A perfect project for those too lazy to walk down to the basement to empty their dehumidifier… or who forget to give their in-laws a gift on the holidays. This winter, Zachary J. Fields went home to visit his family, but neglected to buy a present for his in-laws for Christmas. After they asked him to go to […]
Gettin’ MIDI with it! Na na na na na na na nana! Sequencers are an interesting type of electronic instrument, capable of playing a selectable beat over and over. These devices can take many forms, but the GRIDI (“Grid plus MIDI”) is likely one of the largest. It takes the form of a table with a 16 […]
This IKEA highchair hack is tray-mazing! We’ve seen Maker parents mod their children’s odds and ends in the past, but this highchair may have taken it to a whole new level. That’s because Phil Tucker has hacked his baby’s $20 IKEA dining accessory into pro-gamer training rig and then some. To make the aptly named Highscore Chair a reality, Tucker scavenged a pair […]
Obscrua is an Arduino-compatible MIDI synth for creating Nintendo, C64 and Amiga-style chiptunes. A chiptune refers to a genre of synthesized electronic music which was commonly found in vintage computers, consoles and arcade machines. As its name would imply, the tunes themselves were made by the sound chips within these early gaming systems and microcomputers, with an integrated waveform generator playing an integral […]
Connect this AVR-based board to a MIDI device and make your own NES-style chiptunes. Chiptunes are a type of synthesized, electronic music produced by old-school video game consoles, which became ubiquitous throughout arcades and living rooms in the ‘80s. Originally, 8-bit tunes were primarily practiced by game soundtrack composers like Rob Hubbard; yet, it wasn’t before long that tools like Karsten Obarski’s Ultimate Soundtracker were introduced, […]
EJtech has developed an experimental textile that could serve as an interface for sonic interactions. Esteban de la Torre and Judit Kárpáti, who together make up Budapest art and tech lab EJtech, have made a name for themselves in exploring the intersection between sound and textiles. You may recall one of their earlier works, Chromosonic, a chameleon-like material that could sense its surroundings and change color based […]
Maker transforms his old game controller into a real MIDI drum set that can interface with digital audio workstations. Back in 2008, it seemed like everyone was rocking out to Guitar Hero World Tour. And well, a lot has changed over the last seven years. Like many other Makers out there, Evan Kale wanted to retrofit somewhat out-dated gadgetry into a fully-functional, modern-day […]
This retrofitted player piano is like Disney’s Haunted Mansion meets Daft Punk. As seen back at Maker Faire Bay Area, Maker Ramon Yvarra has innovatively transformed an antiquated, 700-pound player piano from the 1920s into a modern-day, MIDI-powered instrument. Housed inside the retrofitted Hobart M. Cable digital player piano lies a series of two registers and 11 custom circuit boards to drive the […]
This MIDI synthesizer is ideal for any musician or Maker looking to create some grooves. In collaboration with Alex Dyba of GetLoFi, Nootropic Design founder Michael Krumpus recently debuted the Synthino XM, a five-note polyphonic synthesizer packed with a four-track sequencer running on the versatile ATxmega128A4U MCU. Successfully funded on Kickstarter where it garnered just over $17,000, the open-source device boasts a fun, aesthetically-pleasing […]
This new Kickstarter project is converting MIDI messages into general-purpose output. The MIDIWidget is a new MIDI decoder designed by John Staskevich. Recently launched on Kickstarter, the device was created as a way to make it super easy for users to control real-world items using MIDI messages from their computer or controller. Impressively, the MIDIWidget can function as the brain for an assortment of projects, ranging from […]
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 