Monday, June 16, 2008

Week 1 plan [frm the archive]

Our first get together will be this Saturday, 6/14; at Visible Voices bookstore 1023 Kenilworth in Tremont. huge thanks to Dave Ferrante for providing space for this. 1:00-3:00 PM, we will start on time, really. gonna be fun.

we have 18 folks signed up, which is a few more than i'd originally planned on. we'll see how it goes, if it seems unmanageable i'll figure something else out. glad to have folks w/ a variety of backgrounds and experience. . . those of you w/ some projects under your belt, be prepared to pitch in w/ "teaching".

i'm planning on 2 very simple projects for this week: the Victorian synth from the Collins book, and a contact mike. YOU WILL NEED TO BRING A COUPLE THINGS:

  • a 9v battery
  • a small speaker (naked, 2 to 8 inches across). . . pry one out of a dead boombox, or from radioshack or RAM electronics (1898 W 25th St)
  • a handful of small bare metal objects: beercan tabs, hardware bits, paper clips, foil. . .
  • a buck for misc. bits, PLUS either a guitar patch cord to cut up, or a couple bucks for some connectors

TOOLS: i will have some tools to share, but w/ this many people it wd slow us down to all be waiting on one or 2 soldering irons. . . so if you have any of the following tools, plz bring them:

  • small soldering iron
  • wire cutters
  • wire strippers
  • needle-nose pliers

i will also have some initial parts kits for sale for $25. i have about a dozen kits made up, and will order more once i know for sure how many we'll need.

as mentioned, i'll be referring to Nic Collins book "Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking" as a reference/textbook. you do not have to own a copy, but if yr into this kind of thing it's pretty great, you could spend a few months just working through all his projects. contact Visible Voices if you want to pick one up.

email me if you have any questions, see you on Saturday!

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