Reclusa Keyboard Backlight Mod
January 30, 2009 – 10:23 pmmake some use out of the useless scroll lock!
a tale about how I hacked a mint keyboard backlight when I was supposed to study.
Generating Random Unicode Strings in C#
January 14, 2009 – 11:05 pmI have to admit this is quite a dull subject, but I thought it might help some guys( and gals! ) out there.
I am working on a C# project for uni, and while fighting some pesky bugs, I decided I should get more organized and have a small “unit testing” framework built for it.
I had a need for random generated Unicode strings, and quick googling turned up no results. Instead of doing some broaded searching, I decided I could learn more by writing my own code: Read the rest of this entry >>
The Art of Keygens
December 7, 2008 – 8:30 pmIf you ever used pirated software, you had probably used a keygen at some point. It could have also been a patcher, or a cracked installer, and sometimes even a trainer. Many times, these pieces of software are more than just a standard form with two text boxes.
DIY Cheap-o Looper Effect
March 23, 2008 – 2:39 pm… I’m surprised with what I’m able to do when I’m supposed to be doing homework.
Here’s my latest project, it’s less than 24 hours old =)
I’ve always wanted a looper effect, like the boss loopstation, mainly because the online demos were so neat. Being a bass player, I though it would help me practice with drum loops, but it’s just not worth the money unless you’re going to use it live. I ended up playing drum samples on my PC and playing along on the bass.
more (and video) after the break Read the rest of this entry >>
[sic] – simple ipod converter
March 17, 2008 – 9:36 pm…and why developing for Windows is not fun.
Behold, a one-click way to convert your videos to a format playable by your iPod!
![[sic]](http://sic.bonf.net/screen.png)
[sic]
Well, here’s my latest project. I’ve started it to provide my sister with a simple way to convert her videos, so that she could finally watch them on her shiny 6G iPod.
The result is this simple ffmpeg frontend, built to run on Windows, with the goal of ease of use.
At this point it is rather limited, and I’m not sure if I will ever work on it again.
I’ve actually continued working on it after the uploaded build, but I have come to a dead-end with the Win32 API.
I chose to work with the bare API because I did not want to do it in C#, and, well, as far as I know, there are no many other options.
Why not C#? Even though the .NET Framework is widely available, I thought it was too much for a couple of buttons that launch an exeternal application.
I did not want to use MFC, because I’m unfamilar with it, and last time I used it it felt over-complex and messy. It also requires additional Dlls, or huge executable.
So Win32 API it was. I fired up Emacs (my new tool of the trade) and started coding.
As long as my code was a mess (i.e. C style coding, global vars etc ), everything was smooth and fun. I then wanted to add a system tray notification icon, and thought it would be
a good idea to create it inside a class, for use in later projects. This is where things started to break. I spent some hours researching methods to connect my window procedure to
members of my class. The solution involved an assembly hack. While interesting, I wanted nothing of it.
During my research, I came across WTL, which sounds just like what I was looking for. If/When I continue this project and/or develop another Windows application, it’s going to be in WTL.
Though I did find the lack of documentation annoying.
As a side note, I have to find out what utorrent used.
That’s it for now, hope someone will find it useful.
Fender Jazz Bass Series/Parallel Pickups Mod
March 10, 2008 – 8:40 pmI have just received a push-pull potentiometer that I had bought on ebay. It’s a hybrid between a potentiometer and a DPDT switch. It looks like this:
I installed it in my Fender Highway-1 Jazz Bass, in place of the regular tone potentiometer, and wired the switch part of it to change between two different wiring modes for the pickups:
- Parallel – Which is the default on the Jazz Bass. In this mode each pickup gets a volume knob.
- Series -Connecting the pickups in series, so that they act as one. This delivers higher gain out of the pickups, and a punchier tone. When in series mode, you only get one volume knob that controls both pickups.
I used the following diagram that I had found online:
It took me about 45 minutes to assemble, because soldering was a bit tricky, and I forgot one connection after fastening all the screws back.
I have no proper way to record my bass on the computer, so no sound samples for now. All I can say is that I’m very pleased with this new sound of my bass. I still have to try it on a serious amp to get a better idea of the new tone.
If you own a Jazz Bass, not afraid to void your warranty, and can solder (or get someone to solder it for you), I’d suggest you to try this mod.
Chopper Tremolo Effect
March 8, 2008 – 11:50 pmI’ve wanted to build this kind of effect for a long time. This was actually the reason I got my 4066 ICs half a year ago, when I visited my electronic components shop.
A Tremolo is an effect unit that modulates the amplitude of the guitar signal, usually in a triangular waveform. This version uses a square waveform, for a more switching, chopping kind of effect. This kind of effect can be heard in the beginning of Plant Telex by Radiohead. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine uses this kind of effect too, he, however, uses a “kill switch” on his guitar, which he controls manually.
More after the break… Read the rest of this entry >>
Maxima Process Terminated in XP
March 6, 2008 – 10:35 amThis is a short post with a simple fix for fellow math students how failed to install wxMaxima on Windows XP.
I had downloaded the maxima installer from sourceforge, and it already contained the wxMaxima frontend.
After installing to “C:\Program Files\Maxima-5.14.0″ I tried to run wxMaxima but it failed to connect to maxima, while displaying the message “maxima process terminated” in the status bar.
Re-installing maxima and wxMaxima (using the same installer) in a directory that did not contain a space character (e.g. “C:\Maxima-5.14.0″) solved the problem for me.
I hope this sovles that problem for other users too.
(Almost) Free MIDI Controller
February 25, 2008 – 10:31 pmWell it’s about time that I posted something.
Two weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me for help. He wanted to create something that will allow him to control all sorts of effects in Fruity Loops, like many available midi controller products. He was, however, looking for the cheapest solution, and suggested using an old keyboard as a controller.
As I was toying with MIDI and my Arduino at the time, and started messing around in Fruity Loops, I was able to come up with a quick and easy solution. I used code from the s2midi application, that I had known from my Arduino prototyping and another Code Project example about keyboard hooks in C#.
After around 10 hours of development I came up with a small application that catches all keyboard input using hooks (and does not pass them to other applications, to prevent collision with existing hotkeys), and generates MIDI control commands. MIDI Yoke was used to bridge my application’s output and FL’s input.
The application works by “emulating” knobs, with assigned keys to increment, decrement, maximize or minimze their values. It is also possible to choose different step sizes for inc/dec. Currently the knobs are “hardcoded” as they are needed for my friend’s modified keyboard controller:
He connected the keyboard via USB, alongside a normal keyboard, and is going to use the two to control Fruity Loops in real-time.
Here’s a screenshot of my app:
Although it may be a bit funny to post about this application without releasing the code and executable, I’d rather not do it at the moment, as it requires a bit more work. I did not aim for high code quality anyway, as it is one of my first C# applications.
I think this will turn out to a simple program that one could use to control music software better than a mouse, but still no match for a true hardware MIDI controller (which is one of the projects in my TODO list 
)
Turn Your Electro-Junk into Art, Piven Style
December 6, 2007 – 2:39 pmGarageGeeks is a notorious group of hardware hackers based in Holon, Israel. Among their projects is the famed Guitar Hero playing android. Besides creating cool projects, they also host various hands-on workshops every once in a while.
On November the 22nd, I attended my first workshop. From the Facebook invitation:
This Thursday – Nov 22nd @ 20:00 we’ll be holding a GargeGeeks Heads workshop – hosting by our dear friend and great artist Piven Hanoch (http://www.pivenworld.com/pivenWorld.html).
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….)
Come and build faces that: Interact, Talk, Move, Light & Vibrate or just look cool
Please bring electro-junk & some basic tools
At first I hesitated about “wasting” my precious junk on a piece of art that probably would not make full use of the materials (an old printer, 3 broken cdroms, a cordless phone etc). I discovered, however, that workshops such as that one, are truly inspiring. Even though I didn’t get to build anything advanced in terms of electronics, I did build stuff. I was being more creative and productive than I ever am when working alone in my basement on various projects *cough* delayed drum machine *cough*.
Me and my two friends – Amihai Neiderman and Nur Nachman Eytan – grouped together and built “The German Mouse”. It was created from an old motherboard, a portable cd player, an actual computer mouse, a piece of salvaged circuit that spoke out something in German and some random bits.
And Here’s a video of our creation:
My lesson and message to fellow makers, tinkerers and others that are stuck on the “Design and Concept” phase – Get your tools and start to build stuff. Hands-on experience is super productive and inspirational !