A Simple Design: Moving onward...

DMSS5 Wk3

Went on a trip back in time so to speak here, going back to basic elctronics, which I unfortunately hadn't only briefly touched on since my JC back in '02. However, I found the stuff relatively easy to manage and understand. Rough notes taken are below.

electricity - voltage and current
for a given voltage the resistance of the circuit will set the current
large resistance will restrict the current more than a small resistance
Ohms Law: I = V/R

Resistors in series: Rt = R1 + R2

Resistors in parallel: 1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2

Examples of equations and diagrams:

2 resistors each of 1kOhm are connected in series with an SV battery across them:
current is the same everywhere as there is only one path
Potential Divider - useful for simple sensor circuits

Arduino - open-source physical computing platform based on a simple i/o board
based around a programmable microcontroller (Atmega168)
i/o = input/output
digital + analog (+ serial)
IDE = integrated development environment
Firmware is software that is embedded in a hardware device such as a microcontroller

Write our firmware
Compile
Debug
Compile
Debug
Compile
Upload to arduino

solenoid is an electronic switch

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/projects/arduinousers

HIGH = 5v
LOW = 0v

Anode +
Cathode -

We later looked at some makezine tutorials on youtube (makezine.com)

In this lectue we were introduced to the idea of critiquing performances. We started off with a performance by Michael Waiswisz, with his NIME called the Hands. If was too sort of paddle like glove devices with buttons and sensors. It also has a microphone for him to input the original sounds before he altered and played them using the device. He seemed a bit crazy to say the least, but he definitely knew what he was doing, and I liked it, (despite my usual distaste for all things more noisy than straight-up musical).

Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIfumZa2TKY

DMSS5 Wk4

Today we just continued on the arduino stuff, so just some diagrams and simple notes to be shared today.