Progress is exausting!
thats not to say that things arent happening. And i fully expected, and honestly, looked forward to these issues. i recieved the larger FSR's (force sensing resistors) this week. these are the sensors i will be using as "keys" on my instrument. i chose them because i will be a ble to program variable levels of functionality into one key which, creatively, excites me. and with these sensors, i now have 99% of what i need to create the controller, the one hold out being the breath sensor, i am waiting to show up in the mail.
I must apologize at the dearth of updates this week. i am working on the underlying concept of the instrument; a 3 way wireless network. left hand, right hand and mouth unit. This will be the definitive aspect of the system so i want to focus on doing it properly. without going to deep into it, i've got to use some code that was gracisously shared with me by an American developer named Robert Guyser, to determine how to parse data from the 3 nodes in my "network" then create a pure data patch (program) that will look for the same packet structure and split the data stream up into pieces that pure data can understand. so, i might miss a few days of facebook updates. i hope thats ok.
so if you are wondering where i am for the next week, now you know. the next "GREATEST POST IN THE WORLD, LOL!!LMAO, YAAAAY!!" post will come when i get the network functioning. which should be in about a week. have a great weekend!
EDIT: found a system that may create a perfect basis for my programming BUT it doesnt like windows, so, its beginning to look alot like Linux...and the plot thickens...
Click to share thisClick to share this
This is pretty much the exact experience that ive had with my project, the rabbit hole always goes deeper and whenever you think that you have cracked it you realize theres about a hundred optimizations you can make (hence why im on the third build of my controller and the software seems to evolve every day).
Good luck with the networking, I had a real nightmare with this (that I still havnt solved). I think it has something to do with me being on a mac but basically I can get the xbees to see each other and have one sending and the other receiving but firmata doesnt seem to start and as such I cant get any data from the sensors, its become the bane of my life!
i'm, so far, fairly lucky. the fio is such a perfect little board. but their documentation of the server for it, sucks. luckily, others are routing around this with their own protocols. my goal is to get bi-direction information going asap, THEN the real hard work begins which is the making it function, first, then making it cool, which is going to take time. even after the first playable prototype, its gonna look like i contracted a disease that makes my face and hands breakout in smd components and wire. but, thus is evolution.
Ive not used the fio, at the moment i'm using the arduino mega so i can connect everything through one board. Ive been thinking about moving to the lilypad though as im making all the sensors out of washable materials i figure the boards should be too and it would be good to have each hand with individual circuits rather than having a million wires running into a box. That means I have to master the mesh networking though.
I did a demo of my gloves last year where I looked like the bionic man but they worked effectively, its just about refining all the theories now and implementing markov chain analysis of midi to create permutations on what musical data is being input.
(apologies for the name change, its still machinochrist but thats my old artist name so I thought it made more sense to change it to my name instead)
my original concept was mega, but i realized that i was going to snag something so i decided that a mild headache wasnt enough, i needed a fullgrown migrain, so i am now not only going with a 3-way wireless sensor network,but in the process of migrating further developement over to linux.yaaay!! its like a headache, with a hint of toothache that you purposely give yourself because you're sick in the head. i'm laughing that i am even considering it, but,yet i am downloading the distro as i type…
once it works, it will be magical. thats the dillusion that keeps me going…
Hey, you might want to have a look at this series of getting to know linux tutorials that LifeHacker put together (not that I'm suggesting you should fall into this rabbit hole):
http://lifehacker.com/#!5772574/getting-started-with-linux-why-install-linux
http://lifehacker.com/#!5773667/pick-the-right-linux-flavor-for-you
http://lifehacker.com/#!5774997/getting-started-with-linux-how-to-install-linux-on-your-computer
http://lifehacker.com/#!5775914/getting-started-with-linux-fine+tuning-your-hardware-compatibility
http://lifehacker.com/#!5776726/getting-started-with-linux-where-to-go-from-here