Logic and creativity may happen on opposite sides of the brain, but who cares? Invention, a fusion of art and science, gives me the opportunity to push technology to ridiculous extents, blend old and new, and deepen my understanding of the tools I use.
The things I make are quirky, unique, eye-catching, and only occasionally useful — but always fun to create.
If these projects seem a little too left-field, see the Programming --> section.
Developing Fluid Printer (In Progress)
I am merging my fascinations with darkroom photography and computers by modifying an Inkjet printer to deposit small amounts of paper developing and fixing fluids for precision solarization effects.
Technology:
- Modified Inkjet printer
- Custom printing software
Modernized Cabinet Stereo (Completed in 2005) Pictures Coming Soon
This world is full of unwanted things, and many of them are outdated, enormous cabinet stereos of the type that flip open on the top to reveal a record player and radio. I'm very fond of these, particularly some of the retro woodwork. I hid a computer in one and configured it for remote control from a separate computer.
Technology:
- Original cabinetry
- Automotive power amplifier
- Pentium Pro 200 with network storage
- Complete wireless control via a remote X11 display
Remote Control Head (Completed in 2003) Pictures Coming Soon
From a broken dancing christmas tree and a disassembled toy car I created a remote-control Alec's Head for a friend. It featured blinking, green-glowing eyes and a grotesque flapping mouth.
Technology:
- None. Wires, soldering iron, and multimeter. Okay, and a broken RC car and a broken dancing christmas tree toy.
eHessel MP3 Player (Completed in 2000) Pictures Coming Soon
This is the iPod before the iPod. It was designed to play up to 30gb of music in my car, but serves as home stereo, web server and file server in a pinch. It uses a text-to-speech synthesizer instead of an LCD display, and can be controlled with a numeric keypad. An earlier version was controlled with a Morse code key — just key in the name of the song you want to hear! (This part of the device was destroyed by US border guards who were suspicious that it might have been a bomb.)
Technology:
- Custom-built embedded Linux distribution
- User interface and file management in C
- Custom-modified MP3 software, web server, and system tools
- Bake-lite chassis from a 1950s telephone auto-dialer
Digital Drum Kit (Completed in 1997)
I was looking for a way to add samples to my drum kit, so I built a resistor-network sound card for an old 386 laptop and used the printer port's status lines to allow up to 6 samples to be triggered. I added metal bands to the collars of my drumsticks and led wires from them up my arms and down my back to the laptop; other wires clipped to the rim of each drum I wanted to trigger. It looked ridiculous but it worked: I could play horror movie samples at appropriate moments during surf jams.
Technology:
- Home-made trigger/sound card peripheral
- Text-mode GUI, kit management, and peripheral driver in C on DOS
...more to come, including racing chairs, a retro DVD console, and a movie projector.
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