Music

Take your creations beyond the workshop and onto the stage with diy music instruments! Let us show you how these creations range from simple, basic setups that produce beautiful sounds to more complex projects that require a greater level of engineering knowledge. With these tutorials and examples, we’ll guide you on this journey to make your own musical instrument for experimental, artistic or everyday use – so whether you’re starting out new or a seasoned sound creator, come explore the wonderful world of making your own music.

Weekend Projects – Optical Tremolo Box

Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Optical-Tremolo-Box/2276/1

Inspired by Charles Platt’s “Stomp Box Basics” article (MAKE Volume 15, page 82), follow along as we build this Optical Tremolo Box, which reads a patterned disk with a light sensor to create a warbling audio effect (tremolo).

For this project, MAKE Technical Editor Sean Ragan used a cadmium sulfide photoresistor to provide us with our light sensor – a component we have used in previous Weekend Projects. Not only does it look cool and sound great, but once you’ve made the project, you can customize it by making your own effects disks!

Continue Reading May 4th, 2012April 13th, 2015 Makemagazineuser

Weekend Projects – Infrared String Bass

Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Infrared-String-Bass/2049/1

You’ll convert light to sound in this Weekend Project. Using the LM386 amplifier, and pairs of infrared emitting and detecting diodes, we’ll show you how to build a four-string optical bass guitar. Mount your hardware onto a piece of lumber, or build your own classy chassis. Then, get ready to rock!

Continue Reading May 4th, 2012April 13th, 2015 Makemagazineuser

CMKT 4 West Coast Hackerspace Tour

CMKT 4, the makers of Creme DeMentia Contact Microphones, are excited to announce their upcoming tour. The DeKalb, IL based Hacker-Space-Rock trio will be making their second appearance at the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. Along the way, they will be teaching a number of workshops at Hackerspaces, bringing their total of […]

Continue Reading May 2nd, 2012 John Baichtal2

Text Tool: Steel Pan Tuning

You probably can’t learn to make a steel pan just by reading a book about it. But don’t you want to know how? Ulf Kronman’s book is 20 years old, now, but remains the definitive work on the subject. Best of all? You can download it for free right now.

Continue Reading May 1st, 2012August 31st, 2015 Sean Michael Ragan6

Old Broken Guitar Given New Life as Speaker

Daniel McGregor of Germany shared with us how he took an old broken guitar and upcycled it into a speaker. Daniel got the idea to transform the guitar when he was throwing out an old boombox that was also broken.

Continue Reading April 28th, 2012 Matt Richardson20

Robot Music Makers and Education Day at Maker Faire Bay Area

Intel will be bringing their real-world version of Animusic’s “Pipe Dream” to Maker Faire Bay Area. Educators sign up to participate in Education Day and help the Intel team tune this digital instrument.

Continue Reading April 24th, 2012 Nick Normal

Arduino Mod Lets Disabled Musicians Play Guitar

Justin’s device, dubbed the Folkbox, has rows of buttons mounted beneath the neck of the guitar that play chords when depressed. The buttons are hooked up to solenoids that depress the proper strings, allowing the user to play a multitude of different chords.

Continue Reading April 23rd, 2012 Michael Colombo8