Dorkbot Melbourne 15: 30th March 2008
We meet at 4pm, on Level 1, 124a Johnston St Fitzroy 3065 (just east of Brunswick St).
Because we can, Dorkbot Melbourne is once again happening this Sunday. Everyone with an interest in doing strange things with electricity is invited to come along and check out the presentations and participate in lively discussion. Bring your friends. Bring drinks and nibblies of your choice. Scheduled talks are outlined below.
Evil Jed's Nintendo DS live MIDI performance sequencer
Gerrard Jenner (aka Evil Jed) will be doing strange things with his Nintendo DS and MIDI hardware. Jed will we demonstrate and discuss the DSMIDI serial hack, combined with DStep -- his custom built software that turns the Nintendo DS hardware into a live MIDI sequencing and control tool. You can check out DStep in the first two links below.
Own your own telephone system with Linux
Jesse Stevens (noodlepringle) & Hannah Commodore - Cake Communications
Jesse and Hannah from Cake Communications will talk about their ongoing successes with Asterisk - the open source PBX & telephony platform. Asterisk allows people to take back control of the way they communicate using open standards and standard equipment. They'll be giving an overview of VoIP in general and go deeper into the configuration and installation of Asterisk on a range of devices from standard PCs through to cheap routers and even the tiny Gumstix. Propeller hat optional.
Recreating a mine-riddled desert at Oxfam Australia Refugee Realities
Jessica Elphinstone - A Melbourne-based composer / sound artist & Michael Borthwick - Convergent media consultant
Jessica and Michael will discuss their extreme technical and creative collaboration to realise a sound installation at Gasworks Port Melbourne for the Oxfam Australia Refugee Realities project.
The installation consisted of a 5.1 channel immersive recreation of a mine-riddled desert environment. Additional channels of interactively triggered landmine sound effects were controlled by a custom-made Arduino-based MIDI interface connected to an Akai MPC-2000XL Sampler. Discussion will include mixing for 5.1 / multiple channels, creation of the interface box, and collaborative aspects.