Cannons in the Hall

So, most recently (January 2012), I got another new job, and this one even larger than the last!  I work at Grand Valley State University now, as their Equipment and Stage Manager for their Music and Dance department.  I have helped in a number of projects so far, but this one is of particular significance for this blog:

So, to kick off their Fall Arts celebration (tomorrow night), they are doing a number of Beethoven pieces.  My task has been to make sure everybody fits on stage, and that the lights and mic work.  Additionally, I get to make the cannon sounds happen for their performance of Wellington's Victory.  Rather, I built a rig, and my friend (the timpanist) is physically making them happen, according to the Cannon part he is reading from.  Sweet.

I'm low on time tonight, so I'll keep it simple.  It is two kick-pedal drum triggers hooked up to a Jeenode (with a pull down resistor so that each pedal acts like a big, fast potentiometer).  That Jeenode talks to another Jeenode connected to my computer, running a little Pd patch that plays the cannon sounds through speakers I put up in the back of the hall.  If you're in the Grand Rapids/Allendale area, check out the show tomorrow night (9/10/2012 8pm Louis Armstrong Theater, GVSU Campus in Allendale, MI) and hear it live (with the excellent musical talent Grand Rapids and GVSU have to offer).

Here's a pic:

Talk about low-profile!  Next, I want to work in some velocity sensitivity, so I can really use it in my own setup.  See you!

cueStick...

It may be early to post about this, but my friend Dave and I have an idea.  Numbers are nice inside the computer, but they're even better in a funny little box.  With JeeNodes, some java and shift registers, you can get just that!  This idea is more developed than that, I promise, but like I said, it may be early to post about this.  Here are some pictures:

PS/2 Keyboard and Sanguino

So, I got a couple new toys and have resumed work on the "pile of junk," as I like to call it.  I ordered a Sanguino, two JeeNodes, a RBBB and a USB BUB kit.  I was disappointed to find that communication with the USB BUB didn't work, so I'll have to check that out more tonight.  The Sanguino is up and is in good shape though.  I struggled with getting a PS/2 Keyboard to work with the Sanguino, but the PS2KeyboardExt2 library worked perfectly with a Bare Bones Board, so I'll just have to learn more about the difference between the pins and hopefully make it work for me. 

I got the JeeNodes to try to do some wireless communication between an actor and a light board.  I'll solder the kits together soon, and learn to use them.  The bigger issue for me is learning about lighting board protocols, which may be regular MIDI, but I don't know yet.  That'll be next weekend's project for sure.  If anybody has some ideas/experience with that, let me know! Thanks!

That's about it.  Being in school while trying to do projects like this is tricky, but I think it should work ok.  Today is a writing/research day.  See you!