*going to post video/audio soon btw.

Guitar effects and Max/MSP

Cycling74 has an awesome set of tutorials on designing guitar effects in max/msp. This is great for me, because this will help me mock up effects in max for conceptualizing my final circuit designs.

Next Steps
- Take the circuit I built a couple nights ago and instead of using a 555 timer chip for an audio signal, grab a signal from an electric guitar.
- Figure out how signal filtering actually works... namely the math behind figuring out resistor and capacitor values ideal for achieving different effects.
- Visually design how my final felted signal processor(s) will look.
- Mock up some guitar effects in max/msp

Proof of Concept.. proven!

felt resistor + 555 timer chip
Originally uploaded by 0x000000

Last night I got a simple 555 timer circuit working with a piece of conductive felt connected, acting as a variable resistor. Pressing down or squeezing the felt caused the frequency to change, which is exactly what I hoped would happen!

I tried different swatches of conductive felt I made last week and found that the ones with higher resistance worked best. I'm still trying to figure out which impedance values are most ideal for getting the widest range of frequency change.

I'm learning how to build analog audio circuits as I go, so I'm not entirely familiar yet with what capacitor/resistor values to use for getting specific frequencies out of my board. I also want to figure out how to filter sounds, and eventually pipe in an audio signal from a guitar for manipulation.

In the meantime, this is a happy milestone to make.