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 Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software » ChucK programming language
Micro-processor Boards for Sensor Control
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robin746



Joined: Sep 02, 2007
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Location: Eire

PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:45 pm    Post subject: Micro-processor Boards for Sensor Control Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I just finished a five-part series over on my "other blog" the Theatre of Noise. This ties in with my series on computer control languages which I've mentioned already. Whew! I think I'm done writing for a bit.

-- robin
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Kassen
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 3:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

One of the things I found;

It's true that -as you point out- adopting ready-made controlers has downsides in that none might be available that suit the performer's needs but I believe there can also be unexpected advantages (aside from cost and time spend!). I found that for people who also play games adopting game controlers has advantages in the time spend learning to play the attached instrument.

To illustrate; the proper way to hold a violin or fingering on the piano takes a signifficant chunk of the early learning curve. This process can be short-cerquited by adopting a game-controler, provided the musician already spend a fair amount gaming which is quite likely, considdering the age of most people building such instruments. The same can probably be said for keyboards, especially for touch-typists.

Nice articles.

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robin746



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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I'd like to get into that side of things more... haptics, learned behaviours, environmental conditioning...

It is certainly amazing that the wiimote has reduced the price dramatically for a bundle of controllers of that type. This has enabled all sorts of new interactive possibilities which only researchers and geeks at Physical Computing conferences played with before.

I am so glad the open source movement and microprocessor integration have converged to make all this possible!

P.S. Are we the only two people in this forum? What happens when I leave? Smile
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Kassen
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Nah, there are more people, cool ones too... Traffic seems bursty here, depending on when somebody comes up with a good idea or interesting question.

Anyway, I think any good scheme for a controler/interface needs to take things like those into account. It's realy easy to make a noise, it's also quite easy to hook controlers up to it (at least once you know how). Linking the two in a expressive way, now that's hard.

I think we can learn a lot from the games industry there; they have a lot of experience with linking a lot of stuff to only a few controlls, the interface *needs* to be fun and maintain interest and competition is murder there. I like to think of it as free R&D :¬)

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jksuperstar



Joined: Aug 20, 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hey, hell of a blog!

I used Atmel's AVR processors in the past, to great effect in MIDI control, but have recently upgraded to the ARM7 based controllers (Atmel, Philips, ST all make good varieties). Much better tools, and so much more capability is opened up, with little cost increase.

I've built my own systems, simply because that's also part of the joy for me...engineering aspects of developing instruments. But choosing a tool such as a processor up front, that gives plenty of room for growth, is always a good choice. It makes all the up-front work of building & programming much more extendable to future growth & "feature creep". So a Basic Stamp might get your going, but an ARM7 will keep you going as your ideas & ability grow from big to huge.
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robin746



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

jk: Good to hear from someone with a more engineering/electronics background. My articles were for people who don't mind a bit of piecing together but not really for those more adept at reading circuit diagrams and soldering.

I am hoping to work with an electronics expert locally on some projects that might electrocute a neophyte like myself. Smile

Until then I'm sticking to the ready-made boards, but I still think they hav a lot of expressive potential.
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jksuperstar



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Oh, I still prototype with available boards. For this range of processors, you can get a good 60MHz processor, with USB & serial, and storage card socket for less than $60US. See http://olimex.com under ARM microcontrollers. All you have to do is add MIDI I/O, which is within reach of any newbie.
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