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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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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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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