Category: Electronics
As discussed in my ongoing series of sound board experiments (most recently with the Adafruit Sound FX Board), I have been on a quest for an easy to use platform for sound installations and experimental projects. The basic spec for this project was as follows: My search for a good ...
This is a continuation of an earlier exploration of Adafruit’s FX Sound Board. Previously, I worked with the 2MB version, but soon found I needed more storage for the intended application. The 16 MB version is basically identical in functionality – just more storage. The attraction of this board is ...
Next up in IoT exploration is the Sparkfun ESP8266 Thing – part WRL-13231. Note that this is not the Dev board – a separate device with different pinout and other changes. Navigating Sparkfun’s hookup guide was fairly easy, especially since I had already installed the ESP8266 libraries as part of another project. The ...
A lot has changed since my last connected sensor project in 2013, so I wanted to jump in again to see how the technology has come along. After playing with some Particle Photon stuff, I came across NodeMCU. Hackster.io has lots of ideas for this board, so I sought to recreate ...
Since my last embedded project experiments in 2013, a lot has changed. Costs have gone down, size has reduced and functionality is way up. After researching some of the more current platforms, I selected the Particle Photon for its size, prize and capability. After successfully duplicating Clarissa San Diego’s ...
12/22/16 – The LED Panner is another fun circuit from the great book “Handmade Electronic Music” by Nicolas Collins. This circuit uses a single 74C14 Hex Schmitt Trigger chip, taking advantage of only a few pins (so you could to much more with this). LEDs paired with photo resistors create ...
12/9/16 – The Xmas Fly is a riff on the Black Fly, which is basically nothing more than a piezo element and a few parts in a nice box. The Black Fly includes springs, which cause interesting vibrations for the piezo to pick up. To make springs work you need ...
June 2016 – The Quad Oscillator below is a common beginner project, with surprising nuances depending on parts and configuration. In this case, I bought a kit online from GetLoFi.com. The kit arrived quickly, but was plagued by a few issues. First, my kit didn’t include the SPDT switch that ...
Just as 2015 was wrapping up I put together a MIDI drum trigger kit from Spikenzie Labs. The Drum Kit Kit – All Included (DKK-AI) comes with everything you need to set up six triggers using piezo discs. Programming is done via an Arduino IDE using the built-in ATMEGA328-PU chip, so you ...
Dec 2015 – The Nebulophone has been on my wishlist for a while, so when Makershed held their holiday sales, it was great to pick one of these for an even better price. Even without a discount, this is a worth while piece of gear and makes some great sounds. Build ...
December 5, 2015 After a long break from Arduino, and electronics in general, I wanted to jump back in with an easy/medium difficulty task or project. With the many holiday discount sales out there for companies like Adafruit and Sparkfun, I went ahead and got a few projects to ...
A friend of ours has a vintage Acetone Fuzzmaster. My father copied and made several versions it, and was researching different versions. This is one that he selected the parts for, and that I built into a holiday canister. I didn’t have quite enough room for a switch, and I ...