Musicians Microcontroller Magic

Todays post takes a look at using microcontrollers in musical instruments, the subject of a couple recent online articles, as well as the topic of a discussion last night about building a laser harp (see the June 27 post about laser harps). Using microcontrollers to create, control or modify music, as well as converting the music or the performers inputs into a visual experience of light and motion could be a tool for interested creative people in Humboldt to bring new sensations to audiences here and elsewhere.

Nomis -- a music-light instrument

A pretty cool way to use MCUs in a musical instrument is Nomis, as shown in the recent PSFK article, "Musical Instrument Interface Displays Complex, Layered Composition." Along with showcasing great pictures of the unique sound-light machine, the article explains Jonathan Sparks creation this way:

"Nomis by Jonathan Sparks makes loop-based music an expressive and visual experience. Created by Brooklyn, New York-based artist, musician and maker Jonathan Sparks, Nomis is a new musical instrument interface that aims to make loop-based music more complex, expressive and visually-entertaining through gestures and lights. Sparks...combined Arduino, Max/MSP, and Ableton Live to allow the musical instrument to loop and display MIDI sounds across two light towers and a polyphonic octagonal interface. The light towers and polyphonic octagonal interface respond to gestures to create layered melodies. The

melodies are illustrated via colorful lights, with each sound represented by a different color. What results is a stunning musical and light show."

Watch the Nomis video embedded in the designboom article, "jonathan sparks invents loop-based instrument using color and gesture." When I watched it, I started wondering what type of captivating performances could be given by a four or five-person band if each person in the band had a different but complementary audio-visual instrument which gave the audience a sensory-overload experience with music, light and motion. Those instruments could also explore a variety of new and traditional musician inputs, such as touch-panels with haptic feedback, keyboards, foot pedals, and movement of the fingers, hands, torso, head and feet,  that generate the audio-visual compositions. As John H said at the July 10 Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting when we were discussing a group project to build a laser harp, a band with MCU-controlled audio-visual instruments could truly be called the Electric Light Orchestra, or some takeoff on that name.

The designboom article explains the music-light interaction this way:

"nomis is a musical instrument by jonathan sparks that reinvents the way that producers and artists interact with MIDI boards...MIDI sounds are played and repeated to pass across the machine as a way of illustrating how songs are created and how they fit within an overall composition...they are displayed through the first of two polychromatic light towers, indicating that they are available to be played from the polyphonic octagonal interface in the middle made of black and frosted plexiglass. the interior edge of the construct allows the composer to play the individual tones of his or her choosing. as the interface is spun counterclockwise, the loops are then transferred through to the second tower where each set can be turned off and on again to create a dynamic harmony."

Another MCU music project was covered in a July 10 Gizmag article titled "Tele Servo Bender emulates a lap steel sound using servos." The Tele Servo Bender seems to be more an MCU-controlled instrument to generate close to the same sound that a human-played traditional lap steel guitar gives, as compared to a wildly different musical-light experience from the Nomis.

As I read this article, it made me wonder if the Servo Bender or something very close to it in design will result in AI-played steel guitar concerts with computer generated hologram performers. Concerts that teenagers 25 years from now will walk away from and not fully realize that similar performances used to be only given by a skilled live person. Sort of in the same way that most of todays teenagers might intellectually know that milk comes from a cow, but would find it hard to visualize that real world process of a dairy farm and have never been exposed to a cow being milked in person.

For people interested in the Servo Bender programming, the Gizmag article said the instruments designer, Dean Miller, has made the MCU code available to anyone who wants to build a similar instrument.

If *you* might like to help design, build or play instruments involving MCUs, come to the next Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting on July 24 or contact me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com.

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Robotics Takes Flight With Hummingbird Duo Kit

This post was prompted by recent article involving robotics, a microcontroller (MCU) application of high interest, especially to young people.

The Design News article, “Hummingbird Makes Coding Easy,” talks about the new Hummingbird robotics kit. Although the title indicates a focus on programming, the article really just briefly mentions the coding aspects of a Hummingbird kit in this paragraph:

“The kit is called the Hummingbird Duo and is meant to provide a progressive robotics learning experience. Users start on level one, where they build and program their own homemade robot using the Hummingbird board. At level two, users can program their robots using computer programs Scratch 2.0 or Snap! Makers can also use the very same kit to run Arduino Leondardo (which comes installed on the

Hummingbird Duo robotics kit

backside of the board) to create a standalone robot, capable of doing anything really, since its open source and can run on Mac, Windows, or Linux.”

The main goal of the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group is to expand and connect the Humboldt community of people using microcontrollers. An important aspect of using microcontrollers is knowing how to program a microcontroller and becoming good at it. Although the above article doesn’t tell us a lot about the programming aspects of working with the Hummingbird robotics kit, the Parents’ Choice review of the kit gives a much better understanding of why Design News might have used a title about ‘making coding easy.’

Parents Choice award

“The box contains no manuals as such, but points to the developers website for guides to get started, links to video and print tutorials, and guidance on choosing and using a programming language. No programming skills are needed before beginning; the developers created a baseline CMU CREATE Lab Visual Programmer that is easy for non-programmers to use to get started. This is also a great way for children ages 8 and above to start thinking about the logic and flow of a computer program, and convenient for more experienced programmers to use to test the connectivity of the equipment. A wide range of languages can be used, however. Slightly older children may have fun developing within the Scratch language, which connects to a programming and creativity community online—widely popular with preteens and young teens. Those who are interested in serious design can use Python or Java, among several other choices. In testing, we had success with all of the languages named above. The developers are keen to emphasize the creative side of this...this kit is by no means limited to craft projects; as it uses off-the shelf parts, one could potentially integrate much larger circuitry or even other electronics kits (they have a tutorial with MaKey MaKey) into the system, using the Hummingbird controller as an easy interface. This kit has the possibility to be used in high school and college electronics laboratories.”

An article from the Newport Beach Independent, “ExplorOcean: Robotics for Kids” also addresses the coding involved with Hummingbird robotics kits. This summer, ExplorOcean is offering,

ExplorOcean classroom and parts bins

“hands-on “Maker Workshops,” which teach children and teens age 10 and older about technology, programming, and engineering...Classes include how to build robots, rockets, metal detectors and other projects...Grounded in the seventh principle of ocean literacy that the ocean is largely unexplored, the program is designed to provide kids with the tools to discover. The different activities teach the participants to “understand and then innovate.”...On Tuesday, four Huntington Beach siblings worked with Hummingbird robotics kits, programming robotics with a computer to manipulate movements and create noises...“It’s really cool because it can be simplified for someone of a younger age or someone who’s going to go to college,” Aisha Lozada, an Explor Educator said about the equipment she uses to teach kids programming and robotics...Kids learn to control their robots through a computer program. “They had to create a project board that (lists) the materials they used, how the thing works,” she said, “but they also did real world connections, like where might you see this in the real world, but they also had to identify problems and solutions.”...Another one of their programs, EcoTech, teaches kids about ocean threats, and has them create and use underwater robots to film documentaries, thereby mixing ocean ecology, robotics, and film making into one activity. To many kids, robotics may seem more difficult than fun, but most participants enjoy the experience and many comment that they would like to continue learning about robotics in the future. It’s the perfect way to introduce children to programming and engineering...”

Because a large number of Humboldt residents are near Humboldt Bay and the ocean, it would be cool to discuss with local educators, students and parents whether an ocean robotics program similar to the one at ExplorOcean would work well in Humboldt County. As the above article mentions, “It’s the perfect way to introduce children to programming and engineering...”

From a programming standpoint, the Hummingbird’s company website provides lots of coding resources. Some of those resources can be found on the following webpages:

1. Hummingbird Software -- This page talks about using several programming languages and programming environments with the Hummingbird kit, including Visual Programmer, Scratch, Snap!, Python, Calico, Processing and Java.
2. Hummingbird Firmware -- The Hummingbird site has a page dedicated to firmware for the Atmel Atmega16u4, the MCU on the Hummingbird ‘controller’ board.
3. Hummingbird Tutorials -- This page has 13 tutorials to help you get started on different aspects of programming and using the Hummingbird robot you build.

A Kickstarter campaign just finished for the Hummingbird Duo robotics kit. Their campaign goal was $30,000, and they ended up with $42,074. Although they achieved their base funding goal, the campaign wasn’t a runaway success like the Spark Core mentioned in yesterday’s post. The Hummingbird Kickstarter campaign had several stretch goals, with the top one being $250,000. One of the nice things about the campaign showing their stretch goals is that it gives Hummingbird robot builders ideas for expanding the capabilities of their robot.

Bot4Julia, Arduino compatible-based robot

Some interesting or useful MCU projects, like building a plain temperature or light sensing device, aren’t the most effective at getting new people interested in working with MCUs. Other MCU projects, however, have great potential for catching people’s interest or encouraging public interaction. 3D printers are one MCU application that seems to draw a crowd of interested passersby when they are set up in public. Another type of MCU project good for catching people’s interest is robotics.

After the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group finishes the Jeremy Blum Arduino video tutorials, we’ll discuss what the focus should be for future biweekly Thursday meetings. One possibility for meeting topics is various MCU projects. One project near the top of the list should probably be robotics, both to have fun and to get more Humboldt residents interested in MCUs.

Speaking of Humboldt and MCUs, tomorrow, Thursday, July 10, is the next Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting from 6 to 8 PM at 1385 8th Street, Arcata, California. Hope to see you there for a discussion about I2C and Processing.

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