[sdiy] Calculator Synth

[Scott Deyo]

Well, those old TI calcs wouldn't be "pocket" calculators, they're too big! 
:)

This probably isn't quite what you're looking for, but maybe: You can 
program the HP 28S to play music. So far I have mine playing stepped sine 
waves as various speeds, and in radian mode the same algorithm makes a 
strange near-patterned, near-random scalar thing happen. But it's not very 
easy to do, and there's no audio output, so you need to mic it or maybe take 
it apart, which doesn't seem to be easy -- no screws :( I got the concept 
from an old Modern Electronics article. It's not in the manuals. Now, how 
can I make the Fibonacci sequence musical? :) It has an infrared output 
(ostensibly for a printer) which may be abstractly useful too.

You could take the guts out of a bigger calc, and maybe convert the keys 
into keypad switches to trigger a synth or something. We nerds just have to 
make things difficult, huh?

Good luck,
Scott

----Original Message Follows----
From: Prototek <prototek at optonline.net>
To: Synth_diy <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Subject: [sdiy] Calculator Synth
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 16:31:12 -0400

    As you can probably tell by my signature phrase below, I'm a Kraftwerk
fan. Their Computerworld album recently got me thinking about making a
calculator that can trigger various "bleeps, bloops, etc..." by pressing
down the right keys. Hell, maybe its even possible to put a SID 6581 in
there? I know this whole concept sounds a little silly and far fetched, but
I'm still curious about it.
    What about the old TI calculators that could speak? Has anyone ever
circuit bent those to produce interesting sounds?

                            -Proto
------
"By pressing down a special key it plays a little melody."
Kraftwerk, "Pocket Calculator"



_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp