Soft Controller and Synthesizer

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Full workshop description at nime2011.org

Our workshop will begin with a discussion of soft circuitry including recent research projects completed by FSP. We will demonstrate fabrication techniques for creating soft circuit controllers, including carding, dry felting and machine and hand sewing with conductive and resistive wools, fabrics, threads and methods of attaching to hardware. The group will be lead through building a simple synthesizer circuit followed by building the soft circuit controller to interface with the hardware. Participants should also feel free to bring projects they have already built and would like to potentially make a soft controller for. While we will have some digital multimeters and basic tools on-site, please come prepared with diagonal wire cutters and wire strippers. We will have kits available for participants with all the electronic parts and materials needed to create the synthesizer circuit and interface. These kits will include a small raw loudspeaker, 9V battery + battery clip, alligator test leads, solid wire, breadboard, electronic components, 1 dry felting needle, 1 sewing needle, wool and conductive fabrics and threads. We will also have some additional materials on-hand in case anyone needs extra supplies.

Prerequisites and Participation Information:

It will be expected that each participant will have a basic understanding of working with electronic circuits, identifying and using components and reading schematics. We are assuming no prior experience working with soft circuits. Musicians, developers, designers, artists and engineers are all welcome.

Maximum number of participants is set to 12

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