Glitchy rhythmic loops are the underpinning backbeat of many an electronic noodling session, and the Tapbum is a neat example of an accessible way to create such abstract electronic percussion. It’s housed in a small tabletop box measuring just under 11cm in size, and comes with a host of features to hone and vary your tempo track.
The Tapbum is a monophonic percussion synth which is powered by 9-12V DC and provides plenty of percussive electronic sounds to jam along to. It creates sounds ranging from sharp metallic glitches to soft rounded tones – with an adjustable 4-step sequencer to create on-beat bleeps as well as wonky polyrhythms. There’s a choice of kick drum, woodblock and noise sounds to choose from – with 3 inputs and 3 outputs along the top of the unit, 2 audio outs, 2 CV inputs and clock in /out.
It features a button to clear the sequencer, a knob to choose the number of steps and a record button for sequencer playback – everything you need to make percussive polyrhythms!
The Tapbum is designed and created by Sismo Synths who are based in Portugal – selling a fine range of tabletop sound surprises. Check out the video below to hear it in action:
Like its predecessor the ESP8266, the ESP32 has been growing in popularity and making waves as it goes. Lua was made popular for embedded prototyping via the NodeMCU project, and now other languages like Python, JavaScript and ClojureScript are entering the embedded sphere too. This extremely well-designed and beautifully laid-out dev board is specifically designed for use with Esprit (a fork of Espruino specifically for ClojureScript), although any ESP32-WROVER can be used. You could also use this board for general ESP32 development.
Clojure is a language that has been growing in popularity over time. It’s still relatively uncommon, as it’s a variant of LISP that runs on the Java runtime (which are words I didn’t think could go together in a sentence). ClojureScript is a source code compiler which converts Clojure into JavaScript. Like many LISPs, Clojure uses a REPL (a read-evaluate-print loop) for development and interaction — if you’ve used NodeMCU or Python, this is the same thing as running in interactive mode. Anything you type is evaluated and executed as soon as you hit return.
This can make prototyping very easy, especially for newcomers who can immediately see results without having to worry about including header files, getting a compiler working, etc. For embedded development, it means you can flash an LED with just a couple quick lines of code. This makes the learning curve much more gradual, and motivates users to keep learning and exploring.
The developer of this board, Mike Fikes, recently gave a talk about it at Clojure/north 2020:
Because Espruino is a JavaScript interpreter, it needed the ClojureScript runtime library added in order to be used with ClojureScript. Squeezing this into the ESP32 was a challenge, until he realized that the ESP32 comes in two variants — the ESP32-WROOM and the ESP32-WROVER. The ROVER has a lot more RAM and made it possible to use with a ClojureScript REPL. All that was needed was tweaks to the size of the heap and changes to the partitioning of the ESP32’s flash storage. The result was a fork of Espruino called Esprit, which you can find on GitHub here. This is what is running on this board by default when powered up.
This is a really neat, unique approach to development on the ESP32, and it shows how powerful the dual-core Tensilica processor inside the ESP32 is. Languages like MicroPython and JavaScript are making their way into embedded development, and Esprit now brings another neat option to the table! If you’ve ever used Clojure, or are interested in learning it, make sure to check the product page out for more details!
If you’re into retro gaming, one of the best ways to play the games of your youth is on a Raspberry Pi, the mini computer which has sold over 30 million units! Here we have a superb 3D Printed SNES Case for Raspberry Pi which lovingly reimagines the Super Nintendo in miniature form and keeps your Raspberry pi safe, compact, and cool with its on-board fan.
The Raspberry Pi is capable of hosting all manner of projects, from smile recognizing marshmallow shooters to entire WiFi advertising blockers and everything you can imagine in between! This case will house Raspberry Pi B+, Pi2 and Pi3 models, and has an option for a cooling fan and LED to keep it cool and make it look the part. The three colour 3D printed housing provides access to the main ports for HDMI, USB, audio and power sockets, as well as the all important SD card!
For gamers the main appeal of Raspberry Pis is the superb RetroPie, which puts the entirety your gaming memories in one convenient place – provided you own the originals.
The 3D Printed SNES case is made by 3DPStuff who are based in Houston Texas, who sell a whole host of expertly printed products.
Adapters are one of those things you can’t live with, but also can’t live without. It seems like you need an adapter for just about everything, which is frustrating when the lack of one becomes a roadblock in your project. No, I’m not speaking from experience, why do you ask?
Thankfully, the Binho Nova Multi-Protocol USB Host Adapter aims to be the last one you’ll ever need by offering a variety of protocols in a single package. That pitch alone got my attention. With this adapter, you can connect your computer to any I2C, SPI,1-WIRE, and SWI via USB.
Uses include everything from toggling an LED, to sending UART commands to DUT in a test fixture or even talking to an I2C IMU sensor breakout. Seriously, it does a lot. The design also features 5 signal pins that can be used for Digital Input, Output, PWM Output, Digital Interrupt, and Analog variations as well.
The host adapter can also use these pin to communicate across several digital buses, including I2C, SPI, UART, 1-wire, and Single-Wire interfaces. In this mode, other pins can be assigned to other purposes.
This kind of adapter makes manual testing easier during firmware development and debugging. It’s also a great way to automate your hardware testing and validation efforts. Finally, a common use case also includes EEPROM/Flash Memory testing and other functional testings in a product in a production type of environment.
Drone synths are an ambient producer’s dream, generating slowly-evolving textures, tones and melodies for a dream-like glacial atmosphere, especially when used with reverb. The Elmyra is a new tabletop drone synth which you can build to immerse yourself in a lurid electronic soundscape with a gritty edge, thanks to its on-board analog distortion!
The Elmyra is based on the Adafruit ItsyBitsy M0 Express microcontroller, and has a 10-bit audio resolution which gives it a gritty sound. It features three oscillators which can be mixed using the front panel controls, which also include controls for feedback, delay, modulation, shape, filter, envelope and individual oscillator tuning. You may notice shades of the Lyra-8 in its design and sound, this was one of its main influences.
Choose to buy the Elmyra fully constructed or as a DIY unit, for which you’ll need a soldering iron, solder and a screwdriver – everything else is included. You can find more information, photos and videos on the Elmyra website. Hear what the Elmyra sounds like in the videos below:
Here is version 1.2 of the firmware, which features a chromatic mode and polyphonic playback.
The Elmyra is available from Neutral Labs who are based in Germany, and this is their first product – what a great start!
Something interesting I noticed recently in the technology space was the way people reacted to the announcement of a media remote accessory for the upcoming PS5 game console. It caused way more of a reaction than you would expect from a remote, but the truth is that Sony-made remotes tend to be very useful and very high quality.
Unfortunately, the older versions of these devices don’t support modern electronics, so they’ve become obsolete. Thankfully, Remote Mods has managed to come up with a solution that doesn’t send these high-quality devices to the landfill.
The Sony RM-Y901 Programmable Remote with Atmega328PB retains everything you love about the build, buttons, and responsiveness of a Sony remote, but replaces the interior electronics with something more modern, namely an Atmega328PB. A castellated board replaces the sock microcontroller inside of this remote. You can program it using a Pogo pin adapter, which is included with every purchase while quantities last. If you already have one of these remotes, you can also purchase the replacement board separately.
Using the included source code, you can program codes, protocols, and devices into this remote, which features 50 buttons and lightweight design. We all dream of a universal remote that replaces multiple devices with a single one. That time, it seems, has finally arrived.
When you want to catch a train in a subway system, there are normally a variety of apps, as well as displays in the stations themselves. In fact, if you’re not familiar with the system, figuring out which train to take can be a bit of a challenge.
If you step back from the hustle of actually trying to cram into a car, however, such a system’s movement is quite beautiful, almost organic. The Traintrackr illustrates this quite nicely, as it tracks trains arriving at stations in the London Underground, using addressable LEDs on a rather large PCB.
Given its “pixely” nature, and its lack of specifics, you wouldn’t want to use it to actually catch a train. Instead, it’s a brilliant display of human movement as a sort of luminescent art piece. As such, it includes a wooden stand on which to show it off.
The device connects to tracking servers over WiFi, using what appears to be an onboard ESP module. Presumably you could use the device worldwide, though it would certainly be more meaningful if you had some experience with the system, or have to catch a train from time to time!
There was a time in the history of electronics where everyone was obsessed with making things smaller. Products were often released in a “mini” or “micro” variation, and while miniaturization is still a big factor in electronics, it takes a lot to stand out in a world where everything has been reduced to incredibly small sizes.
The ThunderPack 18650, however, proves that makers can still push the envelope. What we have here is an ARM development board that hugs the side of an 18650 Lithium cell. The STM32F11 microcontroller is broken out to a USB port (for programming via the bootloader), with headers for 4 high-power PWM outputs for driving LEDs and 12 GPIOs in a package that fits into your pocket.
There is a power management system that is used to recharge the battery. But you do need to make sure that you choose the style of 18650 that includes built-in protection for low-voltage over-current protection. Jeremy Gillick Labs offers the option of included a battery when purchasing the board.
Jeremy decided to take on this challenge after years of wiring together portable LED controllers that were often fragile and unstable. I would say he’s managed to elevate the concept considerably here.
USB-C is an amazing technology, able to transfer a wide variety of data types, as well as source power in different voltage/current formats. The most visible benefit, however, is that you can reverse the plug, avoiding the frustration of aligning the USB cable 4 times before it will fit into the port.
So what if you want to realize “the truly universal USB-C dream” on your Game Boy Advance SP? With a bit of soldering work, this can be a reality, by first removing the stock power connector, then attaching this USB-C adapter PCB.
If this idea looks somewhat familiar, seller rorosaurus notes that there’s an existing adapter PCB from makho, but that it only works with USB-A to USB-C cables. His adapter works with USB-C to USB-C cables, as well as USB-A. So if you have a C-C cable, you don’t even have to choose the correct end, you can just plug and go!
Notably, the design doesn’t block the pins needed for headphone jack mods, and this 3D-printable bezel will fill in the gaps left when installing this smaller port. Of course, such a mod isn’t plug-and-play by any means. You can see the Makho version installation in the video below, which should be a very similar experience:
Of course, this isn’t the only Game Boy power mod on Tindie. The adapter featured here allows you to power a Game Boy Color or Pocket with a (traditional) USB input.
Soundblaster cards were the pinnacle of retro computing’s audio processing, pumping out the squarewave melodies and FM fuelled sound effects. The BlasterBoard is a brand new sound card, designed for use in vintage computers running DOS (remember that?) which follows the SoundBlaster 2.0 specs for maximum gaming compatibility and automatic recognition in Windows 98!
Necessity was the mother of the invention for the BlasterBoard, within months of needing a retro sound solution to fit an old 486, LABS created one! It covers numerous DOS sound demands, with CD Audio, PC Speaker, OPL2 and DSP Level outputs – ready to be plugged into speakers or headphones introducing unwanted noise. The soundcard has been tested on a number of video games, as well as trackers and music-making software.
This beautifully made and presented soundcard comes in kit form with a PCB, metal chassis mount, all components, cables for internal audio connections and a printed assembly manual. It’ll form the heart of your retro-gaming setup with a very low noise floor of -94dB RMS signal-to-noise ratio, making crystal clear squarewaves and sound effects
The BlasterBoard is made by LABS, who are based in Riga, Latvia. This is their first release; we’re really excited to see more retro-inspired goodies over the coming months!
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