Physical computing is where it’s at! Machinecollective developed these open source hardware modules based on frequently used components, sensors and indicators. Just think of knobs, sliders and buttons which you can hook up to your software or use to build your own hardware project. The modules are designed to work with Arduino and Wiring, 2 development environments based on Processing.
found at MAKE: Blog
The AirPiano is project by Omer Yosha, an Interface Design student from the FH Potsdam (Germany).
The AirPiano is an innovative musical interface which allows playing and controlling software instruments simply by moving hands in the air.
Above the AirPiano is a virtual matrix of keys and faders, each assigned with MIDI messages and ready to be triggered. The length of a triggered note is equivalent to the time a hand
is placed on the corresponding virtual key.
This is also confirmed by LED feedback.
The AirPiano Software allows easy setup, loading/saving presets and transposing notes.The AirPiano is still in its prototype phase and its concept of a virtual matrix might eventually be used for other applications and purposes.
The AirPiano concept is filled as a Provisional U.S. Patent Application (Number: 60/989,986).
In this video he uses his AirPiano to control Ableton Live.
found at Create Digital Music
The Tapehead Inspector allows you to read magnetic tapes manually. You can scratch your old tapes with this device! I really like that they payed attention to the casing, the hardware is hidden in an old videotape. Switching ‘tapes’ is no fuss eather.
found at MAKE : Blog
One more month baby!
There are a lot of hardware music projects out there: Big Ideas (Don’t get any) (the Radiohead Nude remix), Playing the Building, Absolut Machines, Harddisko, …
So here’s a floppy drive playing the Emperors March.
found at nerdcore
An other one is the ‘BeggingBot’ by Alexander Gurko, it plays music just by floppy and hard drive mechanics. A 3,75 and 2,5 inch floppy drive and a very old hard disk represent different instruments playing a nice tune by just moving their heads and motors. When the tune is finished the CD drive opens asking for money. Just pay some cents and the bot plays again.
found at Aram Bartholl’s Blog
I’ve posted Lilypad before, it is a variation of the Arduino open-source prototyping board to create electronic textiles.
As you might have guessed, the Lilypad is the one on the right, the others are Arduino boards. Other electronic elements are also embedded in the embroidery. It definitely has a different look than all those other breadboard based physical computing projects.
work and picture by Beck Stern
‘What it is without the hand that wields it‘ is an electronic sculpture by Riley C. Harmon.
Violence is an inevitable, mechanical function of the human brain, hard-coded down through time by culture, genetics, and evolution. Mediated experiences of killing change our perception of violence and death. As players die in a public video game server for Counter-strike, a popular online first person shooter, the electronic solenoid valves spray a small amount of fake blood. The trails left down the wall create a physical manifestation of nebulous kills.
Custom electronics based on an Atmega8/168 micro-controller are connected to a PC running a dedicated Counter-strike Source server. Players across the internet can connect and play live on the server, and each time a player dies, a java script written in Processing sends serial commands to the micro-controller, telling it to spray fake blood.
found at MAKE: Blog
The ‘Digital MIDI Step Sequencer‘ is an Arduino based MIDI sequencer. I’m in awe for the breadboard design! Make sure you watch this video of the first prototype on YouTube.
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It is part of the whole Processing open-source movement. Everyone who wants to get into physical computing should get such an Arduino board.
I whish I was smart enough to build something like that … I’ll try to make an LED blink tonight, promissed …
“Besides the impressive functionality, this is some some very elegant breadboarding at work.” – Make Magazine
Tadaa the iPhone SDK is here, ok it’s still in beta though. So if you have seen the presentation video, you might be quite excited too. Just skip to minute 41 and there you have it, nintendo Wii-like controls for gaming. The big advantage that Apple has, is that they have full control over the hardware and software. And that’s where I see the weakest point of the Google Android platform.
And for those of you who are still waiting for the Flash plugin for the iPhone. I guess as long as Adobe doesn’t make a custom player, we won’t see Flash on the iPhone. How would the iPhone / Flash player scale down Flash content anyway? And is the processor strong enough? Battery life? … just forget about it.
I actually had to use someone else’s mac to have a look at the SDK, I still have a G4 Powerbook and you’ll need an intel one.
