Week 5
Hacking the TE 400
There are three ways this project is going in terms of hacking: 1. “High-Tech” Hacking 2. “Low-Tech” Hacking with LEGOs 3. “Low-Tech Hacking with 3D-Printing”
- “High-Tech” Hacking
This solution is what I am working on most seriously right now. I am tearing off all of the potentiometers on the modular synthesizer and getting their values to replace them with better, more standard, and larger potentiometers. We are also thinking about changing the modular synthesizer from being just potentiometer knobs to potentiometer sliders which are preferred for blind accessibility reasons. This has required me to do a lot of soldering, learn Adobe Illustrator, and learn how to lazer cut. We are focusing on making it fit in a standard EuroRack so we will blow the synth up to at least 17 inches wide by a lenght of 1.75 inches multiple.
- “Low-Tech” Hacking with LEGOs
Something I realized while noodling with the TE 400 is that it reminded me a lot of LEGO Techic. After further research I found out that it is. I then headed to the LEGO store in FlatIron with my friend looking for pieces and LEGO motors. The LEGO motors ended up costing $50, which is way out of my budget so I got a box of LEGOs worth $20. You can add legos to the TE 400 to customize the potentiometer knobs! This is a super fun and personalized way to adapt a TE 400.
- “Low-Tech” Hacking with 3D Printing Lots of people have made 3D models for the TE 400 knobs, but not a lot of them are very good or open source. I am sill continuing this research, but it isn’t that promising.
Codesign and Scheduling
Codesign is hard! Scheduling with busy people is hard! Willie and Amy have decided that we will start codesign in the fall semester at FMDG music school.
Here is the working To-Do List with guidance from Amy, Willie, and Luke. Additionally in this document are “Running Research Paper Ideas and Themes.”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uuFP7XBf3eVEuQoEBPyGGzLgjGdg-HL-xErmvpV-YMY/edit#heading=h.si88idafawjc
One thing that I am particularly focused on is collecting online reviews and hacks to add to my research.