Lion roaring

My niblings came to visit, so I set up a touch board with a sound detector. When they clapped or shouted loud enough, the sound of a lion roaring could be heard. They were scared at first and ran away from it when it roared and were convinced the lion was in the shed. They soon befriended it though, named it Oran and made it roar a lot!

Video on Flickr:
Lion roaring.

Automaton with sounds

Experimented with an automaton using silver foil and a Bare Conductive Touch Board, so that it makes a sound when the parts of the automaton touch.

Video on Flickr:
Automaton with sounds.

Space Invader cross-stitch

A space invader, cross-stitched with conductive thread. When you touch it, a sound is played.

Video on Flickr: space invader.

What I did in March 2021

I spent quite a lot of March on annual leave, as I had a lot to use up before April. This was mostly spent amusing myself with sound experiments and wandering around fields.

I continued attending Sonic Arts lessons.

I went to a pub! The Pig and Whistle! Unfortunately, the pub was long since abandoned, although was apparently in business around 1891. It is near to Magpie Bottom. There are tales of smugglers, brandy slides and dene holes associated with this area. I also walked up some hills and there were great views.

I played games with friends, such as Scattergories and Codenames.

I attended jacquic's Crafternoon.

One day, I walked by the river and then along the lane and into a field and then a copse, where there were bricks and a bunker and I found this was a decoy airfield from the Second World War. On the way back, I saw a rabbit!

Another day, I walked in the sunshine to the next village and sat in the rec for a while, on the grass, soaking up the sunshine, and I watched a butterfly on some white blossom.

I ate nitro ice-cream from Chin Chin! I had yuzu meringue pie, coffee with olive oil, and coconut and rose jam flavours.

I watched Japanese films that were part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme, including: Little Miss Period, Soiree, Farewell, A Beloved Wife, His.

I went to a Douglas Coupland bookclub on Zoom. As it is 30 years since Generation X was published, we read that and it was great to see people that I originally met on a mailing list many years ago!

I went to sbp's party in Gather.town and enjoyed chatting to a few people!

I attended an Ingress First Saturday, in virtual High Wycombe and helped solve the passcode challenge and recharged a few portals.

I went for a walk in the fields and the woods, and the woods were full of wood anemones and violets and even a few bluebells!

I watched a Teletext art livestream by Illarterate and saw some great Teletext art and tried drawing a bit of teletext in a collaboration.

I played games with glyn - Boggle and Jaipur.

I visited some unique portals for Ingress and walked quite a lot for the Kinetic Capsule challenge.

I attended a Mongolian lesson and learnt a few words of Mongolian!

I attended a stargazing lesson and learnt more about the stars.

I danced and sang along with songs, with the lyrics changed to be about videogames at Maraoke.

I saw the full moon, the worm moon, and it shone brightly!

I watched a Robert Anton Wilson tribute event that was part of Journey to Nutopia at the Cockpit Theatre.

I saw a beautiful sunset.

I watched an interesting sound art talk by Robert Henke.

My brother, sister-in-law and niblings came to visit and we wandered around the castle. It was really lovely to see them!

I watched some of the talks at Now Play This and played some games with obandsoller.

I made a lot of things with a Bare Conductive Touch Board, and some things with Max:

1. Beer mat – When you touch the (very crude) beer mat, sounds of a pub can be heard.
2. Twigs – I painted twigs with conductive paint. How close you are to the twigs indicates how much to transpose the sound by in Max and the sounds stop if you are not close enough to the twigs.
3. Automaton – I used silver foil and a Touch Board, so that it makes a sound when the parts of the automaton touch.
4. Lobster – We learnt how to detect colours in Max, so I made it so the recording of me saying "lobster" gets transposed depending on how much red is detected.
5. Potato – Potato says "hello" when you touch it.
6. Viaduct- Shouted at a picture of a viaduct and it shouted back. When the sound level is high enough, an MP3 is played of me saying "echo".
7. Mirror – Mirror that tells you that you look nice today. Touch Board connected to a light dependent resistor, so it plays an MP3 when you get close to the mirror.
8. Musical ballpit - Limited version of the musical ballpit in my living room and using Max for colour detection.
9. Goat - The goat that roars when touched.
10. Jellyfish - A jellyfish made from fabric, wool and conductive thread. When you touch it, sounds of the sea can be heard.
11. Door - Door with a cat door knocker and a piezo, connected to a Touch Board. A cat sound can be heard when the door is knocked on.
12. Lion roar – Scared my niblings with a lion roaring when they clap or shout loud enough, using a touch board and a sound detector.
13. Wink drum – I used FaceOSC and Max, so that when I wink, it plays the sound of a snare drum.
14. Space invader - A space invader cross-stitched in conductive fabric. When you touch it, it plays a sound.