Results for Kent Williams

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Tactile Metronome – Wayne and Layne

The Tactile Metronome is a tap-controlled metronome and "beat looper." "Syncopation machine." "Metronome with an attitude."

You tap the piezo speaker to set the frequency. The display shows the beats per minute, and the two buttons adjust the speed.

"Ehhh." "Boring," you say. Not so fast!

You can tap patterns into it, currently up to 12 beats long. As long as you tap the pattern in three times, it jumps in and continues beeping in that rhythm. The metronome can beep in three different tones, so you can play with more than one at a time.

Tactile Metronome features

• Easy to assemble kit makes for a great learning experience. All parts are easy-to-solder through-hole, with no tiny surface mount parts.
• Fully open-source design means that everything is freely available and ready to be hacked, including the circuit schematic, PCB layout, part list, and microcontroller firmware.
• Piezoelectric speaker is used as the pattern input, by simply tapping in the tempo or pattern. Once the metronome learns your pattern, it starts beeping with the same piezo element.
• Seven-segment displays provide feedback in the form of beats-per-minute (BPM) readings.
• Custom, professionally-made PCB provides a solid base for happy tappers. All circuit connections are routed on two layers without the use of vias, reducing confusion while assembling.
• A Pre-programmed Microcontroller means you don’t need a specialized microcontroller programmer to get started with the Tactile Metronome. If you want to experiment with modifying the firmware, an in-circuit serial programming (ICSP) header is provided to enable easy re-programming.

# Circuit bending work station

Matt the modulator built a deluxe substitution box for experimenting with different resistor & capacitor values for circuit bending.

Circuit bending work station

• Resistance pots (4k7, 100k, 1m).
• Capacitance – 12 caps selector poly 47-pf, 100-pf, 470-pf, 1-nf, 4n7 nf, 10-nf, 100nf, 1-uf, 1uf elec 1uf, 4.7uf, 10uf, 100uf.
• LED.
• Signal tracer simply a 1w amp maplin kit to trace audio signal in a circuit.

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Some interesting things I found recently:

# A Deal You Can’t Refuse | ryangruss.com

Ryan is about to release Volume II of his subscription based drum loops service, so in the next few days you can get over 200 loops for only $9.95.

As I’m putting the finishing touches on Gruss Loops Volume II, I realized I should make you painfully aware of the sweet deal that currently lays before you. You see, since I’m offering the loop packs as a subscription service, there will be over 200 loops available over the course of the next two days. That’s right. You could sign up now, grab Volume I right now AND Volume II in another 24 hours…. all for the rock bottom price of $9.95. You can even cancel after you nab both of the packs. See if I care (you cheap bastard). I know you’ll be back for more.

# SX-150 synth mod instructions, schematics and code

MrBook did a lovely Arduino hack on the Gakken SX-150, adding MIDI and audio out.

Many people have asked about the instructions and code for the SX-150 mod I did to add MIDI and Audio out, therefore I’m posting the plans for everyone to try. By using the Arduino as the brains of the operation, a lot of other options are available for the mod, really the sky is the limit. If you do any cool hacks to it, by all means, please let me know.

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Some interesting things I found recently:

# MIDI Controller/Sequencer

Lennon Luks writes:

While I was earning my BS at Western Carolina University, one of the requirements was a Senior Design Project. For this project, I designed and constructed a MIDI controller/sequencer. I chose this as a project because I am a musician and I am very much interested in electronic music and electronic musical instruments/controllers. This project was ideal for me, as it allowed me to combine my passions for engineering and music.

# Build Your Own Marimba!

RocketScientist @ Instructables:

I am a mallet percussionist who loves the marimba. About four years ago I had a problem. Though I loved percussion, I had no way of practicing at home. There were cheap options. I could have bought a bell kit. But I hate the sounds they make. I wanted a very large five octave marimba but didn't have the money to simply purchase one (7000+ dollars). So I decided against all common sense I would build one.

# Warp20

Warp commemorates its 20th anniversary with a deluxe special-edition of music and art (Box Set).

The package features new songs, older previously unreleased material from Warp artists, tracks selected as some of his personal favorites by co-founder Steve Beckett and the top ten pieces voted for by Warp fans on Warp20.net. It also includes a beautifully produced book showcasing the label’s rich design history, along with an exclusive hour-long mix and a locked-groove vinyl set.

Some interesting things I found recently:

# in Bb 2.0 – a collaborative music/spoken word project

In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls. On the “In Bb 2.0″ website you can play and mix a combination of videos which all work well together.

The videos can be played simultaneously — the soundtracks will work together, and the mix can be adjusted with the individual volume sliders.

You are encouraged to participate by submitting your video in which you sing or play an instrument in Bb major.

# mQEdit Graphical Editor for microQ

mQEdit is graphical editor for the microQ written in Java. The website it was formerly available on has vanished, but the author Martin B. has kindly given permission to host it here instead.

mQEdit is an intuitive graphical java editor for the Waldorf Micro Q synthesizer. It includes interfaces for editing sound-patches including a randomizer, multi-patches, drum-patches, sound banks and global parameters. Patches can stored as either ‘midi’ files or ’sysex’ files.

Paul Nasca recently released version 2.0 of Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch, an extreme time-stretching tool.

Since Paul only released binaries for Windows, Kent Williams took the source code and made a working version for Mac.

Kent writes:

Yesterday I couldn’t spell OS X Developer and now, I are one!

With some help from my friends on the CMake mailing list I finally got a running standalone OS X application built out of the Paul Stretch source. As I wrote yesterday, it’s free, it’s easy, and it makes hours of freaky soundscapes out of any audio file.

Except for mp3 files. If you try and load an MP3 file it locks up. Oh, and it wants WAV or OGG files — as far as I know it can’t load AIF files. But it’s free, right?

Visit Kent’s website for a link to download PaulStretch for OS X.

Kent Williams has released a free pack of samples of a Toy Piano.

Kent writes:

I was at my brother’s house over the weekend and sampled his daughter’s toy piano with a Zoom H4. The instrument sampled was I believe the Schoenhut ‘Fancy Baby Grand‘.

The download contains the samples, a Kontakt3 instrument, and an Ableton Live Drum Rack instrument.

You can listen to an example of the samples here and download them here.