Ladyada

I found the Silencing Celebs with Arduino to be the most interesting of the lot from a gateway technology point of view. Also following the link for this project further eventually led me to a very cool site, http://www.ladyada.net/.

For PCB printing, OSH Park is a highly recommended one: https://oshpark.com/ For PCB assembly, http://www.4pcb.com/ is recommended. Some reviews from Lady Ada: http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/manufacturers.html Also check out http://pcbshopper.com/

Commercial services for making PC boards are so competitive [1] that making them yourself is rarely worth the trouble. The standard photochemical process is quite good, better than any of the do-it-yourself processes. (In Shentzen, you can get 4-hour turnaround at no extra charge.) Machines for milling one-off boards have been around for decades, but they've never been used much. Small-scale solder paste printing and pick and place is more useful. Those are hard to do by hand, expensive to get done for one-offs, and solder paste/place/reflow all have to be done in close sequence. Reflow ovens are easy; toaster ovens with special temperature controllers are often used. [1] http://www.ladyada.net/wiki/tutorials/library/pcb/manufacturers.html

I know that some modern iOS devices actually require a specific voltage across the data lines to tell the device what wattage charger it's using. In that situation you would have to add a couple of resistors to the charging cable between the voltage and data pins, which definitely makes it a lot more difficult for most people. You might find the following interesting: http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/icharge.html

This tutorial looks pretty solid, LadyAda is pretty great: http://www.ladyada.net/products/tfttouchshield/

i really like these "what i pay for" lists that are starting... we have a list here too: http://ladyada.net/library/software/index.html (left column) of all the things we use for our open-source hardware business. we'd love to hear suggestions for more too..

I'd position pd not against low-level stuff but as a complementary to them, just as Matlab. It is easier to prototype new ideas and algorithms in an environment with higher abstraction level. After you know what you want, HC-implementation can begin.. :-) I can certainly appreciate your appetite to drive DACs on a breadboard! For likeminded hackers with an itch to solder, I suggest also looking at some analog synth projects, such as the great x0xb0x: http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/ It's a precise clone of the legendary acid synth Roland TB-303 and what's best, it's completely open source! :-) I'm building mine just now..

y'see, thats why i got myself a pick and place! :) (http://www.ladyada.net/wiki/mdcpickandplace) its great for the "first 1000 or so" - if something gets popular i can send it off for manufacture - but only because i can bridge manufacture thru the never-ending-leadtimes. having trouble getting a fantastic oven tho. the apsgold's look nice but we dont have 220 :( had great luck with some common reflow plates if you can deal with single sided

You may want to get in electronics hacking ... Look at some of this stuff for inspiration : http://www.ladyada.net/make/ I prefer not to hack just for hacking's sake, but to build something I need. For example, ATM I'm looking into building a bedside alarm light - an alarm clock that wakes you up with light. I would love one. The commercial models are stupidly expensive (169$ for a nice Philips model [1]). The electronics are pretty easy to replicate, I'm having difficulty with the case. Philips did an awesome job with theirs - great design and build. Actually, most DIY electronics suffer from the same problem : cases suck, because we just do not have the means of extruding plastic and the such. Maybe 3D printers will help. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CGSYPS

Me too. I built a x0xb0x (http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/ - it's a pretty impressive project, Ladyada does great stuff) a few years ago and play around with it occasionally, but I've realized I'm much better at enjoying other people's music than creating my own.

The following looks like a good starting point, with an Arduino tutorial, a recommended starting kit, plus recommendations on tool kits: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/

I've never owned an 808, but I've owned at least 18 hardware synths and samplers, as well as Live, Reason, Rebirth, and lots of softsynths on iOS. I hate softsynths on OS X because it's not stable enough. I have two synths that were made in the 1980s and they don't need any software updates to run. You just plug them in and turn them on. Hardware lasts for a very long time. Software, you don't really buy it, you rent it for the brief lifespan of your computer. Emulating analog gear is difficult for the same reason that writing software which simulates any real-world process is difficult. TLDR: everything louthy said. Even emulating digital gear, which logically should be much easier, is still a challenge. I have a Korg Wavestation and a Korg M1. Both are 100% digital. Both are well-emulated in Korg's popular and well-regarded Legacy Collection. But well-emulated isn't the same as exactly reproduced. And Korg supports the Legacy Collection now, but they won't forever. I can't even trust operating systems to work properly when I install them. I'm not risking my ability to make music on the incredibly widespread incompetence of programmers, even at the best companies on earth, when all I have to do is put down less than $200. Look at the bug trackers for any open source project from Apple or Google. Apple's still got WebKit bugs around arbitrary cookie resets from at least ten years ago. Or look at iTunes. The demand for programmers is so intense that you can be an utter…

I assume that you do not have a background in EE? If so, then start simple: low/medium speed (below 20MHz or so)digital layout doesn't really need much in the way of skill. Find a simple project you want to do, e.g., an Arduino shield, get a free/hobbyist copy of Eagle CAD (http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/freeware/?language=en) and play with it. There are books that deal with this, but they are written at a professional level for people who do it every day. You just need a few rules to thumb to start. Adafruit has a bunch of tutorials. Really old, but it's a start: http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/tutorials.html I find that a quick trip "through the stack" is often a good way to learn. So find a simple circuit, like an LED chaser, design a PC board for it and have it made by someone like OshPark (super cheap, high quality boards. I recommend them) and then assemble it. That will give you enough practice to know if you like doing the process and you have a cool toy at the end.

I have a similar background to yours. I program Java professionally and have iOS and web apps as side projects. I think the first three website you may want to go to for getting familiar with the quick prototyping platforms like Arduino and Beaglebone are: (1) http://learn.adafruit.com (2) https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials (3) http://bildr.org/ The advantage of (1) and (2) is you can quickly order parts right from their site without having to search them at different places yourself. If your goal is to eventually have a PCB house make the board, you may want to check out ladyada's comprehensive review on PCB manufacturer at http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/manufacturers.html. Also Sparkfun has a series of very insightful tutorials on SMD soldering. For (3) I personally highly recommend it for its component oriented tutorials even though it doesn't seem to add new articles anymore. I think the quickest way to get yourself the skills is to set a goal. Create a wish list of functions that the device must have. Then read or watch only the relevant tutorials. If you have a specific goal, then the above mentioned websites should work very well for you. To share my experience, I was able to design my own schematic and board on KiCAD, program the firmware, and have the PCB factory make a fully functional prototype that works with iPhone, with these resources in 24 weekends.

neat concept. reminds me of this project https://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/

I will assume removing the radios, or modifying them would indeed void the warranties. On the other hand if the radios were blocked, without direct manipulation (i.e. Faraday cage-ish ideas) if the connectivity fails, is warranty void? An alternative would be to use something Ms Fried built in 2006[0], but more specific. Come to think of it... this might be a small business idea... [0]http://ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html

https://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/ >> This website details the design and construction Wave Bubble: a self-tuning, wide-bandwidth portable RF jammer. The device is lightweight and small for easy camouflaging: it is the size of a pack of cigarettes. >> An internal lithium-ion battery provides up to 2 hours of jamming (two bands, such as cell) or 4 hours (single band, such as cordless phone, GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, etc). The battery is rechargeable via a mini-USB connector or 4mm DC jack (a common size). >> Output power is .1W (high bands) and .3W (low bands). Effective range is approximately 20' radius with well-tuned antennas. Obviously jamming GPS is not really a solution to this problem. However, as hostile use of GPS grows, building something like a Wave Bubble seems increasingly useful.

When I was in high school, I somehow came across her post on building an MP3 player and putting it into an Altoids tin[0]. The post was a formative experience in my life and spurred me to pursue an engineering degree! [0] http://www.ladyada.net/make/minty/index.html

This reminds me of Limor Freid's (ladyada) Media-Sensitive Glasses: http://www.ladyada.net/media/pub/thesis.pdf

I thought x0xb0x did a single blind test and they were indistinguishable? http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/samples.html

Does it? The whole reason I chose AVR back in the day was the gcc port. http://www.ladyada.net/library/picvsavr.html

You can have just the PCB part (without components) made at any of the places on this page: http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/manufacturers.html You'll have to buy the connectors and solder them on yourself. It sounds like an adapter kit might have a little market when shipped with a displayport plug, a small power supply, and a fully assembled PCB. Small kickstarter?

For anyone who wants to build their own device, albeit with much smaller radius, adafruit has detailed instructions. http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/

I was going to point to Mitch Altman's already-open project of the same nature, only to notice that the person actually running this kickstarter is .. Mitch Altman! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Altman So, if you don't want to wait for the sleepmask to materialize (and given Mitch's experience and track record, it most certainly will), you can get the older version for $30 on AdaFruid: http://ladyada.net/make/brain/

First thing I thought of: http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html

Arduino's own "getting started" page is probably a good start[1] Lady Ada has a starter kit[2] and beginner tutorials[3] Sparkfun has an "inventor's kit" with teacher/student resources[4] [1]http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage [2]http://www.adafruit.com/products/68 [3]http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/ [4]http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10173

I believe Limor Fried did something similar for her master's thesis. http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html

If you do ever create your own, you might want to try siphoning some power from the mains to power your Arduino and while you're at it attach a XBee or Wifi unit to the Arduino for remote monitoring. (And then once you get to that point take a look at the Tweet-A-Watt: http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/)

http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/ I used these tutorials to get started.

Photos of the finished product: http://www.ladyada.net/images/tronbag/tronbag.jpg and http://www.flickr.com/photos/adafruit/5269106313/in/photostream/