Category: Blog
Enjoy the latest updates and musings from the studio.
This idea came about from needing LEDs, buttons, trim pots and switches on hand to do quick tests on various devices. Most of the time, I just needed something to test an audio trigger or response from a sensor. All too often, the item I needed wouldn’t be where I ...
After making some advances with audio board selection and programming, it was time to go through my parts supply and explore various sensors to see how they could be employed. First up was the ZX Distance and Gesture Sensor made by Sparkfun. I have the original version which is now ...
The Sparkfun APDS-9960 RGB and Gesture Sensor is a fairly low-cost ($15) option for hands-free control of all kinds of things. I’ve had this sitting around for a while waiting to be integrated into a project, but I wanted to explore it on its own before making that leap. For ...
As discussed in my ongoing series of sound board experiments (most recently with the Adafruit Sound FX Board), I have been on a quest for an easy to use platform for sound installations and experimental projects. The basic spec for this project was as follows: My search for a good ...
This is a continuation of an earlier exploration of Adafruit’s FX Sound Board. Previously, I worked with the 2MB version, but soon found I needed more storage for the intended application. The 16 MB version is basically identical in functionality – just more storage. The attraction of this board is ...
Next up in IoT exploration is the Sparkfun ESP8266 Thing – part WRL-13231. Note that this is not the Dev board – a separate device with different pinout and other changes. Navigating Sparkfun’s hookup guide was fairly easy, especially since I had already installed the ESP8266 libraries as part of another project. The ...
A lot has changed since my last connected sensor project in 2013, so I wanted to jump in again to see how the technology has come along. After playing with some Particle Photon stuff, I came across NodeMCU. Hackster.io has lots of ideas for this board, so I sought to recreate ...
Since my last embedded project experiments in 2013, a lot has changed. Costs have gone down, size has reduced and functionality is way up. After researching some of the more current platforms, I selected the Particle Photon for its size, prize and capability. After successfully duplicating Clarissa San Diego’s ...
On 2/3/17 I took some of my home made noise makers to school for show and tell. Here’s the results! ...
12/22/16 – The LED Panner is another fun circuit from the great book “Handmade Electronic Music” by Nicolas Collins. This circuit uses a single 74C14 Hex Schmitt Trigger chip, taking advantage of only a few pins (so you could to much more with this). LEDs paired with photo resistors create ...
12/9/16 – The Xmas Fly is a riff on the Black Fly, which is basically nothing more than a piezo element and a few parts in a nice box. The Black Fly includes springs, which cause interesting vibrations for the piezo to pick up. To make springs work you need ...