| 30 Dec 2011 11:14:37 am by KermMartian |
Build a Calculator-Floppy Drive Music System |
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One month ago, my floppy drive music with a calculator project accrued widespread internet attention, with the video reaching 45,000 views and over 100 likes in a month, and the project featured on Hack a Day, Engadget, and many other sites. Since then, the plans have been frequently requested, though unlike other projects of mine, I unfortunately did not have the hardware plans and software packaged for release when I announced the project itself. I have finally found time after final exams and other factors in my life to write up a brief explanation and draw the schematic for the project, as well as package and publish the necessary software. You can explore the construction plans and download the software at the links below, and if you haven't already seen the video, click through and enjoy!
Download
 Floppy drive music with a calculator plans
FloppyTunes 1.0 software
Video of project in action
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| 07 Jan 2012 12:12:03 pm by Spenceboy98 |
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| What if we have a TI-84+ SE and we only have the USB cords? |
| 07 Jan 2012 12:17:06 pm by KermMartian |
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| Spenceboy98 wrote: |
| What if we have a TI-84+ SE and we only have the USB cords? |
Then you won't be able to build this project without getting a serial link cable or at least a 2.5mm stereo plug and some wire. |
| 09 Jan 2012 03:24:50 pm by CharlieMAC |
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| Do you think I can build this with a TI-89 Titanium? I've got the serial 2.5 mm jack cable. |
| 09 Jan 2012 03:57:27 pm by KermMartian |
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| CharlieMAC wrote: |
| Do you think I can build this with a TI-89 Titanium? I've got the serial 2.5 mm jack cable. |
Yes, easily, but you'd have to write the software for it. Are you comfortable with 68k ASM or C? |
| 09 Jan 2012 03:59:14 pm by CharlieMAC |
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I've tried to program some programs in C, but I'm not as good as most of Cemetech's people  |
| 09 Jan 2012 04:03:09 pm by KermMartian |
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| CharlieMAC wrote: |
| I've tried to program some programs in C, but I'm not as good as most of Cemetech's people |
Alternatively, if you can find a decent monophonic music player for the 68k calculators, I can probably guide you through modifying it for this particular purpose; I can always pick Lionel's brain if I forget something.  |
| 09 Jan 2012 04:06:00 pm by CharlieMAC |
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HAHAHA, okay. I appreciate your help and answers
btw: I've read some documentation for TI-89 C programming and I found that it was really hard. I haven't found tutorials or stuff like that. Are there some tutorials for ASM or C for TI?
Thanks |
| 09 Jan 2012 04:10:18 pm by KermMartian |
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| CharlieMAC wrote: |
| HAHAHA, okay. I appreciate your help and answers |
My pleasure.
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btw: I've read some documentation for TI-89 C programming and I found that it was really hard. I haven't found tutorials or stuff like that. Are there some tutorials for ASM or C for TI?
Thanks |
Take a look here, for starters:
http://tigcc.ticalc.org/tutorials.html |
| 09 Jan 2012 04:11:55 pm by Ashbad |
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| Regarding C on the 89, if the tutorials on using it for that give you problems, perhaps trying to learn on PC first, following the tutorials on cprogramming.com? Once you know the language well, you can work better in more limited environments like the 89, and by extension, the Casio Prizm. |
| 27 Sep 2012 06:49:32 am by alex444 |
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Saying that floppy drives are monophonic is like saying that conventional loudspeakers are monophonic, or that PWM is monophonic: All of these things can be true, but that doesn’t mean that they must be.
Getting multiple, simultaneous frequencies out of the stepper on a floppy drive is a straight-forward thing. The results won’t be pretty, and there will be nothing practical about it, but just because it’s useless doesn’t mean it can’t (or shouldn’t) be done. |
| 27 Sep 2012 08:35:31 am by Travis |
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Or get multiple floppy drives (and multiple calcs, if necessary) and make an orchestra!
Getting timing synchronized could be hard, though. |
| 27 Sep 2012 11:20:33 am by KermMartian |
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| Travis wrote: |
Or get multiple floppy drives (and multiple calcs, if necessary) and make an orchestra!
Getting timing synchronized could be hard, though. |
I considered ways to do that, including having an external circuit controlling the direction pin, allowing one calculator to pulse the step pin on two floppy drives, but I didn't try implementing it.
Alex, I tried some tricks mixing frequencies on a single floppy drive, and the results were ear-shatteringly unfortunate. Welcome to Cemetech, by the way; feel free to Introduce Yourself when you get a chance.
Everyone: I will be demonstrating this system, among several of my other calculator hacks, at Maker Faire 2012 in NYC in two days. |
