Lab 1

Arduino Projects

Project 1: One-Way Willie

This project is very creative and potentially for useful for this time. It is a small robot that enforces one-way aisles to make sure there is less customer-to-customer interaction. People are being exceptionally creative with new products to help us adjust to the changing world. I was happy to read further and see there is a small punishment for those who still choose to ignore the rules. The robot creates a constant annoying buzz when prompted, hopefully deterring those from ignoring the safety of others.

Project 2: Electrostrat

The creator of this project rigged his Fender Strat guitar to have on-board digital effects. With only a few parts and some rerouting of the existing circuit, he was able to upload his own effects/filters onto the board along with what was already there (volume, treble/bass, etc). This project is super interesting to me and a lot simpler than I would expect according to his schematics. I might try it myself since I have a few old electric guitars I don’t use anymore.

Project 3: Punch Activated Arm Flamethrowers

User Alan Pan uploaded his creation of “real fire bending” to Arduino in 2017. Pan connected flamethrowers to his hands and programmed them to detect a punch using Arduino Pro Mini and an accelerometer. It’s not meant to be useful per se, but it is definitely cool to see having watched a lot of Anime when I was younger.

Project 4: UNO Guitar Pedal

I really love this project and want to make it for myself. This device is a guitar pedal that can be programmed with any sound/filter/effects so it is really the only one you’d ever need (get it – UNO). It has two push buttons, a toggle switch, a foot switch, and a clear shield that allows you to see all the inner works.

Project 5: DrumCube

The DrumCube is an Arduino Robot Drummer. The idea of the creator was to have a drummer always ready an available when humans are not. It does not use sampling or recording, but is programmed to play in different rhythms and ranges. The high, medium, and low ranges are produces by a white noise generator, an empty can of Pringle’s, and a sponge, respectfully.

Final Projects

Project 1: Matthew Lau

For Matthew’s final project, he created a drum pad using plywood and computer mousepads. When you hit one of the four pads, a contact sensor picks up the vibrations and sends a message to the computer, telling it which sound to make. The code seems a lot more simple than I would imagine it to be for a MIDI controller.

Project 2: Hank Borders

I found Hank’s project especially interesting. He created a device that visualizes sound on paper. Sound waves have become popular as tattoos and art pieces, as it has the ability to mean or say whatever you want without putting it in words. It’s definitely not something I would have thought to do (or thought I’d be able to do) just with this class.

Project 3: Hayley Livingston

Hayley, similar to Matthew, made a MIDI. Instead of a drum pad though, she created more or a piano-type MIDI. This can be useful for different purposes and different sounds than other MIDI controllers. Hayley’s MIDI also included a microphone/breath volume controller and a knob for filters. Her goal was to simulate a woodwind or brass instrument.

Project 4: Samuel Pachon

Samuel created a joystick controlled step sequencer. His video was super interesting to watch and he gave his design a lot of cool features. It amazes me he could make this (meanwhile I spent $2k for my Ableton Push to do the same thing 😒). The coding does appear super long and complicated and a little out of my league right now, but it’s motivation to work towards!

Project 5: Yasmin Williams

What an awesome idea! I’m constantly drumming or playing air piano with my hands and I would definitely buy something like this. It allows you to import nearly any drum kit and use your hands as a MIDI instrument. Yasmin is using the glove on the guitar, but it could theoretically be used anywhere.

Brainstorm:

I want to make something that creates art with music. I’m not exactly sure how I want to do this, whether it be a light display or a gadget that can release paint or some other medium depending on the notes played. I would have to figure out a pattern, possibly a different color for each note, and figure out how I would want them to be arranged on paper. My goal in the end is to have a physical piece of art created by a song or other audio.