Week 19:Project Development


This week's agenda for Fab academy was :

  • Project Development

  • Project Development


    What is the dealine ? how much time do I have left ?

    The deadline is the 16th of june, 2017, so we have 7 more days left to finish our project. To get the project functioning and fabricated as one product that we set out to make.


    What tasks have been completed and what tasks remain ?

    The satsha kit which is my main micro controller is ready and functioning. I have tested a fabric and wood composite and tested it's flexibility.

    What remains is the integration of all the processes. The sastshakit needs to bedesigned into the composite MIDI pad and connected with the input buttons and be checked for final working conditions.


    How will I complete the remaining tasks on time ?

    Well, since the parts of the whole is functioning individually, that is a releif in itself. Although there are many questions arising in the integrations of the project, I will be using the functioning prototype tests I have made previously for my final preoject instead of making brand new ones. The stitching o fthe buttons does not need me to be in the lab hours, so that can be done at home in the night also. Testing the product will happen soon after integration, which shoiuld happen soon as I have the individual components ready.


    What has worked and what has not and how I have made it work ?

    In this research project, My soft MIDI is an alteration to the usual MIDI controller. In the sense that, It works with an arduino IDE , where the PCB functions as a midi controller board.For this first step, The problems came in figuring out which libraries work with which of the arduino IDE.

    To start off, I used the Instructables example in order to code my MIDI

    In the arduino IDE 1.0.X , for some reason, it did not show the port in the virtual MIDI port.


    In the Arduino IDE 1.8.X which is think is the lates, There were errors compiling.

    In arduino IDE 1.6.X it kept saying compiling... and nothing after.



    Project concept

    Finally, Arduino IDE 1.0.6 worked perfectly, where i could upload the code andthe port was visible on the virtual MIDI ports. More on Virtual MIDI ports below.

    After I had my arduino working as a MIDI controller, I had all the circuitary made on the protoboard and connected it to the ableton software.



    Project concept

    When I connected my programmed arduino to the music software, There were many steps to do in order to get there. Commercial softwares have libraries you can download for it to be recognised in the ableton software to connect them. Here I tried out various MIDI ports.

    First I tried the Loop MIDI. With just the loop midi it did not connect and show on the ableton software in order to map my MIDI

    Then , After research I realised the mac has an inbuilt Virtual port. I was using these on windows. Hence, I downloaded MIDI Yolk. This allows the wndows to have a virtual midi port. It is usually set to 8. You have to go to control panel and set the number of ports to 2 in order to not make it too heavy and for it function faster.

    Once I had the MIDI Yold, it was time to download Serial MIDI. This connects the virtual port on the computer, here it is MIDI yolk to the midi port in the music software.


    But this did not recognise the arduino on ableton software either. Hence, I used LoopMidi which was recognising my arduino port. From this loop midi posrt i connected to SerialMIDI which was being recognised in the ableton software.Here are the images showing the right configurations to connect the arduino MIDI to the ableton software.



    Project concept

    Project concept

    Once i had this configured, I mapped the arduino on Ableton Live. In order to use the arduino and virtual midi ports in ableton live, These are the settings in preferences that I made.



    Project concept

    Once the Arduino port is recognised on the MIDI preferences in ableton, I mapped the MIDI on ableton



    Project concept

    After this process was working , I connected my Satsha kit, from my output devices assignemnt week, and the buttons to satsha kit from Input devices assignment week, And had my soft MIDI controller working!



    What question still needs to be resolved ?

    While planning the project, I had aimed at making many of the modules coming together and now it seems like there is only enough time to make one full functioning module.The question is , if I should still work on the connecting the modules together and work on detailing the connections of the repeated modules , because I dont think I will have time for them to be made and functioning.


    What have i learnt ?

    I have potentially expanded my skills in electronics and fabrication. I have also dealt into the realm of music and music production with ableton, which has been a very exciting new skill.Applying the skills i learnt at Fabricademy bootcamp into my project was another addon to this journey. Most importantly, I learnt that there is never enough time for everything, so prioritizing becomes the priority.