DIY Blog

Sylvain submitted his latest project: a geiger counter with a USB interface. Thanks for sharing your nice project!

USB Geiger Counter [link]

Arman Bohn sent me a couple of links to his projects - and I took forever to put them online. Sorry about that, been busy.

The first one, the Magical Toolbox, is a multi-effect generator built into a tool box. It has a stereo phase-cancelling reverb, fuzz box and ring modulator - All in stereo. It sounds really nice too.

Arman also built a Transmission Electron Microscope. It doesn’t quite work as intended, but it still looks cool, and the sountrack to the demo clip is pretty nice as well.

“The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.”
- Lloyd Jones

Magical Toolbox [link]

Transmission Electron Microscope [link]

“ADACHI’s self-made instruments are consists of simple electronic circuit, almost case built in tupperware. They never can make precise pitch, but have good sound and noise, easy to operate and carry and worked by battery. Of course the funny and pretty looks are important aspects.”

Tupperware Synthesizers [link][via][via]

This is a project that will surely please guitarists, singers, or any other musicians that play on stage. Basically, you gut out a USB keyboard, keeping only the electronics and you build a pedal that you map to specific keys. This allows you to either scroll down a document (partitions, tablatures, lyrics, etc.) or even control a slide show or audio software.

USB page turner pedal for musicians [link][via]

This project is a bit different from those I normally put up. It’s a kit (actually, a board) for a headphone amp. The difference resides s that it’s not made with what you have lying around, and its more costly.

I made an exception because I have a decent pair of Grados, which I love, and a I drive them with low quality audio mixer, which is OK for the price I paid. The thing is, to properly drive my headphones, I’d need something better, like the M³ headphone amp. Seems interesting. Let me know if you’ve heard anything good or bad about it.

DIY HiFi Headphone Amplifier [link][via]

This project is a bit pointless: a volume limiter that plugs into your iPod or favorite portable audio device, and that you plug your headphones into. Now, given that any intelligent sensible person will lower the volume instead of using this device, its only potential use is forcing your children to use it. However, you know very well that they will unplug it as soon as you turn the back.

Nevertheless, I am featuring this project because of its neat packaging, which can be an inspiration for another more useful project.

Volume Limiter for Portable Audio [link][via]

Here’s a good idea: use an old SoundBlaster card and turn it into a cheesy-sounding General-MIDI box. If I were a porno film producer, I’d definitely need a couple of these for the soundtracks.

DIY general MIDI synth from an old Soundblaster [link & link][via]

I swear, I didn’t see this until I posted yesterday’s post: it’s basically the same thing, but mono (so much for stereo separation anyways), and amplified! I’ll definitely build myself one of these. They’d also make great gifts for guitar playing friends. Refer to yesterday’s project for installing felt in the tin, as it probably helps with the overall sound quality.

Altoids Tin Amplified Mini Speaker [link]

I love just about every project that’s built around the Altoids tins. This one is no exception: mini speakers made of recycled headphones. You could also use those cheap mini-speakers that they sell at your local electronic parts store.

Altoids Tin Mini Speakers [link]

A nice little “Getting Started” guide on building electronic circuits.

Circuit Building 101 [link]