Attoparsec

[gfish]

Those ideas of promoting myself as a builder of improbable devices? No longer just random thoughts. I decided to take a spare domain of mine and set up Attoparsec: Custom props and gadgets. The Google AdWords campaign just went live!

Next step is to work on more projects to showcase on the site. But I won't be able to really get into that until I'm back into Seattle. So... back to the thesis mines for now.

Comments

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I can talk to you about constructing an analog synth?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that could be a cool project. Not something I have any experience with, but I'm game! We'd need to hash out exactly what features you'd want, it all looks very mix-and-match in the searches I'm doing.

[caladri.livejournal.com]

The basic things one wants to do with an analog synth are either nerdily subtle or entirely trivial, so starting with a kit from PAiA and getting a feel for it is generally pretty workable. You can add new filters and strange routings on a whim, and swap out components for slightly different ones with mildly different characteristics to refine sound in subtle ways.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I know a certain fiddler who is looking for some sort of analog synth that fits in a hat and is controlled by facial actuators so she can simultaneously be fashionably attired for the mad hatter's tea party at OVFF and know what different facial expressions sound like.

Well, OK, I don't think she's looking real hard for one.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

That... would definitely be an interesting project. I suspect one would need to wear sticky EMG electrodes in order to get reliable readings on facial expressions. I'd start to be worried about space to fit it into a hat -- would it absolutely need to be analog?

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Or simply mechanical pushrods adhered to the skin whose other ends move past photocells to detect motion...

The particular technology was never specified. I think the only requirements were that it be wearable as a hat and that it be playable by the wearer changing facial expressions.

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

I wonder if one could modify one of the bluetooth-laser-projection-keyboard-widgets or implement similar... in eyesafe IR for bonus points.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about multiple cameras building a topographic map of the face. It seems less intrusive than electrodes.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, that's not a solved problem in computer vision. In this case you could probably fake it, since you aren't trying to scan in an actor's face for CGI or anything that precise.

I just think that, if you're going to have a hat-mounted, face-controlled synth, then some EMG electrodes only add to the effect.