Performance

We had our performance today! I thought it went quite well and we were able to see most other groups work too. I was impressed by the other groups and comforted to know that everybody else was feeling the same way as I was, it seemed like every group kept talking about the same issues... the artists had trouble understanding the circuits and the engineers had a hard time getting the artistic aspect of the project.

The actual performance went well... there were definitely many things that could have gone wrong but everything was pretty perfect. I'm just hoping the next project goes as smoothly.

Thursday we still have one more crit and then a class jam session! That will sound interesting... especially given that everybody's toy sounds completely different (which is quite awesome in my opinion).

One project down... two more to go.

PICTURES FROM THE WEEKEND

Currently Working to the Finish

Right now my group is hard at work trying to get everything together and working. We have our symbol sets established... just trying to get our instrument components to all function at the same time. I know we are close but it is getting to the point where once we have some things under control other challenges come up. No matter what we will have to bring what we have to class in less than 24 hours.

We'll see what happens :)

UPDATE :)

The project is due in less than 48 hours and now it's down to the wire...

Yesterday (Friday) my group met for quite a while and we started to really assemble our instruments, after a Chinese food party. We were able to finish three of them, but had some problems with one due to how we applied glue (but I just got the word that that problem was fixed today so all four parts of our instrument are functioning!). My instrument also had problems with the potentiometer, it wasn't tightened down enough when we first put it together so it kept moving around- meaning that the indicator knob wouldn't line up with the symbols I applied to the cardboard (but it was fixed after much tired frustration).

This morning I started working on a symbol system for our score, which will be applied tomorrow when we are all able to meet again to put the finishing touches on everything, mark up our instruments with labels and such, and then jam out to figure out our score.

It's really amazing seeing this thing come together, It's totally different from any other project I've ever been part of and I was so lucky to get to work with two fantastic peers. I think our hard work and dedication shows in this thing, we had plenty of obstacles and frustrations but we worked it out... and I am looking forward to showing the class what we did.

Screen shots of what I worked on for the score:

Peers of John Cage

Morton Feldman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntpmn0YXXWI&feature=related

Karlheinz Stockhausen**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNt6a5xFOnE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-K1P92aZk8&feature=related

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwIdglRbgnw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_3GhM2hKe0&feature=related 

Iannis Xenakis

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7iub8HyrWM&feature=related

 

Experimental Music: Check it Out!

http://www.youtube.com/v/LmZP-fwFP3U?fs=1&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/Vzt1Img1obk?fs=1&hl=en_US

http://www.youtube.com/v/LwsgAyZvgwY?fs=1&hl=en_US


http://www.youtube.com/v/9SgsqmQJAq0?fs=1&hl=en_US


http://www.youtube.com/v/Q6ipQfuLWhk?fs=1&hl=en_US

Update

Yesterday in class we had the opportunity to have some test pieces cut so we could see how our drawings at the time would translate onto the chipboard. Unfortunately we found some problems but they were easily fixed and we each decided on etchings to put on the housing. I designed one based on sound waves, which I thought was pretty pertinent to the project. Now we have to attach all of the circuits to our chipboard pieces, make sure all of the electronic components are in full working order, and just play. Of course it will be more work than just playing to figure out a score, a system of recording a score, and our entire performance, but I am optimistic that we can come up with something that sounds interesting and can be performed in a thoughtful way.

ALSO- I was looking ahead to that Filament festival at EMPAC (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus in Troy, NY) and I'm getting excited. It looks like all of the performances and installations will be interesting on their own and in relationship to what we are doing in class too.

Link: http://filament.empac.rpi.edu/

RHINO!

http://www.rhino3d.com/

September 13th Class

Today's class was spent learning Rhino software... very easy to pick up knowing the Adobe Suite well. This is cool though because now I can design in 3D versus just flat design. We realized we had to rethink our housing design today too... given that it would be too big for the cutter to accomplish on one sheet. It wasn't too hard to reconfigure everything so our design has simplified. Now we are down to just a five-sided cylinder, with one side 2 inches and the other four each 4 in. All of the members of our group will have separate components that come together to make one instrument... so instead of passing something around we will all have a part of the instrument. Very interesting concept indeed. Thursday is cutting! Can't wait to see what happens :)

Now to put everything together and think about a score...

More to come.

Update

The past couple of days I have met with my team mate Noah... it has been interesting. We had to replace our initial toys because a few of them shorted out when playing with the circuits. Wednesday night was spent shopping and then today we started to play around with the toys again. I think we are starting to get a good idea of how to combine the different circuits. Now we need to build our housing and get everything attached so we can talk about our performance. I'm anxiously awaiting the time when we can get this together!

Tim LaSalle's Blog

Oh, and by the way here is a link to Tim's blog that I mentioned in the last post. I meant to provide it there but forgot. Enjoy! It has alot of good things to read!


http://eattimlasalle.blogspot.com/

Housing

After a group meeting I had on Friday (reference team member Tim LaSalle's blog for Monday Sept. 6th) we discussed the issue of the housing component further. We measured our components to get a good idea of how big our form would have to be. It seems as though we are going to try to keep our original idea... we just didn't realize how big our ball would have to be. Unfortunately our ball won't be too tossable because we have to include a jack to plug an amp into for sound (so our instrument will act a sort of "hot potato" game).

I drew up some drawings on illustrator to easily find our measurements:

So now tomorrow, or possibly the next day, I will check in with another of our group members (Noah) and see if he has discovered more with our circuits. I'm excited! I just want to get this thing built and play!

:)

Recap of the Day

Today marked the first two weeks of this class and I think my group is finally starting to get somewhere. We still need to tinker with our circuits and decide what parts we are going to use/ what exactly we want to make it do. We also started to think about the housing that all of the "guts" are going to fit into and we decided to design our instrument with the intention of it being played by a group. The group will activate the sounds by throwing around the instrument and touching different sensors that will be on the outside of the body(Tim LaSalle, one of my group members brought in this kid guitar with an LED sensor that we've been trying to figure out how to incorporate). The housing will be made out of laser cut cardboard.

Tonight I will be drawing out some possible designs to use in the software... which we have already predetermined that we want to utilize a cylindrical shaped core that is inside two octagonal pieces that lock onto either end of the cylinder and will provide surface area to place the buttons and sensors. The important thing here is to get the measurements correct so that the housing the laser cutter produces for us actually works once we assemble it.

Also- I don't think we can really put together out circuit until our housing is done... so my group has to be determined to get this completed so we can have our instrument done on time and THEN think about the performance aspect.

But I do have confidence in my team... we work quite well together and I can't wait to see the end result.


Pictures from today :)

"Circut Bending for Dummies" (in four parts)

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/circuit-bending-for-beginners-pt-1-of-4/2b452467e0f67aebb2c02b452467e0f67aebb2c0-166462750788?q=circuit%20bending

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLURDNSBK5Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2md9UMoDH_k&feature=fvw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIY9QE-IES4&feature=related

Soldering

I know we did this in class but I wanted to just have a more close up look at what was going on:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/how-to-solder-and-de-solder-stuff/731dd6a03923a9964adb731dd6a03923a9964adb-168779056467?q=how%20to%20solder&FROM=LKVR5&GT1=LKVR5&FORM=LKVR1


I liked this one because it went into some Q and A:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/how-and-why-to-solder-correctly/3ea50cd02371d021838f3ea50cd02371d021838f-166296486847?q=how%20to%20solder

Good information on how to choose solder:

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/how-to-solder-types-of-solder/7fed3ad1bcc758e5e7197fed3ad1bcc758e5e719-168826110187?q=how%20to%20solder

And another one:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/how-to-do-it-basic-soldering/3043085f62b05ba7ce323043085f62b05ba7ce32-165747229059?q=how%20to%20solder