Invisible instrument - tuning the inputs

Each input in the invisible instrument triggers samples by detecting a change in light above a sensor. Because different rooms have different light levels (and light levels can change across a small space in the same room) each input can be adjusted to make it more or less sensitive to the amount of light it is receiving.
To do this, we have put a potentiometer on each input which the user can adjust to get the best results.

Invisible instrument - guitars

This time we're using the invisible instrument to trigger guitar riff samples.
Although not as immediately useful as, say, an invisible drum kit, the ability to play riffs instead of single notes will become more useful once we've added multi-channel support (play multiple samples from a single input) and MIDI output.

Invisible instrument - drums

Here's a project that was supposed to be a simple two-day thing that ended up taking a couple of weeks to get right. It's the opposite of a light/laser harp: instead of detecting reflected/broken light beams, this instrument "sees" shadows as you pass you hand over the sensors. Wave your hand about and trigger wav/mp3/ogg samples.
In this demonstration, we're using it to trigger drum samples, recreating a simple invisible drumkit

20 channel usb servo controller early prototype testing

Here's a sneak preview of the new 20 channel, usb-driven, servo controller we're developing. We've used a completely new (ok, not that new, but much improved) way of handling multiple, parallel servo commands which allows us to control 24 or more channels within a 1ms-2ms window. We decided to cut it down to 20 in order to free up a few pins to add an eeprom chip in future, but for now this video shows how you can send simple commands.

Only a few servos are used in this video because we're drawing power from the usb rail. As soon as more servos arrive from eBay, and we've got a 5V voltage regulator to allow an external power supply to be used, we'll post a new video showing loads of servos being used on one little board!

Very early 12 channel servo controller

Here's a video from a few years ago (was it really that long ago?) showing a USB-based 12 channel servo controller. It forms the basis of the new, improved and soon-to-be-released 20 channel (yes, you heard right, a massive twenty independently controlled channels) servo controller with record and playback.



While this was a simple proof-of-concept, it's proved popular with viewers on YouTube, so we've decided to make it into a kit so anyone can have a play with it! With up to 20 independently controlled servos, eeprom that stores up to 30 minutes of animation, and playback with 1/50th second (20ms) accuracy, the new improved servo board is one to watch out for!