Dorkbot Melbourne
>>> people doing strange things with electricity <<< 4pm, Sunday 30th March, 2008 Level 1, 124a Johnston St Fitzroy 3065 (just east of Brunswick St).
Celebrating our first anniversary of reformation, get ready for another action packed Dorkbot Melbourne! Presentations this month range from the recreation of a desert mine field, making your own inter/national/personal telephone system with Asterisk, to DIY live electronic music sequencing with the Nintendo DS. Check out the descriptions below for more info.
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. Please join us, bring your friends, drinks and nibblies of your choice. Doors are open from 4pm, the presentations begin at 4:30 sharp.
::: Evil Jed’s Nintendo DS live MIDI performance sequencer ::: Gerrard ‘Evil Jed’ Jenner
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. And don’t forget iNPuT – beatsnbleeps.com monthly electronic music jam/workshop sessions at Glitch…
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWTLnG30r3g ] http://www.soundpunk.com/index.php?topic=1340.msg15967;topicseen#msg15967 ] [ http://www.myspace.com/eviljedmusic ] [ http://www.beatsnbleeps.com ]
::: 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.
[ http://www.asterisk.org ] [ http://www.cake.net.au ]
::: Recreating a mine-riddled desert at Oxfam Australia Refugee Realities::: Jessica Elphinstone ~ 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.
[ http://www.oxfam.org.au/refugee/index.php ] [ http://www.myspace.com/jelphinstone ] [ http://www.michaelborthwick.com.au ]
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Monthly dorkbot meetings are scheduled for 4pm the last Sunday of every month (except December) so whack it in your diary now.
May the dork be with you.
The Melbourne dorkbot overlords: Javier, Ross, Danielle and Jon
dorkbotmelbourne@dorkbot.org http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotmelbourne/