Update

Tonight was the lunar eclipse and I managed to get a decent photograph of it.

As for my other projects, I have been working on the bronome switch array and have two prototype units built. The code needs writing and Little-Scale has been nice enough to lend a hand with some of the missing pieces. With a little more free time on my hands I should have something working. In the next few days.


Bronome set to white Feb 20, 2008.


TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor for laser midi interface project.

Bronome Prototyping

Today I started to tackle the LED routines. Right now its still really crude as I am borrowing a large section of the code base from other sources. I am not happy with the speed at which it is executing so I am going to rewrite a lot of it and perhaps use assembler. Here is the latest video:






Please excuse the documentation of code, that was more for my record.

Why Bronome?

The Bronome project has been designed to address some of my personal performance audio needs. I saw a need for something more than just a USB interface something which could also act as a hardware midi controller. In that respect the Bronome is a brother to many other projects such as the Monome, Tonori-on, and MidiBox. It borrows concepts and ideas from all to make a unique interface onto its own. Although the initial facade is very much like the minimalist Monome 40h, the differences are in its use of light to convey meaning. Through visual means the interface of the Bronome can mutate or transform into a multitude of utilities, keyboard, sequencer, or display. The configurations are endless.

If you would like to participate in this project either through coding, graphics, ideas or suggestions, send an email to Brian Durocher.

Bronome

Here is an update of the bronome with a simple animation of the LED lights.

Bromome Stage 2 (RGB Monome Derived Interface)

A few more parts arrived from my favorite supplier and I was able to wire everything up and get it working on a very basic level. The next stage will be switch/button implementation and LED reaction to button presses. I am not totally sure if i am going to use the Monome code base or just create my own assembler version. Regardless here is the video.

Crusing YouTube on a stormy Day

SID Music Video

Amtel 2560 PCB

My 2560 PCBs have arrived from BatchPCB they took about 3 weeks in total. It was fairly quick and cheap, so perfect for what I am doing. I ordered two and soldered one yesterday. However, I distroyed some of the pads on the board while putting the surface mount chip on. :( (Thats what happens when the iron gets too hot I suppose. No worries I am just going to use some 30 awg wire and replace the broken traces with that.


To save on time I am probably going to order this next time.

Monomachine sans BOX

So it finally arrived the long awaited Monomachine from Elektron. After opening the box I was immidiatly impressed with the build quality, rugged brushed aluminum face, sturdy rotary encoders, and nice feeling buttons. This however, is such a small attribute in a much larger sonic arena.

After experimenting with the Monomachine for a few hours I was able to modify kits, navigate the menus smoothly and make rhythm tracks, with basslines sounding like old school MC303's to Dark gritty D'n'B / dub sub-bass. Given some more time with this machine and a good sequencer I should have almost everything I need to make music in this one box.

Ok perhaps thats a little exaggerated but this thing has some awesome power, it does everything from Voice synthesis to percussion sounds, has so many effects and filters up to 64 steps per pattern, 6 internal tracks per pattern with an additional 6 tracks for triggering external midi equipment. Seriously this tiny box has some major staying power.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is only a day away!

Here is a cool link to check out in the mean while.

TONORI-ONhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

The wait

For the past 4 days I have been eagerly awaiting my Elektron Monomachine order. It sits at an import facility somewhere in Ontario. They tell me it will ship out next day after it is released. I cannot imaging what the holdup is. Perhaps the Canadian government is afraid of the awesome sonic powers of the Monomachine. Perhaps I could create music capable of destabilizing the world economy. Maybe I should have ordered two.

However once this synthesizer arrives I will have more reasons to finish the BrOnome (pronounced bro-nome). However with a deadline of Feb 2008 it is unlikelly I will have the project completed for the art show this April.

Check this out

Cardboard ADSR and RGB 40h brOnome

Two new projects are in the works, the first is the ADSR (Attack Decay Sustain Release) module for the modular synth I am building to use in performance art. This project was a build from the ADSR on the Music From Outer Space Webpage, by Ray Wilson. If you have not seen this webpage you really do need to check it out.

The second project which has just started as of today is the RGB monome 40h. I am temporarily calling it the brOnome. Some more research needs to be done to determine the correct way to implement the RGB Leds with PWM functionality. Its just a matter of time before this one comes together. My plans are to loosely base this project on the monome 40h. In essence I want to make something that not only functions as a monome but also does a lot more. Something like a [Tonorion / Monome]-megasord.