Introduction to Physical Computing

I want to remodel the way sound is formed by emphasizing on its the sound waves. The amount of nodes in one period of a sound wave determines the pitch of the sound. Below is a diagram that explains this concept visually:

 

Inspired by the Spiral Wall, developed by the P&A LAB (Programming and Architecture LAB)
[link: http://pandalabccc.blogspot.com/2010/07/spiralwall-final-arduino-processing.html]
I want to make simulation of playing a violin by having infrared sensors detect the users’ finger position and then translate that data into the amount of twists in servos and the pitch of the speaker.

Sketch:

Working with one “string”:

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0lS0mmjvCWPckJHZDg0OTFTZGc/view?usp=sharing

The next step would be to make the infrared sensors detect finger positions and map the data to controlling the speaker and servos.

For this assignment, I wanted to explore how speed relates to pitch. I decided to try and create a rolling cylinder that produces a sound. To achieve this I attached my arduino to a shaft and weighted it down. I wanted to use a motor encoder to measure how quickly the cylinder was rolling and then send measurements to the buzzer to adjust the frequency it produces.

FINAL:

After realizing I couldn’t do the above idea, I reassessed how I was going to approach the project. I am now programming my buzzer to play a melody that will speed up depending on how close the user is to the proximity sensor.

Read about it here:

https://samanthaho.myportfolio.com/spoopy-feelings

Happy Halloween 🙂

CODE:

For this assignment, I am planning to play a creepy melody of a harmonic minor scale, and modify either of its speed or pitches depending on how close the user gets to an object through the sensing of a distance sensor.

This was inspired by the typical horror movie scenes, where a scene’s atmosphere intensifies as the creepy background music plays either faster or higher in pitch, while the camera gives a fast-paced, zooming-in shot of either a mysterious object or a character

To make it more Halloween-specific, I am trying to place a candy as the object that the user would be interacting with. As the user approaches closer and reaches out for the candy, the creepy melody will be playing more intensively.

As for the prototype, I’m changing the speed of the playing speed of a melody, as the distance read from the distance sensor becomes shorter (the user gets closer to the object).

Documentation in Google Drive (Fritz/Video/Code): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B70fyRiHk85qWWowSGwtYnZlMk0

For this assignment, I really wanted to explore the realm of music visualization. So I built a very simple prototype of a music visualizer that flashes an LED every time a new note occurs in a given piece of music. The music in the example is J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, aka the classic Dracula song for a little Halloween flavor.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxAGrufmmWthV2MwZGlMTmtCVEk

my project is going to be a baby doll with a switch imbedded into its belly. When you push on its belly it starts screaming and its head turn around 180 degrees. This video shows the switch triggering the screaming sound sans baby.

 

video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeGeBYht-Y4

code- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_JEXda9ZXwvcENWTDFGU1pBd3c?usp=sharing

My idea for the final project is to create some kind of scared creature that responds to your movement. I wanted there to be a relationship between movement, direction and sound. The closer the person gets to the creature, the further away it retreats and makes sporadic noises. If the person is far enough away, the creature will want to move closer.

I prototyped this interaction using a speaker and leds to resemble motors. The on or off state of the led indicates what direction the motor will travel in. One thing I want to improve is the speed of the motor I will eventually use, and to try and incorporate that into the emotion of the creature.

I am currently having difficulty with getting the response to be understandable and noticeable.

Arduino Sketch

My final goal for this project is to create a 5 tone sythesizer which can be held in one hand, while the other holds a 3 axis accelerometer to control pitch bend and modulation. We’ll see if I actually get there…

In it’s current state I’ve gotten the sythesizer portion working fairly well. I’ve taken some code from a source I found online for a polyphonic synth, that to be honest was far too complicated for me to really understand, however I was able to parse it down and edit it to suit my needs. There are some issues with volume that I need to address, perhaps just try a larger speaker, as well as some issues with unintentional pitch modulation that I think is due to wires not being quite insulated and touching since it goes away everytime I jiggle the breadboard.

I’m pleased with how the capacitive touch works, and how responsive it is in general.

assignment_5_proto

The idea is a bat that “screeches” at two different frequencies depending on how you pet him (yes, him.). The circular softpot is a good tool to use to change resistance depending on the location of your finger/interaction. The resistance changes from 0 to 10k as you go around the wheel.

There is little documentation on how this specific form of softpot functions (like what to use in the map function when assigning values of potentiometer readings to positions on the pot), but there’s more stuff on linear flex sensor monitors (FSMs) and softpots. Some of the documentation is translatable. The next steps will be defining what cases I want:

1.) Bat (we should name him) will screech in more pleasant frequency when user pets him under his chin.

2.) When not petting in the “sweet spot” (much like that of a cat), will the bat screech at all? Will it screech at a lower frequency everywhere else? Should it be silent when there is not interaction?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6vucT1cFrpgeXJFWDhzSDA1MEk?usp=sharing

Video: https://youtu.be/V9rbJP_DovA

For this assignment I want to make a musical instrument inspired by an accordion with a living hinge and speaker. For the prototype, bending the wood changes the volume of the note, and pressing a button changes the note one octave higher. I didn’t have much trouble with this – making the living hinge was surprisingly simple, and I found a library that could be used to change the volume (credited in the sketch).

Moving forward I plan to use a linear soft potentiometer to change the notes instead so that you can slide your finger up and down the side of the “accordion”, but the wall is all out so I used a button for now. If possible I’d like to use two of them and two speakers so that it can play chords. I also plan to play around more with different cuts of wood and types of wood.

Fritzing and Sketch: assignment5