A note on the 'Synth Speaker' bit. When you are TESTING your circuits, make sure that you use headphones. You can plug the white headphone splitter into the jack and then plug two pairs of headphones into the splitter.
If you don't do it this way, it will be too distracting to the other students (and me), and you will have to stop this module and choose something else instead. When you are ready to actually RECORD your circuit with the video camera, then you may unplug the headphones so that the audio will be picked up by the camera. Please see me if you have questions about any of this. |
You will begin with the littleBits Synth Booklet.
Note that there is some useful information on pages 4-13 regarding the different bits and some other things that you should probably know. Have a look at that stuff.
Then, you need to construct the following circuits (starting on page 14):
After you complete each one, you need to record a quick video on your video camera. At the beginning of each video, one of the group members will state what the littleBits synth circuit is supposed to do and then you will record the circuit in action. Remember to unplug your headphones for this part, so the video camera will actually record the sound. If it does not work properly, then you will need to push the stop button on the camera, delete the video, figure out what went wrong and then try again. Once you have successfully documented the circuit, you can move on to the next one.
Note that there is some useful information on pages 4-13 regarding the different bits and some other things that you should probably know. Have a look at that stuff.
Then, you need to construct the following circuits (starting on page 14):
- Pitch Sweeps
- White Noise
- Key Player
- Sequencer Control
- Frequency Modulation
- Shape Your Sounds
- Random Voltage
- Filtering Noise
- Echo and Delay
After you complete each one, you need to record a quick video on your video camera. At the beginning of each video, one of the group members will state what the littleBits synth circuit is supposed to do and then you will record the circuit in action. Remember to unplug your headphones for this part, so the video camera will actually record the sound. If it does not work properly, then you will need to push the stop button on the camera, delete the video, figure out what went wrong and then try again. Once you have successfully documented the circuit, you can move on to the next one.