Tea and IRC: Autumn again.

I'm sitting on a couch, with cushions and a blanket, wrapped in pajamas with my favorite black sweater, thick burgundy over-the-knee socks, and long grey arm warmers. I have a mug of PG Tips and some peanut butter toast. It's about 8 pm and in an hour, some of us are going to play handball. (We played until 3am last night, against the big Art Museum wall; I still had on most of my pirate clothes from the scavenger hunt.) Autumn life is slow, full and slumbersome.

In the last two days, I've found two things at Digital Ops that I'd thought long lost: my favorite fountain pen, an Ohto Tasche with Noodler's Nightshade ink, and my camera. While I've missed photographing most of this gorgeous October, I intend to make up for that starting tonight. Ann Arbor's October is the best month anywhere. Here is my soundtrack.

I've managed to spend a lot of my time this autumn outside, and as the light dies, I'm staying out of the hackerspace more to savor its last golden dregs. We've been hashing out bylaws for the organization, and figuring out where we want to head for the future. In the meantime, I'm learning to program IRC bots in Python.

This deeper exploration of IRC, or chatrooms-plus, is my latest attempt at getting presence logging up for the 'space. I tried with QR codes, but my hilariously convoluted scheme was thwarted when I couldn't find free webhosting that still lets you just type HTML in a box and have done with it. Things have come a long way since 9th grade, I guess; everybody has fancy templates and drag-and-drop GUI-based widget tomfoolery.

I've been learning Python from Nate, and stealing bot code from Nima and Noam. My current setup includes:

• My old iBook, plugged in at home - a moody server full of caprice, which at random begins holding down the comma, m, or space key. It's great to be able to use this computer for something, as it's taken a couple of flying leaps and now has to be opened with a shoehorn.

• Traumbot - my first functional bot, built from Nima's Prozacbot. When it's active in your channel, it appears as another user. If you type "!present", it will note that you are present at AHA!, appending your username, the date, and the time to a tab-delimited text file stored in my Dropbox. I can open up this file in Excel and see columns "user", "daet", and "tiem" with the relevant information. My next task is to rewrite Traumbot to make it sleeker and more extensible. Traumbot can also record people's fetishes (work-safe).

Traumbot is really "Traumbot ibn ibnGruem"... for a while, I named all the test bots according to the one they branched off of - hence, Merlinbot ibn Prozac, Grumbot ibn Merlin, [Presencebot] ibn Gruem, then this one. If you'd like to drop in and watch the testing, check out #merlinpanic on irc.freenode.net (a popular IRC server network).

Ignite!

Right now (or very soon), I'm presenting at the fourth Ignite (Ann Arbor). I'm probably nervous, so if you see this, please shout "FACE!" at me. It'll make me laugh, and that is always good. If you're not here, text me when you see me come on the live stream linked above! If lots of people do this, you may be able to see me twitch with shock :D

I've got the Ataritar with me onstage; it's the shiny black guitar-thing that isn't a guitar. (If you want details, scroll down!) The Angry Amp is also up here. I've also got the jankiest plug console that was ever janked together the night before a presentation, because I need to plug the Ataritar, a piezo, and my iPod into the Amp at different points. Grunge-tastic!

Should you wish to explore the diagrams later, you can download a PDF of my presentation here (I believe this dropbox will expire in 30 days).

And if you enjoyed this talk, you should heed my words and come to All Hands Active, the hackerspace located in Digital Ops on Liberty. Several of our own have given Ignite talks in the past, including (Matt) Oishi, Xander Honkala, Bilal Ghalib, and Anthony Oliver. You'll also be able to meet Pokey, whose tongue and ears can be seen in the presentation. Awesome people; awesome times.

Ataritar - Part I

So!

The Good People of AHA! went to Maker Faire Detroit. There were many misadventures along the way, but we got there, and I got to show people the cyborg juggling machine, Skate-Tar, goggles, Angry Amp, and (sorta) LED rope dart. Then, Mitch Altman and Jimmie Rodgers came to visit us, along with Matt Mets, MAKE's resident blogger and all-around excellent fellow. (Mitch and Jimmie were also awesome!) The night before their soldering workshop, we got together for beers at Grizzly Peak, a jam session including the unholy marriage of Skate-Tar and Jimmie's Atari Punk Console, and a photo battle.

Since then, some of us have been working on Roxanne, our beautiful all-in-one makerspace monitor/memory; I'm going to build her ears and pharynx. And she will come with us to the NYC Global Maker Faire in September. But my main project for now is the ATARITAR!

Atari Punk Console (APC), speaker replaced with 1/8" plug

Jimmie brought these into the space for the workshop; it's an audio tone generator, controlled by two potentiometers. I wanted one, but didn't want to buy a full kit, so I was going to order just the PCB... and then I discovered an unfinished one, consigned to a lonely drawer long ago. Goodtiems!

The APC is going to be mounted onto a stripped-down electric guitar body; the strings, tuning hardware, and pickups were removed some time ago. Here, you can see the back of the pickguard, which has a 1/4" mono jack, 2 pots (Volume and Tone), and two switches (for the absent pickups). I've replaced the wiring to one of the switches with a 1/8" jack, so that I can plug the APC in where a pickup would go, and at this point a 1/4" jack can run from the pickguard to my Angry Amp (not pictured). This allows me to run the APC through the guitar hardware to the amp. I hooked up a 1/4" jack to the other switch; in the picture above, the APC and Skate-Tar are both plugged into the guitar 'ware, running through to the amp. Interesting noises!

Next, I needed to cut down the pickguard to accommodate the addition of buttons and switches (being too lazy to drill holes). This was accomplished with wire cutters, tin snips, and a rasp. (A Dremel would've been much faster, but I was too lazy to get it out.)

I also added some hackerspace stickers; these are from Pumping Station: One and OmniCorp Detroit.

And some other things, including a button from kwartzlab (Ontario-place) and patch from the MakerCity Faire.

Finished pickguard! The silver Sharpie is just a fancy way to demarcate the "on" positions for the switches.

The next step was to make the APC a permanent attachment to the 'tar. I removed the 1/8" plug and extended wires between the pots and PCB. However, these weakened connections caused the sound to turn into horrible, high, dolphin-like noises. As I'm going for a more bass effect, this was not the proper direction for things to be going.

With much trepidation, I got the pots back onto the PCB, and it sounded good again.

At this point, I took a break from soldering to enhance the aesthetic qualities of the instrument. I took the stickers off (having multiples), and used this paint that I found in my room while searching for a plastic bag... serendipity! (Paint originally from the excellent David Lamb.)

Applied the paint in the women's bathroom at Digital Ops (the whale to AHA's remora, also the oldest multiplayer gaming facility in North America). This tends to be the place where we contain noxious fumes, loud noises, flying sparks, and so on...

Before!

After!

The paint is beautiful and glossy, just as promised. I put on threeish coats and a touch-up layer.

And my AHA! name :)

Thus concludes Part I of the Ataritar Saga! Since these pictures were taken, I've managed to integrate the APC fully into the guitar body and added magnets and such. The next installment will contain an update on whatever variable resistor I manage to scrounge together.

Exciting! :D

SKATE-TAR

UPDATE: Maker Faire Detroit: EXCELLENT TIMES.

We were trying to transport castle-building materials to the Faire in a 1950's schoolbus, which broke down about 20 minutes out of Ann Arbor... after one leg of the base (strapped to the roof by Valdés) snapped off, before we forgot to unstrap it and actually bring it to Detroit, at which point Noam uttered a primal scream.

Things got better...

But I did have a lot of spare time on the bus to work on the 'tar, which in the end was outfitted with three pickups, one behind each set of bolts (which aren't actually held in there by anything but angled pressure and friction) and one on the bridge. The bridge is just a plastic lid, set on an empty Altoids tin for height.
On Sunday afternoon, I headed over to OmniCorp Detroit's booth for an electronic music play session. I had the 'tar strapped on with my LED rope dart, and plugged into the Angry Amp. Here I'm also wearing the superpowered goggles and juggling machine. The process of walking became a bit interesting...

••••••••

(better version on YouTube... this is a very basic build of the thing.)

Detroit's "MakerCity" Maker Faire is this weekend! Several local hackerspaces are going to be there in full force, and I'll be bringing the Juggling Apparatus again (which got a mention in Dale Dougherty's Makers Dozen article!). As for new projects, I've been trying to hack together a bass Drawdio-tar, but haven't managed to get it going yet; I need specific chips, or the original Drawdio PCB, neither of which have yet manifested themselves.

So, I've begun looking for other options. A while ago, somebody posted this video to the AHA! boards, and I loved the sound of the one with a rubber band or string attached. Pursuant to this, I made a "rubber harp" to bring to the next jam session, which worked fairly well but wasn't all that interesting (just a few bands wrapped around an open-topped box, with a pickup taped on). I'm now expanding this into a full instrument.

I present to you... the SKATE-TAR!

As yet, it's nothing much; this is what I threw together last night and this morning. Most of the building will happen at the AHA! Shop tonight, and it shall have many strings, and longer ones. My hope is to get a glorious bass sound out of it by the time we head to the Faire.

Piezo pickup taped to an Altoids tin. Moveable bridge! I'll want to have this affixed somehow, though, as the tin/bridge likes to shift around during playing. Fortunately, the grip tape provides a great surface.

Piezo goes to a 1/4" jack, which goes into the Angry Amp.

Next up: I've found that it does work to wire multiple piezos in parallel to a single jack, so that's happening. I may add more bridges to the 'tar, in which case there'd be a piezo on each... or perhaps they'll just go on the back of the board.

Later on, I shall probably also make a chainmail strap for this.

Musical Cyborg Juggling Apparatus

6 1/2 hours in the AHA! Shop and a chocolate-peanut-butter sandwich brought us to this. I'd been stalled out on the method for weeks, and then the clouds suddenly broke, early on April Fool's Day.

So what is this? It is a harness that turns the action of juggling into buzzing noises, flashing LEDs, and arcing electricity. Each palm has two separate copper wires exposed, one of which is hooked up to the positive terminal of a battery, while the other connects to a motor (or bank of LEDs, or people-shocking device). When the wires are bridged by a tinfoil-covered juggling ball, the circuit is closed and the motor (people-shocker, eye-blinder, etc.) runs. Thus, the juggling becomes a method of switching things on and off... like so:

...ish.

And this is what it actually looks like... somewhat less elegant, perhaps. At the top left, we have the left glove with a conductive ball bridging its contacts; below that, a taped-up 12V battery pack (the brown/blue block); then, the box itself. Most of the apparatus is externally mounted. Magnets glued near the four central motors anchor metal bolts, which are struck by the spinning zip ties to create a variety of buzzing sounds (sample mp3!). From the bottom left emerge wires from a shocker, which discharges a decent amount of voltage (I forget how much) across the blue and white wires' stripped ends. It will arc up to about 1cm through the air, which looks pretty sweet, and also give you a pretty hefty shock. (Me holding one contact + Amanda holding the other + proximity -> lightning hands!)

Not pictured: burned-out LED bank... I am not yet wise in the science of adding resistors. But a new, more awesome version is on the way.

The box belts to my waist, and...

suede straps anchor the wires to my arms.

Prototype glove... wire contacts wrapped around a scrap anchor on the inside. Jabby.

Suede glove #1 in production!

Maille rings and thread hold the wires in place. Juggling gloves: now with 50% less pain!


Balls: socks + washers (for heft) + duct tape (for cushioning and adhesive) + tinfoil.

So, there is currently a glove for each hand, plus these:
Finger-contacts! These copper rings are a pain, both figuratively (the donning/doffing process is tedious) and literally (they have a tendency to channel voltage straight through my fingers, resulting in anguish and blisters). But they look... kinda awesome.

I brought this machine to exhibit (with AHA!) at TEDxUofM, which was pretty stupendous. My favorite presenters were John Holland, Udae Sandhu (who voiced basically my current philosophy of happiness), Jacob Mendel's "Zlatá Rybka" video, Mason Proper (!!), Matt Shlian, and Alex Wand (with his awesome marimba-bowing musics). Yesssssss.

AHA! and the Apparatus will also be making an appearance at several future DIY/tech/Maker events, including the Hands-On Museum's Tech Event (May 22), the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire (June 5), and hopefully the Detroit Maker Faire (July 31 - August 1). Actually, this post is part of my application for Detroit... I anticipate all three being fantastic.

(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