DIY Projects

Merging his interests in physical computing and electronic music, artist and composer Tristan Perich will give a presentation on his recent project, One Bit Music. Electronics programmed and packaged in a standard CD jewel case by Perich play minimal glitch/dance music when headphones are plugged in. The device is meant to fit into the standard album-based method of music distribution: you will find it along other CDs in a record store and it has different tracks; it will be released by Cantaloupe Music in the upcoming months. [via] Link.

Fabienne Serrière has a couple really good HOW TOs on getting started with Csound and then she shows constructing a homemade MIDI controller circuit and using the new device to control Csound in real time. Link.

Have an old hard drive that no longer works? As long as it still spins up chances are you could build a clock out of your old hard drive! You will need some electronic knowledge, some common electronic components and a bit of patients. The clock that is produced isn’t exactly practical since most hard drives (especially older ones) are too loud for a clock that is to operate 24 hours a day. Thanks Doug! Link.

Whether you’re having a groundbreaking celebration for the construction of your new subterranean evil lair, or throwing a 5 year-old a birthday party, an erupting volcano cake is always the perfect pastry choice. Here’s how to make one… Link.

This is an intermediate to advanced project for someone who wants to make cool sounds. It makes a great first synth project but is interesting enough for the seasoned synth person too. When I first designed the synth I made some very lame oscillators for it and I wasn’t happy with them so I put the same basic ramp oscillators that are in my big synth and I’m glad I did. Link.