Archive for the 'workshop' Category

Game Development Jam Session

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

GarageGeeks are happy to host a 36 hours of: Game Development Jam Session

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In a Game Jam, participants come together to make video games. Each participant works in a small team on a complete game project over the course of a limited time period, usually over a weekend.
With such a small time frame, the games tend to be innovative and experimental. The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the first of its kind: a game Jam that takes place in the same 48 hours all over the world!
All participants in the Global Game Jam will be constrained by the same rules and limitations, with each time zone having one distinct constraint.

Game Developers registration facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43339652589

Guest registration facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44790734804

General Information:
http://globalgamejam.org
http://globalgamejam.org/sites/tel-aviv-israel

When:
Starts: Friday, January 30, 2009 at 8:00am
Ends: Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 10:00pm

Where: GarageGeeks, 40 Hapeled St, Holon

See you there!

Music Workshop - DIY Toy Music Controllers

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

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At this music workshop, we are creating modified toys music controllers that send their MIDI or Audio information to central audio and visual stations.

Reflections from this workshop

photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafael_mizrahi/sets/72157603505744930/

videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4z5LKpeLZU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri4vpqTnP9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1H2T5uUqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raa-XiAFAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42jX6-n9K4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1H2T5uUqQ

Date: 3 January 2008
Hosts: Rafael Mizrahi, Eyal ‘Person’ Sachar and Shira Miasnik

Schedule19:00 Garage Open: Prepare your “Basta”.
20:00 Workshop agenda: Enough with Baby Einstein, its Baby Clubber time.
20:30 workshop starts

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Who should come?
* Experienced music technicians and interactive designer.
* The event is open for everyone. You can join others (see /write in the wiki http://wiki.garagegeeks.org) by helping take apart and stuff the musical toys with gadgets.

The Garage will be wired with MIDI, and Audio cables. Each station can choose from several methods of communication to the central stations Hub. Your Toy output can be connected to the central stations or to your Laptop, and from there, to the central stations.

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Ingredients: bring one or more of the followings:

  1. A Toy (or some device that you wish to convert into a controller)
  2. Sensors http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensors
  3. Sensor interface board http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensor_interfaces
  4. Parts - Assorted switches, potentiometers and other parts
    http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb04.html
  5. Laptop
  6. Cables:MIDI, LAN, Audio and converter accessories.
  7. Tools: soldering iron, glue, etc’
    http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb03.html
  8. USB Keyboard to take apart.

2165006711_e35be9978b.jpgHow to participate with low budget:
Here is a list of ingredients to build a Music Toy Controller for anyone who wish to participate but is not so skilled or equipped. A Toy wired with Keys from a USB keyboard sending keystrokes to a utility (MouseTrap) which translates them into MIDI messages, mapped by MIDI-OX into Ableton Live.
* Toy
* USB Keyboard to take apart (also a mouse can be used).
* Laptop
* Ableton Live Demo http://www.ableton.com
* MIDI utilities:
** Keyboard/Mouse to MIDI: MouseTrap http://www.humatic.de/htools/MouseTrap.htm
** MIDI virtual device: MIDI-OX http://www.midiox.com/?http://www.midiox.com/moxdown.htm
* switches, knobs, sliders to hook on the Toy
* wires, solder, glue gun.
* anything else you wish to do with your lovely musical Toy.

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Examples of participation (there can be more variations):

  1. Toy+MIDI board->central station.
  2. Toy+USB Keyboard->laptop->MIDI device or Audio->central station.
  3. Toy+phidgets->laptop->Audio->central station.
  4. Toy->laptop->MAX/MSP with MIDI module->MIDI device->central station.
  5. Toy+ Arduino with MIDI module->laptop or central station.

Recommended boards:

  1. MIDISense (MIDI) http://www.ladyada.net/make/midisense
  2. MIDITron (MIDI) http://eroktronix.com
  3. Arduino (Multi Purpose board USB) http://www.arduino.cc
  4. Phidgets (Sensors to USB) http://www.phidgets.com/index.php?module=pncommerce&func=itemview&IID=85
  5. Pocket Electronic (MIDI) http://www.doepfer.de/pe.htm
  6. Make Controller Kit (USB and OSC) http://www.makingthings.com/products/KIT-MAKE-CTRL

notes: Don’t buy a board without understanding what you are buying and how to operate it.
The board kits are pretty easy to build, but prepare them at home because it takes several hours to assemble a 50$ kit.

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Home Preparations:

  1. Get a Toy, disassemble it at home and look for ways to attach the sensors or potentiometers onto it.
  2. Decide how the toy will function? (MIDI, USB, Phidget, OSC, etc’)
  3. Prepare your board and test it with the sensors or potentiometers.
  4. A handful of parts (knobs, slides, etc’) that you can hook on the toy, bring extra, maybe others can use them.
    tour some electronic shops for such parts, or just take them from electronic junk you still didn’t throw away.

Links

  1. List of electronic shops which also sell sensors http://www.garagegeeks.org/blog/?p=78
  2. List of music shops that sell music instruments http://www.act.co.il/index.php?action=shops

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Reading material

MIDI
Essential MIDI toolbox
Use to monitor midi messages, send midi from your keyboard, map midi devices and more.
MIDI-OX
http://www.midiox.com/?http://www.midiox.com/moxdown.htm
MIDI-Yoke
http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm

OSC – Open Sound Control
OSC is meant to supersede the MIDI While MIDI requires a MIDI USB device, OSC communicate via a standard home or studio network (TCP/IP, Ethernet) or via the internet.

http://opensoundcontrol.org
http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSound_Control

OSC to MIDI utilities
OCCAM (MAC OS) http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~c.ramakr/illposed/occam.html
OSCulator (MAC OS) http://www.osculator.net/wiki

USB keyboard or Mouse to MIDI or OSC

MouseTrap - MouseTrap lets mouse and keyboard act as general purpose Midi / OSC control hardware.
http://www.humatic.de/htools/MouseTrap.htm

More Links for Muse

http://www.act.co.il
http://createdigitalmusic.com
http://createdigitalmotion.com

GarageGeeks Heads workshop

Monday, November 19th, 2007

piven_workshop.jpg

This Thursday - Nov 22nd @ 20:00 we’ll be holding a GarageGeeks Heads workshop - hosting by our dear friend Piven Hanoch.
We’ll be all creating head shots from electronic junk we’ll each bring from his/her own little electro-junk yard (or living room….)

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Come and build faces that: Interact, Talk, Move, Light & Vibrate or just look cool
Please bring electro-junk & some basic tools
Space is limited so please register @ the WIKI and bring some LIGHT food/drinks (this is a hands on workshop - NOT a party - no need for big food)

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Flickr images tagged with GarageGeeks ggwrksp piven

FaceBook event images and videos

GarageGeeks presents: Music Workshop Live

Thursday, October 25th, 2007


Date: 25 October, 20:20(Garage Open at 19:00)

Some say that at the dark side of the moon, an area which we cannot see from earth, there are aliens. And these aliens are watching us. They have no interest in our technology, only in our Art.

Last Thursday, the first Music Workshop took place at the GarageGeeks headquarter.
Hosted by Rafael Mizrahi, Eyal Person Sachar and Uri Levanon.

Thursday, 10 AM, we started wiring the place with MIDI and Audio wires, creating a star shaped network for the attendants to come that will hook their equipments and laptops into the central main 4 stations that where in the middle of the room
music_panorama_details.jpgAgenda
The music workshops line intends to establish and maintain an open platform where music activity from different areas can be presented in one context across institutional and professional boundaries, in an
informal and progressive environment.Or, in English, bring some musical instruments/Laptops to the
Garage and let’s form a “GarageGeeks sound system” workshop.

19:00 Garage Open: Bring your instruments. Prepare your station.
people start to show up, some with laptops, some without, some with home made music controllers, drums, trombone, harmonicas, synths, keyboards, beer.

The participants started hooking up their equipment at the stations we prepared, and got to know each other.

Vibe faeries where floating in the air, and the crowd was full with enthusiastic and curiosity, what will happen tonight?

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Abelton Live Training: quick hands-on training and how to edit music for dummies.
“Person” gave a 25 minutes quick-start field guide on Ableton Live, and after few questions, the Jam began.

Live with ‘Abelton Live’
An Open Jam Session, bring laptops (with MIDI), and/or other musical instruments.
We will hook and sync them together.

21:15 We reached 10 Live stations all synced together with

MIDI and audio, playing samples and loops chosen almost randomly by the one who played on that station.
About 4 of the stations where public, so 2 you could join the jam and throw some drum-n-base loop or Madonna acapella into the musical wiki part.

For the next two and a half hours, the music stopped only for few times, choosing new rhythms, trying out some conductive-gaming ways to sort some order. Sometimes it was noisy and disharmony, sometimes it was super-cool and funky, but all the time, it was tribal, and fun.

Reflections

Thank you so much for participating.

Already started forming Music Workshop No.2

Flickr images tagged with garagegeeks ggwrksp music

YouTube videos tagged with garagegeeks ggwrksp music

FaceBook event images and videos

Electronic shops in Israel

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

בתחנה המרכזית הישנה - שדרות הר ציון, מרוכזות מספר חנויות אלקטרוניקה ורכיבים

יואב סימן-טוב - תל אביב

(וולפסון 61, תל אביב (צמוד לשדרות הר-ציון

אחת מחנויות הרכיבים החשובות בארץ

חולון - (code-motion) Motion - קוד

http://motion.co.il/

בעיקר אביזרי רובוטיקה

א.א. מלאי אלקטרוניקה - תל אביב

http://www.electronic-stocks.co.il/2.html

שדרות הר-ציון 91. מלאי רכיבים גדול. לפעמים גם מכשירי מדידה משומשים

אבן אלקטרוניקה - תל אביב

הר-ציון 22, תל אביב

רכיבי אלקטרוניקה

כהן אלקטרוניקה - תל אביב

אלנבי 83 (בחצר), תל אביב

אחת מחנויות האלקטרוניקה הוותיקות בתל אביב

טלמיר אלקטרוניקה - חיפה

העצמאות 63, חיפה

ד.א.ש. אלקטרוניקה

http://www.dash.co.il/

סוקולובסקי - ירושלים

(רח’ פייר קניג 37 תלפיות (מול קניון הדר

02-6791771 ‘טל

או.פי. אלקטרוניקה

רח’ הרצל 91 חיפה

04 - 8667113 טל

אלקטרוניקה קשיוף

המלך ג’ורג’ 5 ירושלים

אריהב - נורדיה - נתניה

http://www.arihav.com/indexheb.asp

ראשון לציון - RS – Israel

http://www.rsisrael.com

רח’ פלטין נפתלי 3, ראשון לציון

רכיבים ומיכשור. המחסנים שלהם בחו”ל, ולפעמים צריך לחכות לרכיב כמה ימים, אבל הקטלוג . שלהם מרשים מאד

Plastic creation mania

Monday, June 4th, 2007

plastic.jpg

creatorspic.jpg 

The special effects master, Yuval Kedem from “Galileo” studio is hosting a plastic workshop. 

Yuval Kedem works at “Galileo” Studio and one of his latest’s work crafts can be found at the amazing show Aluminum
http://www.aluminum-show.com
 

Keyboard hacking workshop

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

keyboard.jpg 

Dana Gordon and JB (Jean-Baptiste LABRUNE) are hosting a geeky afternoon of re-wiring at the garagegeeks.

Keyboard hacking mostly, but also hacking of a mouse and a joystick.

Reflections

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danagordon/sets/72157600062351410/

GarageGeeks map

Monday, January 29th, 2007


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