LED Display Multiplexing This application note discusses "Charlieplexing" -- a pin-count reducing multiplex technique used by the MAX6950, MAX6951, MAX6954, MAX6955, MAX6958, and MAX6959 LED display drivers.

Older article about power issues when driving lots of LEDs and a nice explanation of LED multiplexing to save pins: Don Lancaster's Tech Musings August 2001

Maxim APP NOTE 141: Data Multiplexer Adds Cursor To MAX7219 or MAX7221 LED 7 Segment Display Driver Abstract: The MAX7219 or MAX7221 7-segment LED display driver can highlight any one digit of its 8 digit display by adding a data multiplexer. This circuit intensifies the brightness of the selected digit to provide a cursor function for data entry as well as readout.

MAX6956: 2-Wire-Interfaced, 2.5V to 5.5V, 20-Port or 28-Port LED Display Driver and I/O Expander
MAX6956 Programming Guide
Using a Digital Potentiometer for Push-&-Hold Control-Setting Adjustments

Digital Potentiometers Replace Mechanical Potentiometers
Driving 4-1/2 Digit Meter Displays with MAX6958/59 LED Drivers
MAX7219, MAX7221
MAX6950, MAX6951
LED Manufacturers' Web Sites
Maxim Tutorials

I just received a couple sample MAX6969's. "The MAX6969 uses the industry-standard, shift-register-plus- latch-type serial interface. The driver accepts data shifted into a 16-bit shift register using data input DIN and clock input CLK. Input data appears at the DOUT output 16 clock cycles later to allow cascading of multiple MAX6969s. The latch-enable input, LE, loads the 16 bits of shift register data into a 16-bit output latch to set which LEDs are on and which are off. The output enable, OE-bar, gates all 16 outputs on and off, and is fast enough to be used as a PWM input for LED intensity control."

"Multiplexing doubles the MAX6974/MAX6975 drive capability to 48 LEDs."

code and schematic to run 8x8 led grid w/7219 and Arduino

Ok, here's an exact schematic for a 7219 8x8 led matrix and even a pre-made board is available: http://www.woe.onlinehome.de/e_projects.htm

on the slab

semuta & marteleur - o my

or should I say oo la la?

...now that's what i'm talkin about!

servovalve.org

These are software-based musical instruments similar to Reaktor instruments but standalone. The website itself is also worth checking out (requires Shockwave) for a portfolio of less interactive but very beautiful sound/image/generative works. The names are in French I think.

Beat Blocks

"Beat Blocks is a tangible interface for a rhythm sequencer. The user is able to create and manipulate an 8-track drum loop (4 tracks in the featured prototype) on the fly by physically re-arranging blocks within a matrix. Each block is actually a sub-sequence identified by a patterning scheme." go here for more details and a video

hometown boy totally wired for steam

Childhood chum and early inspiration Jake Von Slatt has landed himself in the pages of Wired magazine! Meet Mr. Steampunk - Wired 6.29.07



As an impressionable highschool techno-dork, I remember tearing my gaze away from Von Slatt's lovely sister just long enough to admire his hand-made platter of vintage 2-button TV remotes, each wired to activate a different gizmo in the room.

Von Slatt continues to awe and inspire: http://steampunkworkshop.com/

140" ftir multi-touch video

baby steps

Downloaded the Arduino software and scrounged up an led and a 100K resistor, plugged the Arduino board in and uploaded an example program and voila, I was adjusting the speed of a blinking LED with my touchpot in like 10 minutes. Meanwhile I'm researching bar graph array leds and reading more about multiplexing MAX7221s.

blinky blinky

Arduino library for MAX7221/MAX7219

DIY: touch sensor pillow made of videotape

I saw an earlier project like this described elsewhere but it lacked some details. This one is from ITP Sensor workshop Wiki, a great resource: HOME MADE LINEAR TOUCH POTENTIOMETER

I knew it

arduino library for the MAX7221 and MAX7219

This article describes how (and has links to code) to use an Arduino into 8 7221s to drive 512 leds. That might be enough or maybe I can double the recipe. A forum link touches on issues with power consumption when running all this stuff at once.

Project Blinkenlights - Buildings as Displays

This and other animated designs are shown on the side of a building - supacool:
http://www.blinkenlights.de/gallery/yin_yang.en.html

charlie-plexing leds

Found some good led matrix info:
TB029 Complementary LED Drive
Charlieplexing: Reduced Pin-Count LED Display Multiplexing

Then brian crabtree sent me to this awesome page:


luscious electric delight
Be sure to check out the example movie at the end.

ftir pre-alpha - display test

This is my el-cheapo DIY multi-touch interface in progress. So far, it's just the display half of the project. I've taken an old overhead projector and laid it on it's back pointing up through a piece of glass onto some typing paper. There is an lcd overhead panel displaying a crude smiley made with a monome and this is rear-projected onto the paper. It's high noon with the shades drawn.

What's kind of amazing is that I took no measurements and just sort of laid the stuff out to see what sort of structure I'll have to build, and yet it already almost works well enough. Though blurry, this sort of resolution (big blobs of color) is plenty for most preliminary audio/display apps I can think of. Adjusting (raising) the table height will get the diffusor into a better plane for this projector and result in a much crisper image. It'll help when the sun goes down, too.

Next I'm going to try the infrared blast approach to generating the finger touch blobs, using a budget night-vision security camera.



more pics

y9

Thinking Out Loud
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And thinking
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ribbon tests
shebang

touch ribbon test

If I put 5v thru the outer leads it sends a range of 0.1-5 volts from
the center lead. It is very sensitive to touch in this mode.


If I remove power, resistance at the center lead ranges
from 0 to 10.5 K ohms - it requires slightly more force to get
a steady reading.
More pics here

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And thinking
sketches 1
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ribbon tests
shebang

latest xenome sketches

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etch-a-nome & xen-o-sketch

translucent touch pots

...well, sort of. Here are shots of two of the more promising types of pots that spectrasymbol sent, showing the relative translucence.


This shows the yellowish type that I think has the best tactile feel.


This shows it sticky-side-up


This is a wider type with a sort of grid of wires inside, and on ly 2 leads. The surface of this one is kind of like mylar. I tested it for capactiance and resitance. The pad appears to be divided into 4 distinct horizontal areas, giving values of 6, 5, 4, and 3 near the bottom. I'm not sure if you can see but it is sort of split down the middle but both halves give the same readings. On a capacitance setting it looksed like the values were greater in range but it was hard to get steady readings. Maybe I just need a data sheet on this thing.
More Thinking
And thinking
sketches 1
sketches 2
ribbon tests
shebang