Pimp your Rockband 1 Drum Kit

Posted on September 25th, 2008

Feel ripped off that they want you to spend $300 for the RockBand 2 drumset? Or worried that in a couple of years, you’ll have hundreds of plastic drumkits scattered around your house?

Here are some ways to pimp your existing hard-earned Rockband 1 drumkit.

Buy Silencers:

Officially licensed rockband drum silencers

Create your own Silencers:

Buy a real drummer’s seat:
Drum Throne

Add DIY Cymbals:

More details about building your cymbals on scorehero rockband forums

Reinforce/replace that flimsy plastic kick pedal:
Rock Band Bass Pedal Reinforcement - Pedal Metal
Pedal Metal Billet with Hinge

Have a REAL drum pedal? Mod it for use with Rockband:
scorehero rockband forum article

Add ability to use double kick pedals!! (~$25):
OmegaPedal’s Twinrocker

Buy the Ultimate bad-ass heavy-duty pedal, designed for Rockband (~$85):
Omega Pedal

Ok, now get out there and give Lars Ulrich, Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy a run for their money!

EDIT: Steve Streeting has some good tips here too.

Tags: DIY, drumkit, drums, mod, pimp, rockband
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Monome - open music controller

Posted on April 19th, 2008

Monome is a controller kit for electronic music performance, based on open source hardware and protocols. You can build the units yourself, or buy kits from monome.org.

The controllers themselves are basically a grid of backlit rubber buttons that connect to your computer via USB.

Many people use the device to create music with the free MAX/MSP synthesizer software, but it could theoretically be used with any application.

The schematics, parts list, and source code for the 40h unit are here

Tags: DIY, DJ, electronic music, interfacing, kit, MAX/MSP, monome, Music, music performance, open hardware, synthesiser
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RepRap - self replicating 3D printer project

Posted on April 4th, 2008

This is one of the cool projects that uses the Arduino controller.

RepRap is machine that you can build yourself, which can print plastic 3d shapes, based on computer design files (CAD). The more-exciting concept behind this project is that the first machine can build parts to build a second RepRap machine. And theoretically, it can be an evolving system, where the subsequent machines are improved because the designs will improve over time. Its also potentially self-healing, if you keep one backup copy of all the parts.
Reprap home

You can read more about the vision for the project here.

Tags: 3d printer, CAD, DIY, evolution, home manufacturing, manufacturing, plastic, reprap, robots, self-replicating
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Arduino - open source electronics platform

Posted on April 2nd, 2008

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.
Arduino Home
The latest versions Arduino are based on the Atmel AVR microcontroller, and are programmed over USB.
You can buy them or build your own, since the hardware specs are released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license and are made available on the Arduino Web site.

In the near future I will be posting about some cool projects that use the Arduino.

Tags: arduino, atmel, diecimila, DIY, electronic art, electronics, electronics platform, freeduino, interfacing, open hardware, open-source, USB, wearable computer, wearable computing
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Ponoko - personal manufacturing

Posted on November 25th, 2007

Design 2-dimensional drawings on your PC, then upload your design to ponoko.com. Their website then allows you to sell your designs, and/or ship the laser-cut materials to you. Current materials include a variety of plastics and plywood, and you can also do engravings. Eventually they hope to provide access to computer-controlled routers and 3D printers.

So far, people have created furniture, jewelry, holders and more.

An interview with one of the creators is here:
www.podtech.net - ponoko

Download the making guide here (PDF), which explains the process and has images of the current materials.

Tags: CAD, custom products, design, DIY, fashion, furniture, jewelry, manufacturing, MDF, one-off, personal manufacturing, plastic, plywood, ponoko
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Lego-like open-hardware coming soon

Posted on November 25th, 2007

A company called Bug Labs is creating an open hardware platform, which allows various hardware modules to plug in to a base unit running Linux OS. These modules can include cameras, LCD screens, motion sensors, cameras, GPS, or anything that a 3rd party can design for the platform using open schematics and connections. The base unit comes with ethernet networking, and they are working on a wireless modem module. It also comes with an AC power input, and can use external batteries.

Some great preview videos here:
Gizmodo - Bug Labs

The Bug Labs homepage is at:
www.buglabs.net

Initially on the software API side it will require java, but eventually each of the modules will have a web-service interface which will be reachable by any browser or HTTP GET. Web services return plain-text XML, which makes it easy to do mash-ups between different outputs, or any other service that provides web-services APIs (ie. google maps, etc)

Hopefully it will be ready sometime next year.

Tags: bug labs, DIY, hardware, lego, linux, modular, open hardware, sensor network
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