A melody is encoded as a sequence od MIDI events, the same format as all digital synthesizers use. To make the old computer hardware play, we need a set of electronic controllers mentioned before but also a proper music (musical sequence) to play. Here’s a simplified schematic od the machine. To explain how the system works, I’ll go through the overview first and then will get into details of each individual block. It’s still a hobby project made after hours and not something commercial or mass produced, so you will find some nice solution as well as some janky, quick-and-dirty ones – and that’s the beauty of hobby projects. While making the new Floppotron, one of the main priorities (if not the main) was finishing it in reasonable time. The machine evolved into a relatively large system with multiple custom circuit boards and 3D-printed parts. Sounds simple? In principle, yes, but it gets complicated in a larger scale. A sequence of those noises and tones makes music – just like with the real instruments. constant 440hz tone which corresponds to A4 note in music) at a specific point in time. Those controllers are connected in a network and can be commanded from the computer to make a specific device (e.g. All of the devices present in the „orchestra” contain either stepper motors or moving heads (in case of hard drives), which are driven by custom electronic circuits – controllers. and turned into music – which usually involves some level of abuse. Every mechanical device with electric motor or any other moving parts makes noise as a side effect. To avoid scaring the non-technical readers away at the beginning, I’ll start with the basic operating principles and explain where these sounds come from. In this article I’ll try to explain the principle of operation, how it’s built, how the whole system works, what’s still missing, provide some more technical details for nerds and answer the most commonly asked questions. There is a ton of cables, a lot of custom electronic circuits, but the whole power is in the firmware which has been rewritten from scratch. It has its own „studio” space and became a relatively complex device. My noise-making contraption grew a little bit since last update. 512 floppy disk drives, 4 scanners and 16 hard disk drives. Here it is! The bigger and better Floppotron 3.0. After a long time it’s time for a big upgrade of my computer hardware orchestra.
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