A blog about building things, programming, and random bits of geekary.
While contemplating a series of articles on digital audio oscillator types and implementations, I asked myself, “What audio effect would provide the simplest demonstration of these things while also being fun and interesting?” The first thing that came to mind was the humble tremolo. This is the stuttery, pulsing effect you hear on the rhythm … Continue reading "SKTremolo – An Open-Source VST3…
You’ve just come across a really awesome 3D model online that you just HAVE to 3D print. Maybe it’s an amazing figurine you want to use for [insert favorite table top game here]. Or maybe it’s a robotics project that you really want to build. Or maybe it’s just a cookie cutter. Who knows? Whatever … Continue reading "STLRepair 0.1.0"
If you’ve been writing software for very long, you’ve likely encountered the humble ring buffer. Ring buffers are everywhere . They appear in code for audio engines, network stacks, kernel drivers, graphics engines, etc. They’re one of the most important data structures for getting data from point A to point B in a timely and … Continue reading "Back To Basics: The Ring Buffer"
I’ve been absolutely terrible about keeping my R2 build log up to date. So I thought I’d take a minute to share where my R2 build is at today. Here’s a very short video that’ll give you a peek into the state of things. As you can see in the video above, my R2 has … Continue reading "R2 Build Update"
I grew up in a rural area outside a small coal-mining town in eastern Kentucky. My childhood home was nestled in a little valley formed where three mountains met. The house itself sat on maybe 2 acres, with a small creek running along the back edge. Across the creek and up a dirt road, my … Continue reading "The Bath Tub in the Woods"
When Droid Division released their 3D model of LO-LA from the Obi-Wan series last year, I immediately knew I wanted to build a night light for my kids. The following video shows how I did it. Links of things mentioned in the video: Droid Division Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DroidDivisionM.M’s Prop Shop LO-LA Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeBu50ekaBY19mm Latching Push … Continue…
(Note: This is a slightly modified excerpt of Chapter 1 from a book I’ve been working on entitled “Digital Audio for C++ Programmers.”) The decibel is perhaps one of the most confusing and misunderstood topics in audio. It has a confusing formula that appears to change based on the context. It’s also used in a … Continue reading "Decibels and dB SPL"
In the first article of this series, I spent some time looking at the DFPlayer – a small, affordable MP3 playback device. I demonstrated how it can be connected to an Arduino and driven over a serial connection. In the second article of the series, I looked at RC radio controllers and how they can … Continue reading "Radio Controlled Audio with Arduino"
In the previous article, I introduced my need to add sound capabilities to a radio-controlled robot project that I had been working on with my daughter. I focused on the DFPlayer as a potential solution and discussed how to control it using only an Arduino. However, I didn’t discuss radio control at all. Because the … Continue reading "Radio Controllers with Arduinos"
My oldest daughter and I recently built one of Mr. Baddeley’s Baby R2s. These units are small, almost cartoonish, radio-controlled R2D2s that are extremely easy to build. And fun! But something missing from the design (at least at the time of this writing) is the ability for these little guys to produce sounds. And what’s … Continue reading "Digital Audio with the DFPlayer"