DESORDEN

aToy GBA GPS, my new DIY project

2010-03-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

The picture above shows the ingredients of my next DIY project: Game Boy Micro (small version of the Game Boy Advance, AKA GBA) MiniSD M3 perfect flash card, for using homebrew games in the GBA/GBM Link cable (shown cut in half in the picture) Custom Nintendo screwdriver (not really necessary, but just in case) SKYLAB SKM53 GPS module (which I got from ctombaugh on eBay, excelent deal, BTW) The

How I make my PCBs: Step 1 getting the design to the

2009-05-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone (the 2 of you), I am back!!!This is a small tutorial on how I make my PCBs. I use a rather cheap and simple way of making PCB which creates good enough results for most of the usual needs that I have. This method is probably not suitable for SMD, but feel free to try...On this first part of the tutorial what I show is the way to get the PCB design into the single sided copper clad

Arduinome phase 4: Making the enclosure (II): front panel update

2009-05-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, lately I have not been able to post or work on DIY stuff. However, since we had a long weekend last week and the weather was amazing in Madrid, I spent most of my sunday working on some of my unfinished projects, including my monome enclosure. The picture above shows the current status of my wooden faceplate. My plan is to put 4 potentiometers in the area on

No news... sorry

2009-04-01T02:47:00.000-07:00

Hey readers out there, sorry for the lack of posts recently. I am traveling like crazy for work with little spare time to blog or work on my diy stuff. I am hopping to have some time next week, but who knows.Some interesting things that I wanted to blog about are:The usual April's fool joke from Moog Music: http://www.moogmusic.com/The film "Control" about Joy Division, directed by Anton Corbijn,

Arduinome phase 4: Making the enclosure (I)

2009-03-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

My first choice for my Arduinome enclosure was to go for the MachineCollective faceplates with a custom made box. While waiting for a reply from the MachineCollective people, I decided to start building the case, so I went to my local DIY department store. I bought there a Mitre Box, a saw, some screws, white glue... For the sides of the box, I was going to buy wood lath. Looking at choices of

Dorkbot

2009-02-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

A dorkbot is a meeting of people who enjoy doing strange things with electricity. It happens in cities all over the world with different frequencies, sometimes once a month, sometimes less often (depends on the geekiness of the people in the city, I assume).So I went to my local Dorkbot last Friday. It had been almost 2 years since my last time (I sound like an AA guy). My last time was THIS time

Benge, Twenty Systems

2009-02-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

I got this CD/Book called "Twenty Systems" today. I heard about this CD in "Fluido Rosa", a radio program from the spanish public radio called Radio3. Bian Eno said about this CD:"A BRILLIANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC"The CD has 20 songs, each of them made with a different synthesizer built on each year from 1968 to 1987. The booklet includes pictures and description for

Arduinome/Monome + Polygome + Ableton Live, instructions and video

2009-02-15T10:20:00.001-08:00

I am going to explain in this post how to run Arduinome/Monome with Polygome triggering sounds from Ableton Live in a PC with Windows Vista (it should be quite easy to translate these instructions to any other midi sequencer or similar OS). Polygome is IMO one of the coolest apps for monome.I am assuming you have already installed your monome and now all the basics about it (monomeserial, setting

Arduinome phase 3: programming Arduino

2009-02-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

Once the Hardware is completely done, the next step is to program the FTDI chip with the correct device name and the Arduino with the Arduinome firmware.Programming the FTDI chipThe FTDI chip in arduino is the chip responsible for doing the USB connection between the PC and the microcontroller in the Arduino board. The idea of programming the FTDI chip with a different device name than the

Arduinome phase 2: soldering components (and II)

2009-02-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

After soldering all the diodes and LEDs, I worked on my personal approach to the Arduinome Shield. Instead of buying the shield in the monome blog I decided to make my own using a stripboard. There are frequent group buys of the arduinome shield in the monome forum and it is not particularly expensive, so if you are not experienced in electronics, I recommend you go for that option.I use sockets

Webpages that make you go CTRL+D: Spotify

2009-02-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered this web page called Spotify. As its webpage describes it, it is a "world of music. Instant, simple and free"... it can not be described better.It works by invitation or with a monthly fee. Once you get the invitation (or pay the €10 fee for a month), you get access to an amazing database of music, which you can listen from your computer connected to the internet. I can not

Arduinome phase 2: soldering components (I)

2009-02-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

I started this second phase of my Arduinome build process by soldering the 1N4148 diodes in the SparkFun button pad. The diodes are a two terminal device that normally have a mark in one of the terminals. The mark on the terminal should match the marks in the diode pads in the backside of the SparkFun Buttonpad, as can be seen here:This is how the 4 boards look with all the diodes mounted:I

Arduinome phase 1: getting the parts (and IV)

2009-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

This is the last section of this phase, I got all the parts for my Arduinome!!!I went to my local electronic shop in Madrid and got:64x1N414810x10KOhm resistors (I got normal resistors instead of a resistor network, since they did not have resistor networks in stock)1x74164+socket1x74165+socket2xMale connectors for Arduino shieldsThat was 8 euros total.I am only missing some other random stuff (

Arduinome phase 1: getting the parts (III)

2009-01-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

The ultrabright green LEDs for my arduinome arrived last week from Hong Kong:I bought them through eBay to an eBay store named “Amigo-of-China”. The transaction was perfect; the items were shipped very quickly and arrived in perfect condition. Will definitely buy from him if I need LEDs again, I have now an “Amigo” in Hong Kong!!!.These are the LEDs:And this is how it looks like with the SparkFun

Is Roland watching me?

2009-01-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

As I have already stated in blog posts, forums posts and a youtube video:WE NEED NEW KEYTARS!!!!Well, I have been heard... Introducing the new Roland AX-Synth Keytar (or Shoulder Synthesizer, as they call it... I wonder if keytar is a registered trademark that roland can not use):I do not particulary like it and the reasons are:It is a synth, not a controller, which will probably make it

Jota goes unplugged

2009-01-09T03:44:00.000-08:00

Jota the singer of "Los Planetas" and "El Grupo de Expertos Solynieve" did an unplugged concert for Radio3. Listen to it here:First part:Second part:There are also some videos in youtube, although it is hard to actually see anything on them:

The end of MusicThing

2009-01-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

Sad news from MusicThing came yesterday, Tom Whitwell is too busy with his "real-life" job to be able to continue writting his blog.It will be missed.All the best in your new job, Tom

Is EH watching me?

2008-12-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

On November 2008, Electro Harmonix introduced the "Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker" pedal (see the green big muff on the left in the picture above). When I saw it I was amazed to see how much it looks like my DIY Big Muff (see the big muff on the right in the same picture), but the similarities are not only on the looks (being honest, both my version and the new "green muff" do look a lot like the

Arduinome phase 1: getting the parts (II)

2008-12-26T09:19:00.001-08:00

I just got my MAX7219 as a christmas present from Maxim. Remember it is this maxim, not this other one... I know the second one is more interesting and they also use sillicon, although in different ways.The parts I am missing are:- LEDs- Diodes- 74165- 74164- Resistor network- Screws and nutsCheck out the whole Arduinome build log here.

Bands that make you go CTRL+D: Saturday Night Villain

2008-12-13T17:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday Night Villain seems to be a two man band, Logan Mannstrane and Lord Kickdrum. I found about them through the matrixsynth blog. As far as I know they only have one song made public. The song features synthetic voices made with "Linguatec Voice Reader". The player in their webpage repeats the song in a loop, so watch out cause you might end up listen to it over and over again for whole

Arduinome phase 1: getting the parts (I)

2008-12-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

While in my US exile, I got today a parcel coming from Colorado. Here is the box:Any guess of what could be inside?well, it contains the first step for building an Arduinome, a monome based on the Arduino hardware.Check it out:If you recall my previous post about the arduinome, you might remember what I said, quote:"I am not planning to buy the sparkfun buttonpads so the first step will be to

Street Keytar Player

2008-12-07T21:07:00.001-08:00

I am currently in the US, in california, and found this guy playing keytar in the streets. I originally thought it was a guitarist playing and was quite surprised when I saw a guy with a keytar.

Bands that make you go CTRL+D: Spleen United

2008-11-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

I discovered this band through VSE forum. Someone was asking the usual "what synth is this one?" question and when I saw the picture (not sure if it was the one in this post), with the Korgs MS-20, the Roland Junos, the Fender Jazzmaster and the Rickenbaker bass, I said to myself: "A band with such a good taste when choosing their instruments has to be worth listening", and I loved them. They

"Things" that make you go CTRL+D

2008-11-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

I am starting today a new section named " 'Things' that make you go CRTL+D ". In case you don't know, CTRL+D is the keyboard shortcut that, on a PC, gets a certain webpage into your bookmarks (or favourites or however your browser of choice calls them). The posts under this section will have the tag CTRL+D bellow and will talk about webpages that called my attention. I will be mostly treating

El Columpio Asesino Live

2008-11-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

El Columpio Asesino is playing in Fuenlabrada, Madrid, this weekend. The cool thing is that you can get free tickets if you upload a video of yourself wishing CeJota (CJ) a happy birthday. CJ is the Youth Council of Spain. This Youth Council was founded 25 years ago. I already sent my video, what are you waiting for???