Time for some electronics, but since this is not an electronics blog, I’m afraid we are falling behind in tracking developments. Particularly 3D printers. There are now too many sources for me to monitor. The only thing stopping a proliferation of small companies is that nothing economical has yet been invented to 3D print. Everything is a specialty item though some of it is nearing the practical stage. No-slip shower faucet knobs, clips that can hold panels in all kinds of oddball shapes, and watch for super-animated movies as these printers crank out perfect working scale models of miniature army tanks. Ever heard of Kursk?
This technology can no longer be ignored despite the price tag. I am proposing to the club this Friday meeting that we make a purchase. This will mean dismantling the recording studio set up just this last February in my Florida room. (I’m sorry, but the studio gets so little use I can’t have it occupying shelf space and if needed, I can record in a much smaller area with five minutes of setup time.) The printer and its operation would be a crushing sacrifice at this time, but anything is better than falling behind. The sad part is we may, like the Arduino, wind up getting very little use out of it once we master the techniques—but those techniques must be mastered. I now look at every Arduino project, realize how simple it is, and don’t bother with it.
While we cannot presently 3D print anything in quantity, we could quickly print prototypes and molds that could be used for that. This purchase will not happen soon. I just want to get the ball rolling. How do we know we won’t invent a viral cookie cutter or those eyeglass inserts you can no longer find? The ones you stick inside cheap beach sunglasses to make them match your prescription. So you can see where you are going. Yeah.One guy is already printing power bar clips, shown here with foreign plug patterns. You know how hard it is to mark and drill the wall-mount holes for your power bar? Instead, you screw the clip into the wall and snap in the whole power bar. I even saw a model that I think (the producer was one of those gorks that blasted lousy music instead of explaining what was happening) was using 3D print software to crimp tin foil into new shapes. Remember those paper cutouts to make a working clock. It’s done. Or any Halloween mask you desire. The 3D revolution caught me with no money, it did not catch me with my pants down.
Be aware that Generation Z with their warped marketing minds are already misrepresenting 3D printers. Right now the money is to be made in selling the printers, not using them, and the Class of 99 is hard at work conning dollars they don't possess the skills to earn legitimately. I have seen objects produced on a $250,000 Connex500 displayed as a selling point mext to a $500 Solidoodle. Keep your eyes open, but make no mistake about it, 3D printers are a game-changer.
[Author's note 2015-07-02: With a year, I was to conclude that the 3D printer is borderline useless without some device to easily design your product. There is currently no such thing, the design work is painstakingly produced on CAD software. Until there is a breakthrough where even I can create shapes, I decided against 3D. Instead, I reverted to building robot prototypes mainly out of good old wood. For clarity, it is not the printer I reject, but the lack of a quality input device.]
The difficulty of wiring seven-segment circuits is not exaggerated. Here is a prototype I worked on that never got anywhere, but that explains how I’ve been going through packages of 500 red LEDs at a time. I was happy to see that I am not the only one who thinks these are difficult. I found one for sale at EIO for fifty bucks. They use more LEDs and have transistor switches instead of clothespins, but the concept is identical. (I’d show a photo [of the article] instead of this link, but there is some new and clever software that prevents me from capturing the photo except at very tiny size. I’ll have that cracked in no time.)Now music. Music and electronics. What a life. Is this retirement? It is if you do it right.
Taking a survey of “modern” music, I once again see the vast leveling hand of the Internet at work. I listened to “Slightly Stoopid”, “Bajofondo”, “State Radio”, and “Zoot Woman”. I don’t care for it musically, although it is strongly based on the very same rock roots I grew up with. Just because someone makes a synthesizer does obligate you to use it in every last song, guys. I know their music is live, but “It’s Automatic”. Slight variations as the tune progresses is actually desirable a lot of the time, someone should tell them. There is nothing all that wrong with hiring a real horn player, okay?
Lyrics have also gone for a dump. Download old and new music side by side and you can see the older material resembles poetry while most of the new is characterized by repetition. I believe it is the Internet that breeds this over-similarity. The market is so saturated that any band who experiences the slightest success is instantly copied.
In general, their sounds are not new. Rock produced the electric sound. The bands that arose were completely distinguishable from each other and from what went before, you could instantly tell what band and what song. Not so with indie rock and the "new Nashville" sounds. Bands these days lack anything like that degree of originality. “Tosh” is just “Bob Marley” all over again and “Porcupine Tree” is a candy-ass “Deep Purple”.
From the past generation, I like “The Eels” but not “Modjo”. I think the trick, guys, is if you are going to play a certain style, do whatever you can to avoid sounding like you went to school and studied it. Use a more simple drum track that doesn’t sound artificial. Avoid the disco-rap beat if you are trying to play rock. And it is possible to write lyrics about topics other than harsh love, death, and sex, which, by the way, you did not invent.
Okay, I’ll be the one to ask the question. Yes, I feel sorry for the 19 dead fire fighters. But something doesn’t add up. My guess is they collectively took some kind of unnecessary risk, but of course I do not know. I’m simply going to wait for all the facts to emerge before I draw any final conclusions. Something is off kilter, and that is that.
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