Why the hype?

This last weekend, over at Webreakstuff, we spent 2 whole days hacking around with both hardware and software. Being web developers we write a lot of code on our regular work days, which leads to a few hacks here and there. Still, it’s always fun to play with things that we usually don’t mess with. And that’s what we did this last weekend.

Circuit bending

This was one of the things have always been curious to learn and play with, and now we know why: it is so much fun! We toke apart a little playing guitar (that I “borrowed” from a cousin) and rewired every single solder point that made it change its sound.
Pedro is the responsible for every single distortion or unplanned sound that comes from that guitar. It’s not finished yet but it will be soon. Maybe I’ll update this post later to include pictures of it (inside and outside), videos and sounds of a live performance.

Processing

Processing has always amazed us. You can use it to write visual applications without much hassle. It is written in Java and you’re writing Java code but the cool thing is you don’t notice it – you don’t need to mess with classes, JApplet and such things, unless you really want or need to. Using the proMIDI library, I interfaced Processing and a MIDI controller to build an etch-a-sketch using knobs (that move the cursor) and pads (to clear the screen). Small thing, I know. Useless? I agree.

But these are the kind of things that can get you introduced to a new language, a library, a technology or something else you wanna know about.

Pure data

Just before the end of Sunday, I found myself watching some videos of people playing music with Pure data. Downloaded it and almost no time after installing it, I was sending MIDI signals to it and converting them into sound. Couldn’t play much more with it but I definitely will in my spare time.

All summed up, these were great times. In two days I was able to learn a lot of things. It’s always good when you divert from what you do everyday to learn new things and explore new worlds. Even when you get back to your work it seems better, just like your old bed when you came back from Summer camp. Everyone is looking forward to repeat this with some more people ;) Circuit bending, general electronics, Processing, Arduino. Interested?