Take your creations beyond the workshop and onto the stage with diy music instruments! Let us show you how these creations range from simple, basic setups that produce beautiful sounds to more complex projects that require a greater level of engineering knowledge. With these tutorials and examples, we’ll guide you on this journey to make your own musical instrument for experimental, artistic or everyday use – so whether you’re starting out new or a seasoned sound creator, come explore the wonderful world of making your own music.
From the MAKE Flickr pool Flickr member wayn3w cooked up the Cupcake Atari Punk Console with detachable photoresistor control – apparently capable of producing “nasty results”. Hmmm, looks innocent enough from this pic – Cupcake APC This one was built using a kit from GetLoFi – who, by the way, just posted a nice collection […]
Born from the body of a humble miniature Tijuana six-string is The Penguin. Built as a one-of-a-kind birthday gift, this instrument’s strings aren’t for plucking, they’re to be touched. After triggering the piezo concealed beneath the device’s cartoony namesake, the player modulates sound by bridging multiple strings. And convincing the original instrument to be touch […]
Larsby demos the newly styled revision of his Arduino-based DIY keytar incorporating a Fatar keyboard bus and playstation analog stick. The new look seems reminiscent of traditional accordian stylings (which is a good thing). Take a look back at the project’s earlier stages to see how far it’s come and download the source code from […]
Leon and Brian Dewan of Dewanatron demonstrate the Dual Primate Console, a decidedly unique 2-player instrument capable of some very interesting percussive sequences – Each side of this instrument is operated by one primate. Each side has identical controls, except for a single tempo control on the side. The lower manual contains four synthesizers with […]
No, it’s not just a cute lil’ change purse – Arlie and Jared’s sewn-circuit softsynth combines crafty and noisy in a unnassuming portable package with a snap switch and conductive fabric. In the Maker Shed: Lilypad E-Sewing Kit Don’t forget – this week we have a 10% off sale this week in the maker shed, […]
Tufts University has a really good book available online about the physics of music and musical instruments. It’s a nice balance between theory, examples, and hands-on projects. The Physics of Music and Musical Instruments covers the physics of waves, sound, music, and musical instruments at a level designed for high school physics. However, it is […]
Mika made use of an old ukulele body as electronics enclosure – a Weird Sound Generator enclosure actually. There’s some conceptual metaphor @ work here but I can’t quite place it – Weird Sound Generator Mk.I [Thanks, Eric!]
