Electret Microphone Dissection
Audio hacker extraordinaire Guest of Open Music Labs wrote this fantastic and very in-depth explanation of how the lowly (yet ubiquitous!) electret microphone works. Check it out!
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.
Cybraphon, Autonomous Emotional Robot Band
Cybraphon, the latest project from Edinburgh-based artist collective FOUND, searches the web for reviews of its performances, and changes its playing style as a result. Image conscious and emotional, the band’s performance is affected by online community opinion as it searches the web for reviews and comments about itself 24 hours a day.
Old Trumpet Finds New Life as iPhone Amplifier
What’s not to love about Christopher Locke’s Analog Tele-Phonographer? Constructed from a salvaged trumpet and various machine parts, the device amplifies and directs music played by a docked phone without the need for additional power. And it looks pretty cool to boot! [via Gizmodo]
DIY Modern WiFi Radio
Jan Wante built this slick WiFi radio. He started with Jeff Keyzer’s excellent instructions, then added a custom wood and metal case, LCD interface, and encoder wheel to build it into a finished product. Looks great! [via Mighty Ohm]
MIDI-Controlled Light Organ
MAKE subscriber Colin Mann of Los Angeles, CA, created a light organ that uses antique bulbs. 12 light bulbs correspond to the 12 notes in an octave (minus the octave note). The rectangular box unfolds to position the light bulbs vertically for display, while at the same time providing a platform for the keyboard in […]
Interactive Laser Harp Sculpture
Moritz Waldemeyer wrote in to share his interactive laser harp sculpture. You will be happy to hear that this is my very first installation actually using an Arduino to link the lasers via light sensors to a netbook which is running an Open Frameworks app. We created some weird and wonderful sounds from various sirens […]
DIY Isomorphic Keyboard
This is a velocity sensitive MIDI isomorphic keyboard. 192 total keys. The project came out of Louisville Soundbuilders, a fortnightly meeting of circuitbenders, synth engineers and experimental musicians. After seeing a couple of my failed variations of a single-bus isomorphic keyboard, Tim was intrigued enough to design one even better. He designed multiple PCBs that […]