Concerto For 3 MakerBots

[Theron Trowbridge]

We had a Handmade Music event at CRASHSpace in Los Angeles.  We currently have three MakerBots and had a performance of a piece written specifically for them by Frank Capodieci.

There's a video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKIjBvWoaF8

One thing that I discovered while processing the MIDI files into gcode - mid2cnc.py does not seem to handle rests/silences.  The three MIDI files play back on the computer the same duration.  The three gcode files had vastly different build times.  The ppi setting did not affect the overall playback time, just the pitch of the individual notes.

In this case, it worked out well.  But the voicing is not precisely what was intended.

Trying to solve another problem, I was experimenting with the cool module in Skeinforge to slow down printing - but it doesn't actually stop moving the Plastruder.  Is there a way of pausing the bot entirely in the gcode?


-Theron
^

[Isaac Dietz]

Thanks Theron!  Nice video!

Isaac Dietz
MakerBot Industries

[haeyoung kim]

This is amazing. How did you synchronize three makerbots to play at the same time?

I ran into the same rest or pause issue. To compensate that, I play very low frequency note that can't be played on a makerbot.

haeyoung

[Theron Trowbridge]

We had three people hit "build" at the same time.  I'm sure there's a fancier way of doing it, but given the duration issue, it was good enough.  We made sure we zeroed out the stages so they would immediately start running.  If timing was an issue, we were going to build from SD card, but it didn't come to that.

We'll have to try the very low frequency trick and see how close we can get them all.


-Theron
^

[TeamTeamUSA]

Congrats! Wish I could’ve been there.

Great use of the tech/mech – it’s a fusion flavor. I can see a Flaming
Lips style Zareeka composition not far behind. I think an augmented
Cupcake composition a la John Cage would also be awesome!

Did you use TeamTeamUSA’s mid2cnc? If so, I’ve not experienced the
rests/silences issue you mentioned. In any case, please add the
problematic MIDI file(s) to the samples directory on GitHub so we can
repro and fix the issue.

Part of the workflow we use when creating gcode files, is opening and
re-saving the MIDI files in QuickTime or Sweet MIDI Player. It seems
to fix many MIDI -> gcode issues.

Go!

=ml=
On Jun 29, 9:36 pm, Theron Trowbridge <theron.trowbri...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Theron Trowbridge]

I was using the TeamTeamUSA version of the script.  I'll check to make sure it's OK for me to post the MIDI files so you can check them out.  And I'll try re-saving them in a MIDI player to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks,

-Theron
^

[TeamTeamUSA]

Another thought: what version of RepG were you using? I've been using
RepG 0012 without problems.

As far as the MIDI files, if you can't post an entire file, then a
snippet that contains pause(s) would work.

Go!

=ml=

On Jul 2, 4:06 am, Theron Trowbridge <theron.trowbri...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I was using the TeamTeamUSA version of the script.  I'll check to make sure
> it's OK for me to post the MIDI files so you can check them out.  And I'll
> try re-saving them in a MIDI player to see if that makes a difference.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Theron
> ^
>

[bre pettis]

ReplicatorG 17 has solved lots of my problems and is stable. Upgrade and behold the temperature graphs!

Bre

MakerBot Industries
http://makerbot.com
Recent Press: http://nyti.ms/mkrbot

[Theron Trowbridge]

All three machines were using ReplicatorG 0017.  One Linux machine, two Macs.

The temperature graphs are awesome!  And the Skeinforge integration is beyond great.

I am hoping to be able to post all three MIDI files.  Just waiting on permission of the composer first...


-Theron
^