Auduino from Tinker.it! on Vimeo.

Auduino is based on the Arduino board. The audio is coming direct from Arduino PWM output with only a slight external reverb. No other effects were used.

Construction details and code here:
code.google.com/p/tinkerit/

As with much of my documentation, this is based on the great write up at Bricktable. I just added a few pictures and some more verbiage.

Plug your arduino in, make sure it is recognized by Windows (this can be done on a windows machine, or as in my case in a Parallels VM). Once you know the hardware is being seen, fire up the Mprog you downloaded.

Click the Magnify Glass icon, to search for the arduino:

A sucessfull find will give you the feedback like the this (see bottom left text area):

Now click menu “Tools”, option “Read and Parse”, it will look like this:

Check the “Use Fixed Serial Number” check box:

Put in a serial with format of “a40h-xxx” where xxx is a number, most start with a40h-001, then do a40h-002, etc. But in theory you could put any 3 digit number in here:

Save it:

Once you’ve saved, click the lightning bolt, that flashes your arduino, close down this app, open up arduinomeserial and you’re arduino driven monome should appear in the drop down with the number you just gave it.

Stribe1: Touchstrip + LED Bargraph Display from CuriousInventor on Vimeo.

The Stribe 1 has been launched and it looks really nice. I love the fact that it’s modular. $94 a pop, means you could pick one up a month and after 8 months you’d have a nice looking piece of kit.

I’m curious to see what’s needed above and beyond just having the modules. How much you need to do to get it working with the arduino and what max patches are available. I’m already thinking that a arduinome 64 with 2 or 3 of these strips off the side in the same enclosure could be pretty neat and very useful. I wonder if there will (or is) any cross fade patches yet. I’m very tempted to get a couple.

If you’re planning on building a Monome clone – Arduinome or similar you have a new life saver, the now famous Unsped is releasing a limited edition run of his amazing and time saving shield. It is highly recommend as a starting point for these sorts of projects.

Unsped Shield Parts.

LED Matrix from Sparkfun, and 8 pots.

The idea is to use the OOTB unsped shield. Wire the LED side of it to the matrix, which I am assuming should be fairly straight forward. Then find a way to wire the 8 pots so that each one controls a row with the full left to full right turn being equal to columns 1 – 8.

One issue I’ve already thought of is the serial is expecting button press and button releases, the pots can only register a single value, unless I can find some way to “fire” an on/off signal, this might need a tweak to the serial (which may or may not (I expect may) be a show stopped for this project).

The wood is a little dinged, and I’d probably say that the plywood base makes it look very prototype, but it’s an enclosure and that’s really all that matters right now. All I need to get the project finished is my type-A to type-A usb cable (due any day). Then I can start playing with this some more.

With the help of my Father who was over from England last week, we put together the first prototype for the enclosure. I’m using a machine collective black faceplate, extra thick.

When we first put it together we used the full height of the side wood, so it was about 1.5″ higher than it needed to be. I just trimmed it down an inch, but it seems that with the height of the inside panel and the headers and idc cables I’ve not left enough room for it to fit.

So I’m left with two options. This weekend, I either cut a new box – which now we have the right tools and a first pass shouldn’t be too difficult, or I stop using the Unsped shield in it’s mounted format and try and find some connectors so I can have them side by side. I think I’d rather do that – it’s just a matter of finding an easy way to do the connections. If that fails I’ll cut and glue a new box, ready for spraying.

My faceplates arrived from Holland from Machine Collective on Saturday. My father and I spent some time on Sunday putting together a prototype box. Everything is cut, glued and working great. Biggest issue I had is that I was using a panel mount USB connector to protect my arduino from the elements. But I picked type B to type A. Which means I need a type A to type A usb cable…. and even with my impressive box loads of electronic junk I have none to be seen.

The box is currently 3″ deep, so I’m thinking of trimming an inch off the bottom to reduce the height. The aim is to spray it with a non slip black spray I found – which seems to very closely match the finish of my black mac book which it will be paired with. Combined with the black faceplate and bright blue LED’s I do have to say it’s rather dandy looking.

My next step is to start working out which apps I need, and start familiarizing myself with them – so expect a fair amount of 101 style write-ups and walk thrus over the next few weeks.

In parallel, I think I might start soldering the second 64 set I have, but in a 4×16 arrangement.

I’ll get some pictures of the box tonight.