This workshop led by CV FREQS (Chelsea Bruno, PhD and Craig Clifford, MD, MS) and the Shakmat team focuses on the complete build of a range of available DIY Shakmat kits.

Chelsea and Craig will lead a workshop to build Knight’s Gallop, while the Shakmat team will be on hand to build all other modules.

What’s included in the price?

The bundle price includes a discount of 20% on the retail price of each module, plus registration to the workshop.

The Music Hackspace is collaborating with Shakmat and the modular shops Thonk (UK) and SynthCube (US) to create a special gift box for each of the modules, delivered at shipping price local to the retailers. If you already have your own module, you can also purchase access to the workshop only.

How will this work in practice?

This is an online workshop. We will use breakout rooms in Zoom for people building the same modules, supported by one of 4 workshop leaders. You will be able to show your progress and get support as you get building.

Participants can expect a short review of soldering techniques:

• Preparing the PCB
• Choice of solder
• Use of rosin flux
• Tip tinner and oxidation
• Soldering tips and heat transfer
• Clean-up

Identification of electronic components and short review of function:

• Polarity of components
• Resistor, capacitor, diode, semiconductor, IC pin identification

Approach to modules with limited build instructions

• Planing your build, Dos and Dont’s
• Helpful tricks

Join the after party!

After the workshop, everyone is invited to a concert with CV FREQS co-hosted by Eden Grey and Ned Rush on CV FREQS YouTube channel, which will start at 7pm UK time. The lineup includes:

About the workshop leaders

Dr. Chelsea Bruno releases music as Eden Grey.  She began researching and working with the Eurorack modular synthesizer whilst earning her Masters’ degree at Florida International University in Music Technology.

Modular synthesis was the main research focus of her PhD in Music Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London, while participating in synth meets and performing in the UK and Europe, and organizing the CV FREQS London synth meet and concert events.

Dr. Craig Clifford is a medical doctor and chemical scientist by training but has spent much of his life dedicated to artistic endeavors. He has been involved with electronic music production since its inception and has performed at several venues in Chicago nightclubs early in his career. His interests in modular synthesis spans the past four years and includes techno, EDM, and Berlin school compositions.

This practice-led course will show you how to make an electronic textile interface for music performance. We will learn a DIY technique to craft with e-textile materials and then explore how to make music with the handcrafted interface in a number of ways. Each session will follow on from the last, developing your knowledge through a series of hands-on projects, delivered in four online workshops. 

Level: beginner with notions of DIY electronics and programming

• Some familiarity or experience of working with Arduino and/or Max/MSP (or similar platforms) is desirable
• A tabletop space to work at
• Computer, with USB port
• Arduino IDE (Free – download here: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software)
• Max 8 (Free 30 day trial available – you will be instructed to download this for the final session)

This workshop is available internationally. Please order your DIY kit before the dispatch date for your location. Kits will be posted using a Royal Mail tracked service.

UK dispatch date: Friday 17th November

Worldwide dispatch date: Friday 3rd November

We will work with the Lilypad Arduino, a microcontroller board designed for use with e-textiles and wearables projects, and Max/MSP, an object-orientated programming language for music making. The workshop series will cover the fundamentals of working with e-textiles and these technologies, giving a basis for participants to continue to develop their creative ideas when working with sound and interactive textiles.

Tues 24th Nov, 6pm UK –  Workshop 1: Crafting an e-textile interface

In this workshop, we will explore an approach to working with electronic textiles and handcraft. This workshop will introduce needle felting as a DIY method of working with e-textiles. We will make an interactive and touch sensitive textile interface, to then be used in a number of ways, throughout the four sessions of this course. Through crafting the brightly coloured interface, we will explore a creative approach to interface design and learn how traditional crafts can be combined with e-textile materials to result in novel interfaces for music performance.

Tues 1st Dec, 6pm UK – Workshop 2: Bringing your craft work to life: capacitive sensing and visualising sensor data with the Lilypad Arduino

In this session, we will transform the needle felted piece from Workshop 1 into an interactive and touch sensitive interface. We will introduce the Lilypad Arduino and explore capacitive sensing as a method of bringing your textile work to life. You will learn several approaches to visualising interaction data on screen, as well as the fundamentals of working with Arduino IDE.

Tues 8th Dec, 6pm UK – Workshop 3: Composing through code: making an e-textile step sequencer with the Lilypad Arduino

This week, we will develop our coding skills and learn an approach to using your e-textile interface with the Lilypad Arduino, as a standalone music making device. We will write, edit and compose through code, to create a playful step sequencer that makes music as you touch the textile interface. 

Tues 15th Dec, 6pm UK – Workshop 4: Interactive textiles and Max/MSP

Workshop 4 will introduce a method of using your handcrafted interface with Max/MSP. From this workshop, you will know how to program your Lilypad Arduino, to allow your e-textile interface to control parameters in a Max patch. We will make a software-based sampler, where pre-recorded sound files are triggered by touching the interactive textile interface. Some familiarity and a basic working knowledge of Max/MSP is desirable, but not essential. Participants with experience in Max are welcome to bring their own patches to experiment with.

—

A DIY kit, with all of the craft tools and materials you will need, is included in the workshop price and will be posted to your home in advance of the course.  

There are two kits available, please select the kit that you will require: 

Kit 1 is a full kit and includes a Lilypad Arduino and all of the craft tools and materials you will need for the course. 

Kit 2 includes all of the craft tools and materials you will need to make the e-textile interface, but does not include the Lilypad Arduino and USB cable. 

(Kit 2 is best suited if you already have a Lilypad Arduino or would prefer to use an alternative board. Please note that this course focuses on working with the Lilypad and so support for alternative boards will be limited and only recommended for more experienced participants.)

Kit 1 contents:

• Lilypad Arduino
• USB cable
• 10 x crocodile clips
• Speaker
• Wool 
• Steel wool
• 3 x Needle felting tools 
• Embroidery hoop
• Fabric
• Copper tape

Kit 2 contents:

• 10 x crocodile clips
• Speaker
• Wool 
• Steel wool
• 3 x Needle felting tools 
• Embroidery hoop
• Fabric
• Copper tape

Discover a new instrument in this live-stream and learn their design story.

Based in Tallinn, Estonia, the Mash Machine team has put together a kit version of the Reactable. While it looks similar to the Barcelona instrument, the software and sound engine is different. Mash Machine is designed as a social instrument, playing and meshing loops as physical objects are drawn onto the board.

Meet the founders in this live-stream and learn more about the technology and design process.

Participate and build your own Mash Machine loops!

Create loops and send them to Mash Machine at hello@mashmachines.com, they will be used during the presentation! Detailed instructions on producing content for Mash Machine – here

https://www.facebook.com/TheMashMachine

https://www.youtube.com/user/MashMachines

Important note: This workshop includes a kit that will be shipped to your address from the UK, please note that registrations will close 7 days before the workshop to allow enough time for you to receive your kit.

What’s in the kit? The kit comes with a pre-soldered printed circuit board, e-textile material, a speaker, a mixed bundle of brightly coloured yarn and one crocodile clips. Batteries not included.

What you will do in this workshop:

In this online workshop, we will craft with electronic textiles to make a new musical instrument.

The workshop will provide an introduction to working with e-textile materials and DIY craft techniques, to enable us to make a new musical instrument to play and experiment with.

In this hands-on and craft-focused workshop, we will explore ideas in e-textiles, DIY electronics and experimental music making, to learn how e-textiles can be used within an electronic circuit and how we can be creative with crafts to make a fun and playful interface to perform with.

Topics:

• Electronic textiles (e-textiles)
• Experimental music making
• DIY electronics
• Textile handcrafts

Requirements:

No prior knowledge or skills are required. This workshop is a great introduction to electronic instrument building and is suitable for any age (younger children should be supervised).

The instrument will be built from a DIY kit, which will be posted to you in advance of the workshop. The kit includes all of the materials you will need to construct the instrument.

The instrument will be made with tools found around the home. You will need:

• scissors
• recycled cardboard (approximately cereal box sized)
• 9v battery
• tabletop workspace

About the workshop leader:

Sam Topley is a sound artist from Leicester, UK. She works with textiles to create handmade electronic musical instruments and interactive sound art work. Her practice explores ideas in music, technology and textile handcrafts, to make new instruments such as giant noisy pompoms, knitted or ‘yarnbombed’ loudspeakers and DIY electronic musical instruments with e-textile interfaces.

Topley shares her work internationally through workshops, exhibitions, performances and presentations. Recent projects include commissioned work by Dubai Maker Faire, TEDxLeicester, Goldsmiths University of London and the University of Manchester.

Sam is a doctoral researcher at the Music, Technology and Innovation – Institute for Sonic Creativity (MTI2), De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), where she also lectures in experimental music, creative music technology and community arts practice. Her PhD is co-supervised by Nottingham Trent University and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Follow Sam on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

This practice-led course will show you how to make an electronic textile interface for music performance. We will learn a DIY technique to craft with e-textile materials and then explore how to make music with the handcrafted interface in a number of ways. Each session will follow on from the last, developing your knowledge through a series of hands-on projects, delivered in four online workshops. 

Level: beginner with notions of DIY electronics and programming

• Some familiarity or experience of working with Arduino and/or Max/MSP (or similar platforms) is desirable
• A tabletop space to work at
• Computer, with USB port
• Arduino IDE (Free – download here: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software)
• Max 8 (Free 30 day trial available – you will be instructed to download this for the final session)

Availability

This workshop is available internationally. Please order your DIY kit before the dispatch date for your location. Kits will be posted using a Royal Mail tracked service.

UK dispatch date: Friday 25th September

Worldwide dispatch date: Friday 18th September

All sessions are led by a live workshop leader, and are recorded. If you miss one, you can watch it later.

We will work with the Lilypad Arduino, a microcontroller board designed for use with e-textiles and wearables projects, and Max/MSP, an object-orientated programming language for music making. The workshop series will cover the fundamentals of working with e-textiles and these technologies, giving a basis for participants to continue to develop their creative ideas when working with sound and interactive textiles.

Wed 30th Sept, 6pm UK –  Workshop 1: Crafting an e-textile interface

In this workshop, we will explore an approach to working with electronic textiles and handcraft. This workshop will introduce needle felting as a DIY method of working with e-textiles. We will make an interactive and touch sensitive textile interface, to then be used in a number of ways, throughout the four sessions of this course. Through crafting the brightly coloured interface, we will explore a creative approach to interface design and learn how traditional crafts can be combined with e-textile materials to result in novel interfaces for music performance.

Sat 3rd Oct, 6pm UK – Workshop 2: Bringing your craft work to life: capacitive sensing and visualising sensor data with the Lilypad Arduino

In this session, we will transform the needle felted piece from Workshop 1 into an interactive and touch sensitive interface. We will introduce the Lilypad Arduino and explore capacitive sensing as a method of bringing your textile work to life. You will learn several approaches to visualising interaction data on screen, as well as the fundamentals of working with Arduino IDE.

Fri 23rd Oct, 6pm UK – Workshop 3: Composing through code: making an e-textile step sequencer with the Lilypad Arduino

This week, we will develop our coding skills and learn an approach to using your e-textile interface with the Lilypad Arduino, as a standalone music making device. We will write, edit and compose through code, to create a playful step sequencer that makes music as you touch the textile interface. 

Sat 7th Nov, 6pm UK – Workshop 4: Interactive textiles and Max/MSP

Workshop 4 will introduce a method of using your handcrafted interface with Max/MSP. From this workshop, you will know how to program your Lilypad Arduino, to allow your e-textile interface to control parameters in a Max patch. We will make a software-based sampler, where pre-recorded sound files are triggered by touching the interactive textile interface. Some familiarity and a basic working knowledge of Max/MSP is desirable, but not essential. Participants with experience in Max are welcome to bring their own patches to experiment with.

—

A DIY kit, with all of the craft tools and materials you will need, is included in the workshop price and will be posted to your home in advance of the course.  

There are two kits available, please select the kit that you will require: 

Kit 1 is a full kit and includes a Lilypad Arduino and all of the craft tools and materials you will need for the course. 

Kit 2 includes all of the craft tools and materials you will need to make the e-textile interface, but does not include the Lilypad Arduino and USB cable. 

(Kit 2 is best suited if you already have a Lilypad Arduino or would prefer to use an alternative board. Please note that this course focuses on working with the Lilypad and so support for alternative boards will be limited and only recommended for more experienced participants.)

Kit 1 contents:

• Lilypad Arduino
• USB cable
• 10 x crocodile clips
• Speaker
• Wool 
• Steel wool
• 3 x Needle felting tools 
• Embroidery hoop
• Fabric
• Copper tape

Kit 2 contents:

• 10 x crocodile clips
• Speaker
• Wool 
• Steel wool
• 3 x Needle felting tools 
• Embroidery hoop
• Fabric
• Copper tape

 

You can learn the basics of building a musical instrument at a Summer camp. Just Google “straw flute” and you’ll build a flute in 5 minutes. But designing an instrument that others want to play, now, this is hard. Most musicians are not looking for a new instrument, and it’s a difficult task to convince them otherwise. After spending 10,000 hours practicing, professional musicians are not necessarily looking to start all over again.

Andrew Leggo started designing instruments shortly after graduating in the early 1980s. He was one of the designers behind the Roland AX-1 Keytar and has also designed studio equipment, mixing consoles, digital pianos and percussion controllers.

In this talk, Andrew shares his lifelong learnings as a creative designer, and the multiple parameters that one has to consider when designing an instrument.

Join Andrew live on 7th September, and ask questions on the chat!

 

• The Koala Sampler (iOS app)
• A workflow to making a simple drum machine/rhythm box on a teensy
• Live-coding with ccpsketch
• Making a MIDI controller with a teensy

Difficulty level: Beginner (from age 7+)

Bookings on Eventbrite

Important note: This workshop includes a kit that will be shipped to your address from the UK, please note that registrations will close 7 days before the workshop to allow enough time for you to receive your kit.

What’s in the kit? The kit comes with a pre-soldered printed circuit board, e-textile material, a speaker, a mixed bundle of brightly coloured yarn and one crocodile clips. Batteries not included.

What you will do in this workshop:

In this online workshop, we will craft with electronic textiles to make a new musical instrument.

The workshop will provide an introduction to working with e-textile materials and DIY craft techniques, to enable us to make a new musical instrument to play and experiment with.

In this hands-on and craft-focused workshop, we will explore ideas in e-textiles, DIY electronics and experimental music making, to learn how e-textiles can be used within an electronic circuit and how we can be creative with crafts to make a fun and playful interface to perform with.

Topics:

• Electronic textiles (e-textiles)
• Experimental music making
• DIY electronics
• Textile handcrafts

Requirements:

No prior knowledge or skills are required. This workshop is a great introduction to electronic instrument building and is suitable for any age (younger children should be supervised).

The instrument will be built from a DIY kit, which will be posted to you in advance of the workshop. The kit includes all of the materials you will need to construct the instrument.

The instrument will be made with tools found around the home. You will need:

• scissors
• recycled cardboard (approximately cereal box sized)
• 9v battery
• tabletop workspace

About the workshop leader:

Sam Topley is a sound artist from Leicester, UK. She works with textiles to create handmade electronic musical instruments and interactive sound art work. Her practice explores ideas in music, technology and textile handcrafts, to make new instruments such as giant noisy pompoms, knitted or ‘yarnbombed’ loudspeakers and DIY electronic musical instruments with e-textile interfaces.

Topley shares her work internationally through workshops, exhibitions, performances and presentations. Recent projects include commissioned work by Dubai Maker Faire, TEDxLeicester, Goldsmiths University of London and the University of Manchester.

Sam is a doctoral researcher at the Music, Technology and Innovation – Institute for Sonic Creativity (MTI2), De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), where she also lectures in experimental music, creative music technology and community arts practice. Her PhD is co-supervised by Nottingham Trent University and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Follow Sam on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

 

Dr Andrew McPherson is a Reader at Queen Mary University, where he leads the Augmented Instruments Lab. He invented the Magnetic Resonator piano, Touch keys and Bela, and is on a mission to empower anyone to build their own instruments. In this talk, Andrew will revisit his inventions and give tips to get started building your own. Join the live stream and participate to the live chat!

Adrian Freed is the former Research Director of UC Berkeley’s CNMAT, the historical Californian research centre led for over two decades by the late David Wessel. At CNMAT, Adrian led a number of influential projects on computer music, including the widely used Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol, developed with Matt Wright.

Adrian published his first paper in 1975, at a time where computers were out of reach, and he started hacking with digital and analog chips. As technology progressed, he worked on the Fairlight CMI and powerful processors for the time, that would cost less than $10 today. He dedicated his research to the new field of computer music, and went on to build systems ranging from analog designs to e-textiles.

In this talk, we’ll hear from Adrian’s long career, and the exciting new project he is working on, the FingerPhone.