Music visualization generator with a Propeller

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The folks over at Gadget Gangster have been working on a music visualization system using a Parallax Propeller. The visualizations are awesome in their early-90s demoscene way, and of course we love anything using the oft under-appreciated Propeller.

The project is called Video Beats and it generates music visualizations in the style of a blocky but very complex Atari 2600 game. There’s really not much to the build – just two RCA jacks for the audio input and video output along with a couple of resistors – but we do appreciate how nicely this project would fit in at a chiptunes show.

The Gadget Gangster team says the input isn’t limited to just audio – a potentiometer, accelerometer, or even a light sensor can be added to the build for a more dynamic output. After the break, you can see the demo of Video Beats, and a [Family Sohn] music video that used an early version of this circuit.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Microcontrollers, musical hacks Tagged With: , , ,

Controlling a Propeller wirelessly with Bluetooth

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

[Jeff] from Gadget Gangster sent in a great tutorial on connecting a cheap Bluetooth module to a Parallax microcontroller. In addition to getting a terminal to the Propeller up and running from his computer, [Jeff] was able to toggle IO pins and even control servos and Android devices – perfect for your next wireless robot.

Connecting the Bluetooth module to the Propeller dev board was easy enough – just two wires for power and two for transmitting and receiving. The computer side of the setup was easy as well; just entering a Bluetooth passcode. Once that was done, the Propeller could talk to the computer and vice versa.

Of course, without the ability to control pins on the microcontroller wirelessly the build was for naught. [Jeff] wrote a simple blinking LED demo. After that, a servo was connected and the build finished off by connecting to an Android terminal.

Although it’s a relatively simple build, we’ve noticed the Propeller doesn’t get much love around the Internet. While it may not have won the microcontroller holy war, it’s nice to see an underrated mcu getting some attention.

Filed Under: wireless hacks Tagged With: , ,

Board lets you know when to hold 'em; know when to fold 'em

April 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Don’t mind me, I’m just listening to some tunes during our poker game. Well, that and getting some electronic coaching about poker odds. This board lets you wiggle your toes to input the upcards, and those in your hand. After each entry the gadget will tell you your odds of winning the hand. Take it easy with this kind of stuff, if Rounders was at all realistic, getting caught cheating is a painful mistake.

The thing we find interesting about the system is that it doesn’t use a stored odds database. Instead, the Propeller chip runs a simulation of 1000 hands of poker based on the cards you have entered and uses the results to calculate the odds. [Nick] says that this runs quickly because he’s using multiple cores for the calculations, and it cuts down on the data that the device needs to have on board. Right now the feedback uses a text-to-speech generated voice, but you can customize the audio clips if you’d like. Check out a demo of the device in the clip after the break.

Not looking to get the beat down for cheating? Here’s a poker tournament timer that we assure you is on the up-and-up. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Microcontrollers Tagged With: , , ,