The T-Exchange
In this presentation Mark Dammer will show us how both the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino can be used to make music.
Mark will demonstrate his own self made Arduino synthesizer, and will show us how a Raspberry Pi can be turned into a fully fledged electronic music studio with sequencers, synthesizers, effects and MIDI capability.
Last but not least he will give an overview about freely available software for the Raspberry Pi to generate sounds and edit or compose music.
Thank you for all your support as we approach our goal of £3000. So far we have delivered over 2500 visors to 120 locations across Moray. In addition we have delivered over 1250 single-use visors, 1600 face mask relief straps (fits behind the head and takes mask elastic away from your ears) and 150 door dongles (fit in the hand and allow the user to avoid touching door handles, cash points etc…). If you know anyone who needs a free visor etc… just use our contact form at www.moraymakerspace.com
Following on from his recent synthesizer talks Maarten has developed a four lecture series that builds on his talks and takes certain aspects a little further, this course is aimed at participants with no previous knowledge of synthesizers. The lectures will be delivered at the end of June and beginning of July and are between 8 and 9pm, to allow those of us who are working to get home and recover a little.
All you will need is a computer with speakers and a microphone and an internet connection.
The course will take place via ZOOM, if you are interested please get in touch using our contact form.
The course is free but donations to the T-Exchange’s PPE just giving page is very much welcomed. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ppefacevisorsformoray
Our eighth AGM last Friday will be remembered, if not for its excitement, then for the magnificent eighth birthday cake baked by our Chair. Thanks Claire.
It was a real hit. We are all looking forward to our ninth birthday…
About 30 young visitors to the festival on Family Day in Kirkwall Grammar School built a model DNA molecule 9.6m. long.
The model was constructed from 1,152 components and must have been the longest model DNA molecule in Scotland that day….
On Saturday a merry group of T-exchange members gathered at Findhorn Village Hall to work on our 3-d printer build project.
Here is one of the quieter moments at The T-Exchange stand.
This year the Festival Family Day was busier than ever with over 1,800 visitors of all ages. Perhaps one of the most popular offerings was the three Organic Orchestra instruments; The Carrotene (piano), the Percolator (drums) and the Rhubarbium (tubular bells). As full volume from the three 200Watt amplifiers was a bit much for the older adults the volume controls were regularly turned down, only to be turned up again, after a little while, by younger adults… As these instruments appear to work by magic, explaining the function was a challenge.
The more academic visitors quickly moved on to the Coder Dojo and Code Club section, where a lot of concentration went into code design, the graphical programming language ‘Scratch’ and other teaching technology.
An ‘Ender 3’ 3D printer was demonstrating how to print “Smoothies” for blowing bubbles inside bigger bubbles. These were a small part of the entertaining performance by highly skilled bubble maker Philip Noble at the next activity.
Most importantly, The T-Exchange stand was well supported by members with 11 taking part, including 3 Juniors.
What a GREAT Fun Day!
Founder Member, Maarten de Vries returned to render a talk on music synthesisers; with sound effects. i.e. with the support of eight or more (it was hard to tell) boxes of electronics and audio amplifiers.
This turned out to be not so much a talk as a full-bloodied tour de force, covering everything from the first Moog synthesisers via East versus West Synth Style (look it up) to the latest cutting edge devices.
We were all a bit stunned by the performance, not so much by the electronics (we’re used to that) but by Maarten’s incredible skill at twiddling the multitude of knobs and switches with microsecond timing. Wow! He even finished up with an electronic chanter, which supported by the synthesisers filled the room with a hundred pipers an’ aw’ an aw'(or was it awe)
Weel done Maarten. A brilliant exposition. Thank you.
As usual, Mark Dammer is ahead of the rest of us and provided backup to Maarten demonstrating the latest software synthesisers. For anyone who would like to follow up:- If you have a Raspberry Pi with the latest software you have Sonic Pi and you have a synthesiser to explore.
Maybe the image below gives you some idea of the impact the evening made on the members.
