beatseqr [flickr id=”9395717762″ thumbnail=”original” overlay=”true” size=”large” group=”” align=”none”]
The laser is working well enough to feel good about my ability to reliably make cases. This is good. I need to assess what parts I have and what I can do in the short term. There’s been a lot of thought going on inside my head about what’s next. Not sure what I’m going to do yet, but believe me, I have beatseqr on the brain again.
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This is the second unit that I’ve migrated to a new acrylic case… in two days!
It’s been a productive few months. I bought an industrial fume extractor for the laser. I’ve been getting a lot of experience with this particular laser under my belt making sculptures and whatnot, and over the last couple of weeks, major movement on beatseqr case design. Welcome back white acrylic case! Still dialing in all the parameters, but feeling good so far.
I was able to test out synthseqr live with my band Haptic Synapses, the night we also played with Antacid Crew, and it was a lot of fun! I posted a video of us playing and synthseqr is in there, but I wanted to make a new video to show the progress I’ve been making. Derek Scott is also working on some great functionality coming soon, and of course he’s the chief architect of Steppa, which synthseqr runs on top of. So check it out and let me know what you think.
Ah. Oh. Yes! Ooh! Maybe!
Dave Vondle from IDEO Labs posted a really cool add on for the arduino IDE that lets you retrieve the source for an arduino you physically have but don’t already have the source for. Essentially, if I understand this concept, I can tie the arduino mega inside each beatseqr to the source online, so that when you want to see how it works and want to change something on it, you can just plug it in, launch the arduino IDE with this add-on, and get the source from the internet. Sweet! I have asked a question about a minor detail, but overall the concept is really good, and I think I’m going to give it a try.
Ok, so I know I’ve been severely radio-silent for the last 6 months or so. We had our second baby, I got a 3d printer, and decided that I need to get back into a regular exercise schedule. So free time at night is scheduled very tightly. I know I previously stated that the 3d printer wouldn’t be a distraction, but I was way wrong. It’s a huge distraction.
Anyway, between it all, I have two nights a week that are explicitly scheduled for development of beatseqr and other related projects. Enter: synthseqr.
About two years ago, I started to think about what would be next, once beatseqr was up and running, and it seemed fairly obvious that a complimentary tool would be something for melodic sequencing. At the time I hadn’t consciously intended to copy the interface of anything, but it turns out that the idea that was new to me, of course, isn’t a new idea at all. I love the 16 step sequencer workflow. It seems very natural to me for the kind of music I like to make, so I wanted something to help with synths while I rock some beats with beatseqr. Synthseqr is intended to play that part.
Frankly, it’s just not working yet, and there’s an insane amount of work left to do to get it ready to show off the way I want to. But I wanted to post this to let you know that I’m still here. I’m still working on projects. If you’ve emailed me, I do intend to get back to you about a time frame for beatseqr availability. I won’t make any more excuses. I’m just working at my bandwidth limit. Whew, have you ever had two young kids? I need a nap.
I ordered a thing-o-matic. It should arrive in a month. Then another month to build it. Then I can get on to the important task of making beatseqr keychains.
No, but seriously, I think I can prototype top panel layouts and button arrays using the 3d printer. That could be a welcome change from the seemingly endless cycle of wasted time and money while producing new… things. Crap. I’m supposed to not say any more, aren’t I.
The new baby in our house is almost 3 months old. We’re still on a pretty unpredictable sleep schedule, so doing much in the garage has been next to impossible. I have, however, acquired a couple of work desks to make my production environment more official. Doesn’t look like much, but it’s a huge step up from what I was using previously.
I really can’t say when I can kick back into gear, but there have been signs of progress lately beyond the desks. I don’t want to say much yet, but there’s something coming to me in the mail soon. Then I’ll be extra not talking about it until its working, then more not talking about it until I can figure out the enclosure and whatnot. It might be fun. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be fun. I’m predicting a high chance for fun.
That’s a lot of beatseqrs!
Whew. One more of these units is out on loan, and one more needs a case+hardware… And that’ll be all of this version. 4.52 will be *extremely* minor tweaks…