The Drum Machine is Complete

Finally after a few weeks of solid work I have been able to complete the drum machine. There is a video down below demonstrating how the actual solenoids will hit programmed patterns in Max 6. This post will cover all the specifics of the entire project and everything that was used.

Vibration Sensor

This was placed at the bottom of the snare drum and we responsible for detecting every time the snare drum was hit. The information was then sent to Max 6. For the actual exhibit you get to strike the drum 10 times to set the tempo. This started a metronome based on the average time of the hits.

Solenoid Machine

The next hit on the snare drum programed the first solenoid which would hit the piece of aluminum tubing that was suspended above it. The second hit would continue to program the first solenoid until you pressed a phidget button which would allow you to program the second solenoid and so forth. The program continues to loop until you hit reset.

All in all, I had an amazing experience in this class. I learned a ton in terms of programming and how to make history a little more fun and a lot more interactive. I have to take a few moments to thank everyone who supported this project and put up with my moments of frustration especially when it came down to all the programming, haha. A huge thank you to Bill Turkel for all his help and his enthusiasm for my project. Any time I hit a rough spot or thought what I wanted to do was not possible he was there to lend a helping hand. I look forward to seeing what else we can create using max 6 and other fun digital tools.

As for the blog I will keep posting things as the occur to me over the summer months including highlights from a conference in Victoria, as well as a trip to Vancouver and India!

Comments

  1. The project is cool, but I'm more impressed with that beat man, lol.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why am I NOT Canadian?

Adventures from the Archives XII - Myth Busters Edition

Understanding the Sonde created by Hugh Le Caine