ClockBox Box

[Sasha]

I`m working intensively to finish the clock box this weekend. It turned out, as always, there is a lot more work involved than I was expecting. The case is made out of, of course, lasercut acrylic. The case design is very similar as I did for my Chronulator (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibra/sets/72157605121536800'>http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibra/sets/72157605121536800)

This time I used Bison Plastic for glueing parts by advice of my laserman. It is very good glue. Much better than superglue as it gives you the time to position the parts unlike superglue.

I`ll post small pictures as there are alot of them. So, if you like to see it bigger visit my flickr page. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fibra)

Going back to work...

[stryd_one]

Pro. As. F***

Those buttons just ain't doing that lovely case justice though :( If we could just find cheap CNC for the rest of the world, and cheap CS components for you.... Or... yaknow, cheap freight :D

[Sasha]

You probably right about the buttons, but this whole unit is made mostly out of recycled parts and pieces of acrylic that I dug from the manufacturers scrap box, so it should be cheap at first place. I now somehow regret because not using some DIY illuminated buttons, but I couldn`t afford it in this momment, and didn`t wanted to wait for better times as with rest of the projects. I have too much unfinsished, boxless projects laying all around my house. And women... they just don`t have a sense for PCB art standing on a book shelfs. So I really wanted to finish this one as quickly as possible.

[stryd_one]

LOL! Yeh I know what you mean mate...

[reboot]

very clean work .

[Sasha]

..yeah clean, but house isn`t. It took a lot of sanding and many layers of painting.The day was rainy and cold, so I had to do it in a house. And I made some mistakes, so I had to do more than I planed (trimming the opening on subpanels to fit the LCD properly). I prepared files for cutting too quickly without much checking. So, it could be cleaner.  ;)

[Max Romantschuk]

Very nice work! I like the approach to getting a perfectly square edge on the case. But that's not something you cut by hand... :)

And women... they just don`t have a sense for PCB art standing on a book shelfs. So I really wanted to finish this one as quickly as possible.

Indeed! I'm only just starting my first project, and the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) has been factored in from day one... ;)

[stryd_one]

WAF

Heh yeh I mentioned that on one of my wiki pages:

Talk to your wife and kids about this thing, or they might wonder if you're having an affair or something ;)

[Sasha]

I finished my clockbox. So, here it is...

[lukas412]

WOW! Nice work!

[stryd_one]

Pro. As. F***

[Sasha]

Thank you.

[nebula]

W O W

awesome! 

[dstamand]

pretty box

[nILS]

Nice!

[Max Romantschuk]

Beautiful work! Merry Christmas to everyone as well. :)

[Sasha]

I catch some free time today to play with my new toy and I really like it!  :)

[modularkomplex]

Hey Sasha,

very nice (and fast) build!

Cheers,

Mike

[Goblinz]

Nice djembe! I'g guessing that you've managed to connect it to the clock-box wirelessly. :D

[Sasha]

Thank you.

Nice djembe! I'g guessing that you've managed to connect it to the clock-box wirelessly. :D

Thanks Goblinz. I get this djembe really cheap 25 EUR as it has crackle in top of body around the knot. It is really small and I`m planing to seal it with some epoxy from inside. The problem is the hole is smaller than my hand, so I`m afraid I`ll need to ask my girlfriend to sacrifice, and try to apply some epoxy. I wouldn`t like to took off the skin as I doubt I would I be able to put it back as it is now.

I don`t know if it affects the sound and how much, but to me djembe already sounds good enough. But, I`m not really a percussionist.

You are not far from truth, I`m actually planing to midify it, but not wirelessly. Some wireless MIDI interface would be really cool to have.

[Goblinz]

Thank you.

Thanks Goblinz. I get this djembe really cheap 25 EUR as it has crackle in top of body around the knot. It is really small and I`m planing to seal it with some epoxy from inside. The problem is the hole is smaller than my hand, so I`m afraid I`ll need to ask my girlfriend to sacrifice, and try to apply some epoxy. I wouldn`t like to took off the skin as I doubt I would I be able to put it back as it is now.

I don`t know if it affects the sound and how much, but to me djembe already sounds good enough. But, I`m not really a percussionist.

You are not far from truth, I`m actually planing to midify it, but not wirelessly. Some wireless MIDI interface would be really cool to have.

Don't take the skin off unless you are planning to replace it! They are stretched and your's looks like it's been trimmed to the ring so would never go back on. New skins can be picked up quite cheaply though and you can learn how to skin it yourself (if your girlfriend doesn't mind you soaking a lump of goat in the bath over night) but it takes a few days and a fair bit of effort... There's loads of instructions online for re-sminning them.

Cracks usually appear whilst the drum drying out. I'm not an expert about this, but if it's not getting any worse then i'd leave it along. The way the drum skin pulls the body together should prevent it from spreading further.

How are you plannign on midifying it... as acontroller or as a sound module? Using it as a sound module would be really cool, but difficult to get it to play correctly with the different tones (bass, rim, slap, etc)... Again, I think it would be difficult to relay these types of strike using it as a midi controller too... maybe some sort of capacitance sensor on the top so it "knows" which bit of the skin you ar striking.

One thing that I thought of doig for a while is midi-trousers. I play the djembe myself and know a lot of other people who do... without fail, if they're ever waiting for a bus, etc they will all sit and drum their knees... some inbuilt midi controller pads would be awesome!

[Max Romantschuk]

One thing that I thought of doig for a while is midi-trousers. I play the djembe myself and know a lot of other people who do... without fail, if they're ever waiting for a bus, etc they will all sit and drum their knees... some inbuilt midi controller pads would be awesome!

I've thought about this for ages! :)

These days there are relatively cheap piezo-to-MIDI converters out there (Alesis Trigger|iO for example). But that wouldn't be wearable, of course... ;) I'm aware there's DIY stuff as well... Haven't seen any open source ones though.

It would probably be possible to trigger the djembe with a solenoid, but how that would sound I don't know...

When it comes to a djembe-like trigger on the other hand, nothing I've seen comes close to Roland's HPD-15. Those are insanely responsive... but equally pricy.

[Sasha]

Don't take the skin off unless you are planning to replace it! They are stretched and your's looks like it's been trimmed to the ring so would never go back on. New skins can be picked up quite cheaply though and you can learn how to skin it yourself (if your girlfriend doesn't mind you soaking a lump of goat in the bath over night) but it takes a few days and a fair bit of effort... There's loads of instructions online for re-sminning them.

I`m planing to build some drum for a long time. It don`t matter to me to replicate some known style. It is more about building than distinct sound. Only thing that keep me off is that I just don`t know where to get skin locally. Maybe I could order it somewhere online.

Cracks usually appear whilst the drum drying out. I'm not an expert about this, but if it's not getting any worse then i'd leave it along. The way the drum skin pulls the body together should prevent it from spreading further.

No, it`s not getting worse. The drum id dry and the crack is just a small gap around the knot. I`ll keep it as is.

How are you plannign on midifying it... as acontroller or as a sound module?

As a sound module. Using these

Using it as a sound module would be really cool, but difficult to get it to play correctly with the different tones (bass, rim, slap, etc)...

Yes, it would be really hard and pointless because percussions is all about variations. My goal is to have fun with it. I`ll just add few of HDD beaters on different positions and that`s it. Nothing hi-tech.  ;)

One thing that I thought of doig for a while is midi-trousers. I play the djembe myself and know a lot of other people who do... without fail, if they're ever waiting for a bus, etc they will all sit and drum their knees... some inbuilt midi controller pads would be awesome!

I watched the video of midi-trousers on youtube time ago, but I just cannot find it now. I remember there was no any technical info about it and no wires, so whole thing looked like a joke, but I remember improvisation was kid of complex so it would be difficult to overdub the footage with samples. I`lll try to find it.

[Goblinz]

You're going to hit your djembe with somehing other than your hand? :o That's such a no-no! Spose it doesn't matter if it's already cracked and was nice and cheap. It'd be quite amusing to fill a rubber glove with silicone and use that instead though!

Skins are cheap enough... i paid £5 (GBP) for mine, but that was a whole goatskin with hair and tail still attached. You can get pre-shaved rings of skin the right size for your drum, they cost a little bit more.. It's very satisfying to do it yourself thouch and a good excuse to tune it up exactly as you want it.

[Sasha]

You're going to hit your djembe with somehing other than your hand? :o That's such a no-no! Spose it doesn't matter if it's already cracked and was nice and cheap. It'd be quite amusing to fill a rubber glove with silicone and use that instead though!

I don`t believe HDD beaters could damage it. I added some rubber from bike inner tire around the beaters to protect it. Don`t you worry, I know what I`m doing. I guess... :P

Skins are cheap enough... i paid £5 (GBP) for mine, but that was a whole goatskin with hair and tail still attached.

Knowing you are living on a farm it was easy for you to get it. And you get a tail for free so you can make a nice key dongle out of it.  Hahaha

You can get pre-shaved rings of skin the right size for your drum, they cost a little bit more.. It's very satisfying to do it yourself thouch and a good excuse to tune it up exactly as you want it.

I`m sure it is satisfying. Tuning is something I always hated. I like things that you just build and they work as should without tuning. And I especially hate coils!  >:(