The blog of the MATD3039 Advanced Musical Electronics module – Page 2

Week 24 – 14th March (presentations)

Lecture

Today we presented our presentations about Arduino projects that have helped give us ideas towards our own. This was a timed presentation that was 15 – 20 minutes and everyone in the class gave feedback on how the presentation was completed as well as the criteria that they had completed their project up to. It was interesting to gain feedback from those in the class as we completed these presentations on our own and needed ways in which we could improve them. It was also captivating to see how other people had done their presentations and the ideas that they had for their own projects as we all have very different ideas about the projects that we wish to complete.

This is one of the instruments that I looked at during my presentation and it is the instrument that has had the most influence on my final piece in total.

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Barqunics/paper-piano-with-arduino-e27da7?ref=tag&ref_id=piano&offset=1

Lab

We took a tour of the mechanical workshop to see what machines they had available and the kinds of projects that they were producing. It was interesting to see a completely different department compared to the one that we are usually situated.

This is an image of a laser cutter that is similar to the one that is in the mechanical workshop – the secret to clean laser cutting: Designing a better laser nozzle using 3D-printing – Nervous System blog (n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com)

What is the mechanical workshop?

The mechanical workshop is a room that has multiple different pieces of equipment inside it that can be used to make various different projects that include making physical things.

2. Who are the contact persons?

3. When can you go?

The timetable is on the back of the door of the workshop room.

4. Where is it located?

In Queens at the back of the building near the very end.

5. Why you should go?

You should go to develop any project that you have decided to create to add originality and a creative fare to it.

6. How are you planning to use the mechanical workshop concerning your project?

I may decided to use the mechanical workshop in my project as I’d like to create a mini piano that look realistic. This would mean that I could laser cut pieces of the piano such as the keys. However, I don’t know have access to one of these machines so visiting the mechanical workshop would be necessary.

Conclusion

In conclusion it was interesting to see the various pieces of equipment that they had available to use as I wasn’t aware that the department existed. They had various models of planes and cars which was interesting to see as there are many different options that you can make. It has allowed to to see that I can create a much more interesting instrument that I first thought and I think that it will look more professional in total.

14/03/22 Mechanical Labs Tour

In today’s session, we had a guided tour around the engineering facilities on the ground floor of the Queen’s building. I found this greatly helpful as I am in need of tools and potential parts that I cannot facilitate on my own, such as 3D printers, CNC machines, etc..

In my own project, I have ordered an enclosure I intend to use for building my project however, if I had known I could custom make an enclosure then I would have. Since I already have bought my premade enclosure, I can use the facilities to machine the holes in the enclosure whilst making a half sphere shape that will increase the playability of my device. Rather than the box sitting on a flat plane and needing to be picked up, Raising it up on a free moving sphere that can support the project to stay flat yet allows to easy adjust the orientation, increasing the functionality of my project as an interface to create sounds.

See the source image — https://gigaom.com/2014/09/27/beginner-3d-printing/

Here is something that has been printed by someone else that is similar to what I would like to make, except only 1/2 of the sphere would be necessary.

14/03/22 Seminar Presentations

In todays seminar session, Jade and I presented some projects that inspire us in our own work. Jade gave a very in-depth presentation upon 3 projects, each with a unique take on a similar concept but executed to different level of complexity. Jade explained the code portion of the projects in a much greater detail than my own presentation and it is clear to me that I need to expand my understanding of the coding and how that controls the different parameters.

For my own project, I was less in-depth with specific design components but had an overarching theme of trying to do more with the same design of circuit, by changing just the software.

Here is a demonstrational video I used within my presentation, demonstrating the use of an mpu6050 Gyroscope and 3 axis accelerometer with a GUI toy plane representing the X,Y, & Z data.

7th March – Timelines for project

Lecture –

In the lecture we covered the content of the write-up to our project. Here is the layout for my project:

Introduction – explaining all the initial ideas and aims of my work)
Context – project ideas and examples of other work)
Prototype – my idea and diagram of circuit)
Results – video of my project and and discussion
Conclusion – summary of the project and and conclusions made

Lab –

Above is a timeline that I have made for my project outlining my main goals with milestones and all other dates that I have to have achieved certain tasks by.

It’s important to use a timeline chart for a project as to allows you to stick to goals and have a better understanding of when you need to achieve certain goals by to accomplish your task.

7th March Lab – Tolu

We started the lab with a special guest. He was going through a similar project that he had completed to give us an idea of how to plan, things to implement in our timelines. He was also giving us the stepping stones to where he went wrong and the improvements he was and was not able to make. He was clear with his mistakes and even after everything was completed he gave us alternatives on way he could have made his personal project better. Overall it was helpful for me as it helped me to think of a possible idea, how to plan it and how to execute it.

We then recapped what we had done in the lab 2 weeks ago just to refresh our minds before we went into this weeks Lab.

We began looking into detail about timelines and gannt charts using knowledge we had gained from 2 weeks ago lab. We each created a draft of the timeline implementing possible tasks and milestones that link to what we would be doing for our final project. The aim for me was to make sure that there is time for iterations, time to make mistakes so that in the end I can at least have a working model if the casing was a problem. Making sure I have enough time to look at code, and circuit models have become the more important part for me to make sure I complete the task to a healthy standard.

07/03/22 Lab Session (Online)

We started today’s session with a really good informational presentation by Harris, a fellow Student. He guided us through all of his documentation and his final project which he produced last year for a similar module. It was very insightful to hear of the struggles he faced and how he managed to navigate them.

We then started drafting timelines for the entire project. This really helped to visualize where we are at with the current project and will prove useful with time management in the coming weeks.

As you can see the timeline is quite cluttered as there are lots of tasks to undertake. This is something that I will continually update as time goes on and jobs pop up.

21st Feb LAB – Tolu

In the beginning we looked closely at timelines. Specifically looking in detail about the similarities and differences between a Gantt chart and timeline. (Post white board screenshot)

Next week looked at the different softwares that we could create timelines and Gantt charts. Here below are the various options that we have towards creating these types of timelines.

Next we focused on Goals, tasks & milestones. Collectively looking at what they are, their differences and how we set them. Even looking to set some for our projects for specificity & clarity.

21st Feb (ONLINE)

What is a timeline?

A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order.

What are the different types of timelines?

Text timelines, labeled as text
Number timelines, the labels are numbers, commonly line graphs
Interactive, clickable, zoomable
Video timelines

https://cacoo.com/templates/project-timeline-template

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule, named after its popularizer, Henry Gantt (1861–1919), who designed such a chart around the years 1910–1915. Modern Gantt charts also show the dependency relationships between activities and the current schedule status.

GanttPRO —

multi-platform
14 day free trial but then paid
web based
Gantt chart

Smartsheet –

multi-platform
30 day free trial but then paid
web based
Gantt chart

TimeGraphics –

multiplatform
Free
Web based
Timeline

Milestones and goals:

Goals refer to the results an organization intends to achieve in a given time period.

Milestones are the critical and measurable accomplishments that need to be made so as to progress towards a goal.

Home Studio

Software Checklist

Arduino IDE (Lab 1: 1L.pdf)
Mozzi library (Lab 4: 4L.pdf)
Fritzing software (Lab 6: 6L.pdf) – you could also use Tinkercad -> https://www.tinkercad.com/

note that it might be an idea to work with fritzing for circuits and code but for the interface/box outer esthetics it might be a good idea to use Tinkercad to design the user interface.

But if you were creating a basic circuit and wanted to have your interface design and circuit design in one place use Tinkercad.

Some ideas of my circuit from my first instrument using Tinkercad:

First Circuit when i was just trying to see the signal process and to try and understand the Input – Process – Output

TYPES OF PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT

What is a timeline?

A timeline is a list thact can consits of dates, times and tasks that are set in cronological order (date and time order). Like a schedule or diary.
Mostly used in projects and history.

How to Make a Timeline: 13 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow — https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wikihow.com%2FMake-a-Timeline&psig=AOvVaw3OTtrC-EKG0MoMaFie1Rrz&ust=1645537910801000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCNDIttL4kPYCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAb

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gannt Chart is a form of bar chat that shows the progress of a task or project. This is mainly used when managing projects. 
Gannt Charts are also used with teams as it's a way of managing who is doing what tasks and how their progress of the tasks are going.
They are also mainly used when preforming more than one task at a time.

Other management ideas/methodologies for our project

Agile vs. Waterfall Software Development | Momentum3 — waterfall is doing one step at a time where as agile we do each task but will imphttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmomentum3.biz%2Ftechnology%2Fagile-vs-waterfall-development-when-outsourcing-it%2F&psig=AOvVaw2oaD6wt6BWlPKMXoK43KAh&ust=1645538152373000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCJCZ28H5kPYCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJrove each task as we go.

So waterfall is like a timeline and Agile can be seen as a Gannt Chart.

PROJECT PLANNING SOFTWARE

What software is available to create:

Timelines

Gannt Charts

From a quick google search, you can see there are thousands and thousands of websites that will have programs and/or guides to help build either charts. From Microsoft Office (word, Powerpoint, Excel, Note, etc.) to websites like monday.com, teamwork.com.

14th Feb Lab (online) – Tolu

As usual at the start of the lab we recalled the information and findings of the previous lab making sure we were up to date with everything that we learned and were caught up on anything we may have missed.

Firstly we looked at CC (Creative Commons license). looking specifically at BY 3.0. This is what I found out.

The Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (“CC BY 3.0”) is a public domain license which permits most forms of use or re-use of a licensed work provided that (a) due acknowledgement is made of the original source and authorship, and (b) no additional restrictions are placed on subsequent users.

In todays lab we looked at a new software called fritzing. This software allows us to build circuits, look at their PC layouts as well as export our creations to out computers. The first task was to create a basic circuit with fritzing. There is the ability to change the colour of the wires, the colour of the LEDs etc which I can do.

The next task in the lab was to design a PCB for the classic 74C14 Hex Schmitt Trigger oscillators. This circuit was a little bit more complex but I eventually completed as shown below.

Lastly we looked at the pros and cons of both tinkered and fritzing as a final discussion.