MTF Instrument - Semester 2, 2007

I’d bought a Talk ‘n Learn for $10 in a second hand toy shop after the first MTF session creating the Victorian Synth. When the time came to actually take the back off, it was with trepidation.

I quickly realized my proposal was beyond me and my skill level in the time allocated, so I had to rethink. I was wondering what the hell I was going to do. Just take the back off and start poking around. Remember: anti-theory! So I did but was beginning to give up hope after about an hour and a half, thinking I’d been sitting on a dud I was expecting to be gold. I’d worked out about every way to trigger letters and songs with a couple of metallic objects, but not much else. When suddenly I got it and the brain numbing tune suddenly sped up. I squeezed the two wires harder, it got faster. A few other combinations. Hit and miss. Until a pattern emerged. One action packed wire. Checked the notes and readings. It was the 1 to X. Sure enough, holding that one wire I could get a speed variation touching just about any other point on the board! My mind, until recently numb from the same nursery rhyme, was suddenly whizzing. Action stations.

I got to soldering wires to the points I’d found (11 plus the 1 hot wire). I worked with squeezing these and drew a more detailed plan of the circuit board than my original.

After much pondering and gazing at the board and wires, I had a course of action. Firstly, make the bends selectable via a switch somehow and on the way, interact with the sound via resistors and a second 3-way switch. More gazing and I worked out how to do it. Off to Jaycar with a list and a spirit of adventure.

* I had the task ahead: the basic wiring diagram and proposed exterior design

After 6 or 7 days and not much sleep, I re-surfaced from the learning frenzy and my first circuit board was bent, codename: Speedy.

I consider this stage 1 and intend to continue with alterations.

* Speedy, stage 1 ...
SpeedyPreLettering.pdf

- Please see after references for short video -

* The Making of Speedy! *

References:

Haines, Christian. MTF Semester 2 - Electronics, Instrument Building and Improvisation (2007, University of Adelaide).

Tomczak, Seb. MTF Semester 2 - Electronics, Instrument Building and Improvisation (2007, University of Adelaide).

Makezine: Blog Music Archives. 2007. http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/music/9.html (accessed Sepetember 2007).

Arduino. 2007. http://www.arduino.cc/ (accessed Semester 2, 2007).

"Articles and Schematics." Runoffgroove.com. 2007. http://www.runoffgroove.com/articles.html (accessed September 2007).

"ASMO: Texas Electro (circuit bent)." Youtube.com. 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1u9mR-9gg&mode=related&search= (accessed September 2007).

Beavis Audio Research. 2007. http://www.beavisaudio.com/ (accessed September 2007).

Capacitors Tutorial. 2007. http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/caps/caps.html (accessed September 2007).

casperelectronics-finished pieces. 2007. http://www.casperelectronics.com/finished-pieces/ (accessed September 2007).

Collins, Nicolas. Handmade Electronic Music. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Electronics Club. 2007. http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/ (accessed September 2007).

Ghazala, Reed. Anti-Theory Workshop. http://www.anti-theory.com/mainpage/ (accessed September 2007).

Igoe, Dan O'Sullivan & Tom. Physical Computing. Boston, MA 02210 : Thompson - Course Technology, 2004.

Igoe, Tom. Physical Computing. http://itp.nyu.edu/~tqi6023/ (accessed 2007).

"Wooden Noise Drone Synth." Youtube.com. 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GVDdUhgtaU&mode=related&search= (accessed September 2007).

... and the list goes on.

* Below is a vid on the making of Speedy, including full walkthrough of creators wiring and fuzzy logic! Enjoy.