The Sound Database

I have almost finished a project which I have been working on for the last few months so i thought it was about time I posted it up here. The website is written for Peter Cusack of CRiSAP (Creative Research in Sound Art & Performance). He approached me looking for an online database to show case sounds around major cities in the UK (which eventually turned into the world) and here is the result:  The Sound Database

There are a few bugs and usability features that I am working on but the base of the site pretty much finished.

The site uses a number of different languages and API to achieve the end result.

Languages-

• HTML
• CSS
• Javascript
• PHP
• MySQL
• AJAX
• Regular Expression

API:

• Google Maps API
• SoundManager2
• Prototype
• Scriptaculous

This is the first time i have coded something this complicated and i am fairly pleased with the results. Next i hope to add some extra functionality to the site.

1. A randomizer which pans around the world randomly playing sounds as it goes.
2. A walk though feature whereby the user can draw a line though the sounds. An icon will drive the path of the line playing sounds in close proximity. Sounds will pan to the left if they are on the left and right if they are on the right.

Solarcat batteries

Knut Karlsen has come up with a really simple idea for charging those batteries that are just lying around not doing anything. Knut produced the Solarcat batteries by wrapping flexible Photo Voltaic (PV) cells around the shaft of older NiMH rechargeable batteries.

Automation on a new level

I have learnt so much from the ambles of the great minds published on Ted talks.  Recently the most inspirational talk has been about Theo Jansen . Nature is a most peculiar thing and these automaton are impressive in their likeness to some very familiar living things. Its quite daunting to imaging what research goes into realising the behavior of and creating such objects as the ones in the video.

A year in ideas 2008

Thanks to hackaday.com i came across an article recording a plethora of ideas conceived in 2008. From dog poo DNA to the consumption of kangaroos to save the world. There is some really interesting content in this article well worth checking out. Find it on the New York Times website

The Brickley engine – reduced friction more efficient engine

TGIMBOEJ

I have recently signed up to ‘The great Internet migratory box of electronics junk’. Its a brilliant idea where by one person sends a box of random components and electronics oddities to somebody on the list. The receiver then rummages through to see if anything inspires them. The whole process must be published on a blog. Once the receiver has taken the stuff they need they have to put some more spare parts in the box from there own supplies and send the box on to somebody else on the list. The majority of people on the list are based in America so i am not overly optimistic that i will receive a box but you know what they say ‘If you don’t ask then you don’t get’.To be honest i think it would be quite expensive for somebody to send the box overseas anyway. If you are interested in getting involved you can sign up HERE.just sign up to the wiki and leave your details on the sign up page. You must have an Internet space to participate as the whole idea of the project is that each receiver publishes there progress with the box.

Fireworks

I ran through the tutorial i posted a while ago on projectile motion, This post is just to show a quick example of how to apply this theory in code. I wrote the code for this animation in processing which is a java frame work for graphic designers. I have touched on processing in previous posts. Animation was created by allowing the code to run and saving every frame as a .jpg.  Here is the final animation :-

I am no moving image expert by a long shot. The animation was compiled in final cut pro. I am very pleased with the out put from my code it look very natural and the particles all fall taking into account gravity. I now am working on a fire work class so i might post that up soon.

Optron

Despite sounding like a transformer this ‘Optron’ makes an awesome sound. The Optron was the brain child of Atsuhiro Ito who is actual gigging with this instrument of mayhem! On other SITES the optron has been described as a flickering noise making device which makes sense due to the nature of a fluorescent light. This is not advised as it involves mains electric but when i was younger i linked the starter motor for a fluorescent light into a set of plain old Christmas lights it made them flash quite rapidly.

Back to basics

I love Arduino it makes life so easy. Things that used to take quite some time and a good selection of components now really can be done in a matter of minutes. Take for example the flashing LED a simple and obvious task. With arduino all you have to do is press the + pin of an LED into pin 13 or arduino and the – pin into the ground pin of the arduino and there you have it. Well almost a couple of lines of code later and you are done.

CODE>>

Int ledPin = 13; // LED connected to digital pin 13
void setup()
{pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // sets the digital pin as output}

void loop()
{
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // sets the LED off
delay(1000); // waits for a second
}
(snippet of code taken from the arduino site and is not my own doing please dont sue a poor student cheers)

Recently i have been wondering….. Is it all to easy. I can make arduino do these things so easily and yet have no idea how to create the same effect using actual components. I set out on a mission to create the flashing LED the old fashioned way. I found this tutorial which explains very clearly how to do it using a 555 timer IC. brilliant! half an hour later and the flashing LED mission is accomplished. All i can say is hurray for arduino life is so much simpler now.

VIDEO OF MY EFFORTS:

Sms guerrilla projector

This sms projector by Troika has what looks to be a very abused nokia phone inside. The screen has been manipulated to allow it to be reflected into the lens and projected very easily anywhere that is needed. Such a simple idea but the final product now only looks amazing but is also very effective in its delivery.

Visualise sound

Over the summer i have been working on a brief based upon the idea of visualising sound. There are some very natural ways of visualising sound with out to much high-tech equipment. check out these two interesting ways to visualise the raw sound wave:

Reuben’s tube:

Salt plate: