Build Your Own Drum-Playing Robot 168
libertynews writes "Here is a project called P.E.A.R.T. where EE students constructed a drum playing robot using USB controlled pneumatic actuators and MIDI files."
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Build Your Own Drum-Playing Robot
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FORTRAN is a good example of a language which is easier to parse using ad hoc techniques. -- D. Gries [What's good about it? Ed.]
Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:5, Funny)
The slashdot effect never fails to amaze me..
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:5, Interesting)
here [nyud.net]
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:5, Funny)
The Site's Slash-dotted, click it and see
Net Timeout Errors and 503s
C'mon server, Do the packets do more than bounce?
It's slashdotted, it's slashdotted
I don't get to read their site
Like some other users might
Honey you oughta know
Before it served so fine
There were pages online
I wanna know when this page will finally load
Now it's up to you, make it static
strip the images too
Let the packets through
I wanna read something I never knew
But now it's Slash-dotted, click it and see
Net Timeout Errors and 503s
C'mon server, Do the packets do more than bounce?
It's slashdotted, it's slashdotted
If the host is right, it can serve pages all night
But now i'm just slapping keys
Server, you've got to give me a sign
come on Google, a cached sign
Tell me, are melting server?
You sure look that way to me
Are you holding up?
Will you be ready if I remember this stuff?
Is my timing right?
Did you save bandwidth for me tonight?
Yeah, it's Slash-dotted, click it and see
Net Timeout Errors and 503s
C'mon server, Do the packets do more than bounce?
It's slashdotted, it's slashdotted
Now it's up to you, make it static
strip the images too
Oh, before we do,
you'll have to get rid of a user or two
Well, it's Slash-dotted, click it and see
Net Timeout Errors and 503s
C'mon server, Do the packets do more than bounce?
It's slashdotted, it's slashdotted
Slashdotted, at least for tonight
Slashdotted, you were looking so right
Slashdotted, this clicking's gotten me riled
Slashdotted, I have to wait a while
Slashdotted, traffic a little bit high?
Slashdotted, your poor server died
Slashdotted, I hope your doing something
Slashdotted, cause here's your chance for publicity
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:2)
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:2)
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:2, Funny)
Didn't you get the news? MPAA and RIAA have merged. They're called the Music And Film Industry Association now.
offtopic - your sig. (Score:2)
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Pre-emptive Slashdotting? (Score:5, Funny)
You changed the status by checking it... Welcome to the world of quantum slashdotting!
Spontaneous Combustion. (Score:2)
The goggles do nothing! (Score:5, Insightful)
-Adam
Re:The goggles do nothing! (Score:2)
Re:The goggles do nothing! (Score:1)
~mantis
Re:The goggles do nothing! (Score:2)
First Rush album I ever bought... Natural Science is probably my favorite Rush tune.
5. Vapor Trails (2002) - The most recent album, came out last year aft
Q: How many drummers (Score:5, Funny)
A: Twenty. One to screw it in, and nineteen to talk about how much better Neil Peart could have done it.
*rimshot*
Re:Q: How many drummers (Score:5, Funny)
A: None. We have a machine that can do that now.
Actually, I think this joke was much funnier before this story.
How do you know when the drum riser is level? (Score:2, Funny)
How do you know when a drummer is at your door?
The knock speeds up.
Re:How do you know when the drum riser is level? (Score:2)
The knocking is out of time and he doesn't know when to come in.
How do you get him to stop knocking on your door?
Pay him for the pizza.
Re:Q: How many drummers (Score:2)
What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend?
Homeless
-B
Re:Q: How many drummers (Score:2)
A drummer.
Re:Q: How many drummers (Score:4, Funny)
Q: how many drummers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: one, but he's got a roadie to pick out the bulb, take it out of the box, place it in the threads, and hold it just right until the drummer is ready for it.
---
Q: what's the last thing the drummer said before being kicked out of the band?
A: hey guys, I wrote a song!
---
Q: why does every band have a bass player?
A: SOMEONE has to drive the van.
---
I also like the "guy who hangs with musicians" one, but someone beat me to it.
S
Re:Q: How many drummers (Score:3, Funny)
You only need to punch the rhythm into the drum machine once.
My (original) drummer joke (Score:3)
The best was this one time when we were all home from college. We found out that one of my drummer friends (and his wife) got duped into the Amway thing. We're at this guy's house when they decide to give us the presentation "for practice". Ugh.
So Chris is in the middle of the presentation, and at this
Drummer Jokes (Score:2)
A:A Drummer
Re:The goggles do nothing! (Score:5, Funny)
No. Surely it's just a coincidence.
Re:The goggles do nothing! (Score:2)
Re:The goggles do nothing! (Score:1)
Feed it a MIDI file for Moby Dick (Score:5, Funny)
Just what we need. (Score:2)
But this time, automated.
Re:Just what we need. (Score:2, Interesting)
Drum circles, heh.
When I was at Evergreen Boy's State, we started every town meeting off with 2 minutes freestyle drumming... on chairs, desks, notepads, whatever.
We could have used this robot, it would have been the only one with a sense of tempo :-) For a bunch of musicians (probably half of us played), we sure couldn't keep a beat.
Note that my "city" was probably the weirdest of all. We had our drumming, we came up with the first "boring meeting call-and-response" things, we had the white guy with d
Re:Just what we need. (Score:1)
Ha Ha its dead. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ha Ha its dead. (Score:3, Informative)
Introducing.... MirrorDot [mirrordot.org]!
Re:Ha Ha its dead. (Score:2)
Maybe it's because I just scan-read about one hundred pages of a PDF book but that MirrorDot background [mirrordot.org] is migraine-inducing.
...tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a site mirror if you are unable to see?
If you are in any way connected with MirrorDot.org please throw up an alternate stylesheet or something!
Re:Ha Ha its dead. (Score:1)
Re:Ha Ha its dead. (Score:2)
I went that close to losing more than just my up (down?) time then...
Peart? (Score:1, Funny)
From: TETRAHEDRON GLOBAL LAWYERCORP LAWDRONE 234235/23
On behalf of: Rush
Re: TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT
Animusic lives! (Score:4, Interesting)
Brief: Animusic is a bunch of animated music clips, where the animation is controlled by a MIDI file. Some great animation, and great music, in there.
Re:Animusic lives! (Score:2)
It's also worth mentioning that there's a Real-Time [ati.com] version of Pipe Dream (from Animusic) on ATI's web site. It'll run on any ATI DirectX9 compatible card, probably not nVidia cards though.
But you can also play the MPG which is nearly identical to the pre-rendered original Animusic version. And with the PEART article slashdotted, you might as well watch th
Re:Animusic lives! (Score:2)
A drum machine don't get drunk
and try to start a fight
it don't sneak around the back door
and try to screw your wife
cuz machines aint music
and a chicken aint no duck
Don't do it (Score:5, Funny)
Slave over it, loose sleep programming it, pour your hard earned money into it...
Next thing you know it runs off to Hollywood to start a band...
Yeah you MAY get a postcard occasionally... You may see it during guest appearances on TechTV but, will it care you are up fretting it's getting its proper upgrades? NO!
It sounds like a recipe for heartache...
Sorry, I've said too much already...
Re:Don't do it (Score:1)
Slave over it, loose sleep programming it, pour your hard earned money into it...
Alan White of Yes, and his tech Reek Havok did precisely that. Alan used 8 MIDI-triggered robodrums on their summer tour.
Read Reeks account of the project here: http://www.yesworld.com/yw_tourlog_2004.html
Since TFA is
Re:Don't do it (Score:1)
http://www.yesworld.com/yw_tourlog_2004.html [yesworld.com]
and... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:and... (Score:2)
Re:and... (Score:2, Interesting)
at least for ten or fifteen minutes.
Obligatory... (Score:3)
No go. (Score:2)
But will your bot be as cool as (Score:2)
Re:But will your bot be as cool as (Score:2)
DRMBT is the original, baby!
Re:But will your bot be as cool as (Score:2)
It writes opaque lyrics as well! (Score:1, Funny)
can you say... (Score:3, Insightful)
They exist! (Score:2)
That said, I don't think that while not ground breaking, making a drum playing robot would still be a lot of work, especially one that was easy to program.
Re:They exist! (Score:1)
I know these people are known for blowing their own trumpet, but for someone to actually make one *really* do it is a little bit bizarre.
Re:can you say... (Score:1)
Re:can you say... (Score:2)
Re:can you say... (Score:1)
Re:can you say... (Score:1)
No more questions or comments about musical robots until you check all the links on capturedbyrobots.com, kk?
Not very high tech anymore (Score:2)
Re:Not very high tech anymore (Score:2)
Anyway, since I live in Union NJ, I have an idea that you may have more access to engineering resources than the average bear. I suggest imp
Re:Not very high tech anymore (Score:2)
fun noise generator... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:fun noise generator... (Score:2, Interesting)
That should be... (Score:3, Informative)
how many robots ... (Score:1)
or:
How many drummers does it take to stop a robot?
What I need is a chick singer who runs off USB
oh wait
she would forget to follow the program. Too realistic.
Firewire.
Gives a new meaning to the old band joke... (Score:1)
Help Bender get into the Robot Hall of Fame (Score:2, Informative)
I wanna see bender get inducted. [robothalloffame.org]
cache of the "How It Works" page (Score:3, Informative)
Almost there... (Score:5, Funny)
1) An obnoxious t-shirt. My favorite is the old "Snatch: the Greatest Food on Earth". Of course, there are plenty of others. Alternatively, a lesser drummer might resort to an old hockey jersey, but make sure it has a dozen holes and pizza stains on it.
2) Abhorrent smell. When your eyes water, you're getting close. The smell should be enough to kill a small animal.
3) Repulsive to women. This is more attitude than anything else. Make sure the robot takes credit for everything. The robot should act like Gods' gift to music; he wrote/composed everything and is really the key to the band's success. Also, if there are any guitar robots around trying to hit on bar-bunny robots, make sure drummer robots inturrupts with embarassing stories about the guitar robots.
4) Completely insane tastes in music. Make sure the robot likes nothing more than some obscure late-60's bluegrass band that sold a hundred albums. As a bonus, the robot should get violent when said band's musical ability is questioned. Drummer robot should insist that this band's entire catalog be performed at every gig.
5) Alcoholism. The robot should start drinking in the morning, and won't stop till the next. Make sure the robot whores all the free beer at gigs. For the best realism, make sure this alchohol intensifies all of the other mentioned points. But most importantly, a good drummer always lets alcohol cause him to play poorly. It's never his own fault, of course.
6) Always late. Rehearsal, Gig, Practice, Weddings, ii-V changes, second verse, etc.
Re:Almost there... (Score:3, Funny)
Q: How do you get a guitarist to turn down?
A: Put sheet music in front of him.
Re:Almost there... (Score:2)
Cute (Score:2)
Re:Cute (Score:1)
It does escape most people, until they listen to the tracks he plays on his tribute to Buddy Rich album.
For the good of humanity, Neil needs to not attempt to play swing ever again.
Re:Cute (Score:2)
Re:Cute (Score:3, Informative)
The rap in "Roll The Bones" was a pitch-altered Geddy, not Neil. IIRC, Neil's only vocal contributions over the years are "Subdivisions" and "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation... We have assumed control."
And if you need something to expunge the memory of attempted Canadian hip-hop, I highly recommend Vapor Trails. Geddy may have screwed up the engineering, but he accidentally got them in touch with their inner garage band.
Oukka oukka (Score:1)
PEART (Score:1)
drum beating robot, eh? (Score:2, Funny)
Similar (but cooler!) (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounded and looked [cell.org.au] fucking amazing. Big crowd pleaser too!
this one was from '99 (Score:1)
What do you call a guy... (Score:4, Funny)
The drummer!
*Ba-dum-bump-tsh*
Re:What do you call a guy... (Score:2, Troll)
Homeless.
What does a drummer .... (Score:1, Troll)
Neither one can feed a family of four.
Yes, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yes, but... (Score:4, Informative)
Been done for 100 years (Score:2)
Plans for your own drum robot [calliopeplans.com] (second set of plans) These plans are for a robot nearly 100 years old. Back when programs were loaded on paper tape.
The horror! (Score:1, Funny)
I've seen their leader and he lives at Chuck E. Cheese.
Pfffft. . . (Score:1, Interesting)
This guy has an entire robotic band. Quite an amazing sight.
What's the name of the guy... (Score:1)
The Robot!
Seriously though, this kind of thing was fairly obvious, IMHO. A traditional MIDI drummer triggered sounds in a computer, which came out of a speaker, and probably sounded "close enough" to a real drummer who was recorded and is being played back for most people.
The next logical step is something that could take MIDI instructions, but sound like a live drummer (i.e. not come through a speaker), and the obvious answer to that is a robot
Technology changes humor... (Score:2)
will have to be modified to "the drummer drools oil on both sides of the drummer's mouth."
On the other hand, the joke: Will still be valid, but a bit less funny.
Finally! (Score:1)
Now only if they could invent a robot to play DDR for that same reason mentioned above....
It's animusic live! (Score:2)
CGI movies driven by MIDI. Pretty neat stuff. Fun to watch. PBS plays some of their stuff before Dr. Who.
What's the MIDI code for stick twirls again?
Good drummers are hard to find... (Score:2, Informative)
Some people are missing the point and think that this project was invented just to play MIDI drum sounds through a speaker. Although I cannot reach the website because of the slashdotting, I can infer from the original post that this is a real robot playing real drums
don't forget the monkey drummer (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Aphex_Twin/Biogr
click on the "monkey drummer" link.
Ha, still no match for... (Score:2, Interesting)
These guys are way behind (Score:2)
Puts on quite a show with 'em, too.
What do you call a drummer.. (Score:2, Funny)
Homeless =)
I have issue with the name! (Score:2)
Re:ah! (Score:3, Funny)