Things

Beep Booper

Pressure & Light Sensitive Sound Toy

This is very much a product of iteration and evolution. I never had a vision of what it would be until it was sitting in front of me.

At its core it’s a light theremin with a LFO controlling an envelope with a square wave. Pressure on the button affects the rate of the LFO.

The result is that you can play light and pressure simultaneously and achieve interesting crossover/ring-modulating effects. It’s fun and surprisingly expressive.

Only sad part is that it’s pretty difficult to make. There are many custom fixtures and parts and the labor make it unreasonable for production. Still, it was a fun experiment.

For those curious, the pressure sensitive button is made from a material called ‘velostat’. When sandwiched between two copper plates, it acts like a pressure-sensitive resistor, decreasing resistance with increased pressure. This makes for super simple and expressive pressure-sensitive control.

Smooth wooden instrument with a button, audio jack, and small window/lens

Ribbon Microphone

Magnets & (Extremely Thin) Aluminum Foil

I saw a YouTube video of somebody making a ribbon microhpne and was surprised at how easy it seemed. I decided to try it out by 3D printing my own parts and it worked! Didn’t sound too great, but I got sound. Now I’ve begun incorporating laser-cut parts that I order custom from a manufacturer, hoping to arrive at a design that I’ll like and use.

Ribbon Microphone Prototype internal components

Ribbon Microphone Prototype with foil ribbon installed

Pressing Paper Pulp

Soaking Cardboard & Ruining Blenders

This time it wasn’t a YouTube video, it was an Instructable that put me on to this idea. I decided to try designing my own molds and experimenting with the medium. There are so many boxes in this world, might as well try and find good uses for them. I learned that the most ideal designs are fairly thin, but not so thin that it compromises the integrity of the design. I wonder about using much more pressure, perhaps with an aluminum mold and a hydraulic press. The material is sort of like a cross between wood and cardboard. It’s not waterproof at all, but can be sealed (like particleboard). Have an idea for what could be made with this material? Let me know!

Paper pulp sitting in a strainer over a bucket, just after blending and before forming.

Formed paper pulp bowls sitting in rows drying.