The Two Week Electronic Instrument Challenge

Procrastinating in the studio with Arduino, Processing, and Fruit.

Having a little too much fun these days.

Posted 1 month ago 2 notes
The supplies I bought finally came in the mail. The supplies are: Battery Powered Guitar Pedal - For playing the instrument along with your iPod etc. Breadboard Arduino Uno Arduino Wave Shield - For storing sound samples 5 Force-Sensitive Resistors - For acting as the Buttons Attached to the Steering Wheel Steering Wheel Cover (The giant scrunchie looking thing) Tomorrow I’ll be posting sketches and schematics! I’m excited to pump this project out. View Larger

The supplies I bought finally came in the mail. The supplies are:

  • Battery Powered Guitar Pedal - For playing the instrument along with your iPod etc.
  • Breadboard
  • Arduino Uno
  • Arduino Wave Shield - For storing sound samples
  • 5 Force-Sensitive Resistors - For acting as the Buttons Attached to the Steering Wheel
  • Steering Wheel Cover (The giant scrunchie looking thing)

Tomorrow I’ll be posting sketches and schematics! I’m excited to pump this project out.

Posted 9 months ago 2 notes

Let’s Go! Starting Druve Machine Prototype #2

I’m making the second iteration of the drum machine for steering wheels.  

I’m just waiting on the parts to come in the mail to start. This time around, I’ll be specifically focusing on the design and integration of the instrument.

Instead of attaching a board to the steering wheel this time, I plan on using a steering wheel cover and installing pressure sensors into it and putting other components away, under the steering wheel. Also, I’m going to integrate a small mixer so that people can play the drum machine at the same time as their ipod, etc.

As a side note, I’ve been busy all summer working on with an Arduino for Disabilities project. It’s been really great and I might post some of the projects I’ve been working on with them here too. The website from last years project can be found here: http://arduinofordisabilities.wordpress.com/

Thanks for following!

Posted 9 months ago 4 notes

This is the first prototype for the Druve Machine, a drum sampler for steering wheels.

There are three buttons for cuing different samples and the two knobs both control sound bank switching. The instrument was programmed in Arduino and the code is based of a Lady Ada tutorial I tweaked and messed with.

I spent most of the two weeks battling to get the wave shield working (a chip that plugs into the top of the Arduino and stores sounds) so that I could have this instrument be self-sufficient - meaning, it doesn’t have to plug into a computer to work. 
Unfortunately, because of this, I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted to on the design of it. So I will be making a second prototype (probably sometime in late June) that will be much more integrated and less clunky.
It’s going to involve more soundbanks, a steering wheel cover, pressure sensors, and a sound card (so that the instrument and music from the radio can be played simultaneously).

Thank you! Feel free to ask any questions

Posted 1 year ago 3 notes

Done With Instrument #2

The first prototype for the Car Steering Wheel Drum Machine is done! I probably won’t be able to properly film it until Wednesday though.

I’ve decided that this is a project I’m going to refine over the summer, so there will be lots more to come. 

Gotta say, I’m pretty excited about it.

Posted 1 year ago 1 note

Last nights progress. I got the basics of the drum machine all together. Today I am wiring up potentiometers and trying to get them to effect the sounds and switch the sound banks.

Posted 1 year ago 1 note

To say getting the Wave Shield running was a struggle is a bit of an understatement. I ran into a bunch of problems along the way, but I finally got it up and running. The wave shield plugs into the top of the Arduino and allows me to store memory on an SD card so I don’t have to plug into the computer to access files.
In this test I just have two buttons mapped to sounds. The rest of the buttons, are for later. In addition, I’m using a 9 volt battery as a power source.

The sounds are just place holders for what I’ll use in my actual project. 


Over the weekend, I’m going to really dive into the programming, and build a small little frame for this so I can attach it to steering wheels.

Posted 1 year ago 1 note
Instead of sleeping, I decided to assemble the Wave Shield for my Arduino. The point of this shield is to store .wav audio files, so the drum machine won’t have to plug into the computer to load audio files when being used. It stores the audio files on an SD card.Instead of sleeping, I decided to assemble the Wave Shield for my Arduino. The point of this shield is to store .wav audio files, so the drum machine won’t have to plug into the computer to load audio files when being used. It stores the audio files on an SD card.Instead of sleeping, I decided to assemble the Wave Shield for my Arduino. The point of this shield is to store .wav audio files, so the drum machine won’t have to plug into the computer to load audio files when being used. It stores the audio files on an SD card.Instead of sleeping, I decided to assemble the Wave Shield for my Arduino. The point of this shield is to store .wav audio files, so the drum machine won’t have to plug into the computer to load audio files when being used. It stores the audio files on an SD card.

Instead of sleeping, I decided to assemble the Wave Shield for my Arduino. The point of this shield is to store .wav audio files, so the drum machine won’t have to plug into the computer to load audio files when being used. It stores the audio files on an SD card.

Posted 1 year ago 3 notes