(Do Breadboards Dream Of) Electric Jam

IT LIVES!


Last Saturday, I finished Make's crackerbox amp project. This is extremely exciting, as it represents a) a successful first foray into the twin lands of circuit diagrams and building electronics from scratch, and b) the actualization of my own electric mandolin!

Janky janky janky. But it works! (I had very limited wire resources... hence, everything is the same color.)

This soldering job reminds me of Kate Beaton's fat pony: ugly and incompetent, but kind of endearing...

While Make seems to have some kind of sponsorship thing with Radio Shack, I don't recommend going there for parts. I moseyed down there one evening, and walked out feeling like I'd lost two hours (including bus time) and spent twice as much as I should've for the components I got. Even if you go online to avoid getting ripped off as much, it could easily cost more than $5 if you don't have most of the stuff already on hand. Still, no complaints - I ended up with this...

:)

The best reference material came from http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/ . Amazing resource for semi-newcomers to the field of electronic jiggery-pokery. I also highly recommend checking out cairn's comments / linked PCB layout pic on the article page. While it was fun to slowly learn how to read the circuit diagram, at times it got extremely frustrating; I found that layout diagram once I was done, and kinda wished I'd had it all along. (Still, it was gratifying to turn the thing on and have noise come out, when I'd wondered if it would do anything but set the carpet on fire.)

With the piezo mounted! I tried poking/cutting holes in the speaker cone for more distortion, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference... perhaps because I only have an 8-ohm speaker. It came from the local Kiwanis rummage sale - they have a bunch, and I paid a solitary buck for this one.

This amp exists mainly to give grittiness and edge to the mandolin, and that it does, most noticeably in the upper registers. I chose to use surface-mounted pickups because there's no way I'm taking a drill to the mandolin. So I'm going with a piezo wired to a 1/4" plug, courtesy of the excellent Matt Endahl.

Next step: build a case for it. I settled on some 2-walled plastic with linear cells, which David and I pulled out of the art museum dumpster a while back.

Piezo pickup with plug, duct tape, box cutter, Sharpie, nail sink, amp, plastic.

Cut the plastic into three panels, for optimal stability (that whole 3-legs-don't-wobble thing)... plus mega style points.

Top and bottom covers (the top flaps open); speaker hole cutout.

Duct tape "hammer" + nail sink + needlenose pliers -> easy holes, exactly the right size.

Loud = volume, Angry = gain :)

A lot of people asked about volume vs. gain. As I understand it, the chip already amplifies input sound by a certain amount. The gain feeds from the chip back into it, so that basically controls how much the chip amplifies the signal (sound). (Past a certain level, this creates clipping, which makes it sound gritty.) The volume is between the chip and the speaker ("after" the chip), so it controls how much of this already-amplified signal is put through the speaker.

Left side: on/off toggle, 1/4" jack
Center: volume rheostat, gain potentiometer
Right: speaker
Bottom: PCB, 9V battery

Finished! Here's a short sound sample with the mandolin. There are some images up already on Facebook, as I brought it to Build Night last night at AHA...

Rocking out (as best I am able) at the shop.

We also taped it up to the illustrious Amanda's amazing propane tank steel drum. That thing sounds amazing, though as with the mandolin, only the higher registers worked with the amp's distortion. Apparently, I can switch out one of the capacitors, and it'll pick up more bass... so I guess that's a logical next step with this thing. I already tried hooking up some red LEDs inline with the speaker (so they'd pulse along with the sound), but alas, they were too much of a voltage drain and barely any sound came out.

The last couple of photos are from AHA's Facebook page; I believe they were taken by Josh, one of the proprietors of Digital Ops, our venue. I am inexpressibly happy that this space, the group, and the people in it exist. Dudes are seriously awesome.

Nobody understands meeee

...though mainly because I sing in made-up languages.

I've been having pretty good times lately. The days are particularly grand when I can get a reservation for the V-Room (UM's sound recording booth). I finally recorded three folk songs I wrote while studying abroad in 2008... the vocals are dodgy as always, but I think the language alone gives these interest. They're written in my conlang, mazlaani. The tunes are stolen from other places; lyrics and loose translations follow... click the song titles to download, or here to listen to all of them on Posterous.

Inothaye eila hi fari - Tune: Navan, "Seoithín, Seothó"

Inothaye eila hi fari A’santu mari imkarenni Inothaye eila hi fari Kaadie tsuoheta leme eiyon Xiyora lorelea oreni Lentah pakaiyu sefura faa siten Xiyora lorelea oreni S’akal naarana kte’u Inothaye eila hi fari A’santu mari imkarenni Inothaye eila hi fari Kiie xituran oreni ridae.

To wander this land is good This is a place of peace To wander this land is good Green leaves filter creamy light I drink in the richness of the days My feet walk in cool water I drink in the richness of the days High sunlight warms my skin To wander this land is good This is a place of peace To wander this land is good And I have days to wander.

Chilun tumnanaii - The Chieftains, "Don Oiche Ud I mBeithil"

Elemnen kiranaiyo Kinarolan s’amna me Ruuara-tsorun xala, A’sachti faa lihte hou. A’quuro s’idusa faa Saahta rochai’an; Janaï-to lonn faa charam A’chairechta kummnaou.

The embers of summer sleep under fallen leaves When I inhale, I awaken and my breath is mist on the wind. A fire begins to ignite itself in the air; Sparks drift red from high branches in the twilight.

As'ailu xirhara lani - Ugnëlakis su Kûlgrinda, "Skauda Galvelá, Negaliu"

As’ailu xirhara lani Fairech naarai tumnanaii Xolts’e o rinta leai Reiya petuvin xani, pexeiya Inlaat xe xiute raas’in Rilun, razlaani a’xalsin S’e o s’inna kinuta’u Faolan, o eila-urun xa s’inna Pala’u tchenden nolurinna Xatou as’tir tuorunna Qulann'u s’estoh yunao Lechat’u seiyonna ochai O as’ach as’ailra saati? Taapra canssto, taapra s’altï? Tsuohe-urun a laanti; Tukran-to s’aarai eila...

From my window I see them, Sparkling with autumn sunlight. I would go and run with them, but cannot; it is not given to me... How can I stay and whisper? Now I want to speak, to sing. The world will see my heart beating! The whole world will see me. My drum is the storm’s lightning; I wear the mountain’s gale. My music is the beating rain, My torch is the moon’s flame. Will my eyes turn back to the window? Is home a friend or an enemy? Now all the leaves are falling, The world gleams copper...

Someday I will add backing to this song; right now, I'm thinking tambourine, electric mandolin, and electric mediocre viola. (More on these later...)

Upon reflection, I think I subconsciously stole a couple of words from Elvish: check "laanti" (they fall), with Tolkien's "lantar" (same), as well as "oren"/"aurë" (day). This is not at all surprising, and as any giant dork will observe, the themes are also pretty similar. I wrote a lot about autumn because I had none that year, being in the southern hemisphere for five months; the vocabulary is also limited, because of the size of the language so far.

•••••••••••••

There's more in the offing, but I can't give away all my secrets at once. I'm planning some fun stuff for the Maker Faires this summer (A2 Mini and MakerCity in Detroit)... definitely working with the AHA! Shop, possibly the Hands-On Museum, and/or a couple other excellent peoples. It will be a good season.

[Side note: AUGH FORMATTING... I will try and fix this, but no promises. ;_;]

Juggling balls (Part 2)

These juggling balls are more time- and labor-intensive than the others, but you end up with a much warmer, more personal final product. They're basically hacky sacks, but for juggling you need 3+.

My first attempt / only complete set so far.

There are various ways of making these; the general idea is that you're making a soft cube, so you need six squares in some configuration, plus some space for the stitches to hold. I use two rectangles of suede for each ball, each 3 squares long (kind of like baseballs). You can also use three rectangles of two each, or two L-shaped pieces of 3 each. Or whatever else your little heart desires. All it really affects is the pattern of the colors.

1 red-orange and 1 sage green for each ball. The balls in my original set are filled with black beans, which produces a very pleasant noise. Now I'm trying to make some with jingly bells inside, which will sound sort of rattly when muted by the stuffing... kind of meh, but it'll provide variation. These are for use in juggling rhythms (I've gotten a bunch further since that video... exciting).

Materials!

I'm using doubled thread to sew the edges together, with about 1/4"-1/2" of edging. As with most needle-and-thread projects, this is sewn inside out, except for an opening, then inverted and finished.

Halfway through...

End of each rectangle attaches to the middle third of the other. Suede is a bit more finicky than the cloth I used before; I had to cut a small triangle from each straight edge where it folded around the corner of the other rectangle.

Flipped...

...and inverted. This is just to show what it should look like - a couple more sides need to be sewn before this can be finished. Not all my projects can be fantastic successes, and I ended up abandoning this ball because the suede was too thick and stiff to invert through the hole I had left, at least without undoing a lot of previous stitching. This also happened because I used smaller rectangles than before, which provides less leeway: 1.5-inch squares (so 5.5" x 2.5" rectangles, including 1/2" of slip), instead of 2-inch squares (7" x 3" rectangles). I didn't want to have to stitch up a whole side from the outside, as my attempts at "pretty stitches" usually produce the following:

These are the stitched-up holes from the first set, after stuffing the stuffing in. (Note on that: put in much more stuffing than you think you need, so that the ball is quite taut. Failure to do so will resort in a loose final product that expresses ennui, rather than exuberance. You want EXUBERANT BALLS.)

I'm happy sticking with these ones, as they are very aesthetically pleasing to me. Each has one rectangle of red-on-blue brocade, and for the other rectangle, they have burgundy suede, iridescent red/black cloth, and the reverse of the brocade (blue on red). Hey kids, patterning is cool. B)

Ugly stitches: EXTREME CLOSEUP