Techno

Castrati: Vibration speakers

Castrati: Vibration speakers

It took about 25 years that a special type of loudspeaker – vibration speaker – came to widespread use.

In 2022 I was to give technical help to realize a set of light transmitting and receiving devices. On the receiver side a vibration speaker was to be used (namely: Dura Mobi Speaker Hummingbird bone conduction speaker). In further research I came across a larger 20W version of a vibration speaker.

With vibration speaker the sound is created by transmitting vibrations... more


DIAcontrol midi system

DIAcontrol midi system

This system was made on order: have six diaprojectors (two pointing to one screen) and a computer controlled slide triggering sequencer.

Classic midi serial connection is used to cover long distances over normal cable.

A web based technology was used: XAMPP server and javascript & php combination. This makes it OS independent. Chrome browser natively supports midi on the web, others need certain  extensions. More details about that in DIAcontrol-schematics.pdf.

Some effort wen... more


Elektronika, mehatronika in programiranje

Elektronika, mehatronika in programiranje

In April and May 2021 I was preparing part of the expert program for robot/ theatre school of GT22.

BorutSavskiGT22-Elektronika

BorutSavskiGT22-Mehatronika

BorutSavskiGT22-Programiranje

/ to my knowledge none of these was ever used…/ 

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Tech for NAME: POLICIJSKA URA (-> curfew)

Tech for NAME: POLICIJSKA URA (-> curfew)

This is some help on the level of electronics and arduino programming to bring NAME:’s idea of “policijska ura” (-> curfew) to materialization.

LED lights
Name: had a large number of LED lights taken from a Lidl’s dump. Each of these led strips originally used a separate constant current driver (42V / 300mA), which was useless for this project. In the end we used a simple current limiting resistor per led strip -> 39ohms / 0.5W and one PSU block with 43Vdc (to... more


turboFlutes

turboFlutes

TurboFlutes are midi interfaces / breathing – not blowing instruments. Two prototypes were built in 2020, additional work was done in the next years – along with the preparation of printed-circuit-boards, etc. – and concerts…

During the first steps of elaboration it was clear that normal tone intervals as for the flute will be used. This made up a 12-tone scale with seven buttons on top. On the bottom left-hand side one octave up transposition button was replaced by two &... more


Sajam 3N / Palach Rijeka – 6+7.09.2019

Sajam 3N / Palach Rijeka – 6+7.09.2019

Borut Savski – kasni radovi / latest works

A brief moment from the event…

Sprave i objekti predvidjeni za izložbu=sajam 3N u Palach Rijeka – 6+7.09.2019

1. SI_AI midi piano (2019)
http://www.ljudmila.org/~savskib/?p=979

AI_SI Piano stands for a midi trigger device based on a touchpad system found in any laptop computer – brought to a form of an oversimplified instrument that acts as piano.

Piano is one of the two model instruments of 19t... more


AI_SI touchpad Piano

AI_SI touchpad Piano

AI_SI Piano stands for a midi trigger device based on a touchpad system found in any laptop computer – brought to a form of an oversimplified instrument that acts as piano. It was a fast idea from a recent real piece of a dream of mine – in dream i would just bang with my finger on a touchpad – and this sounded as a “veritable” piano…

So: again one of the projects that is not linked directly to some envisioned artistic output. But as an instrument it could be ... more


Sounds cloudy

Sounds cloudy

Zvočni oblak – Sound cloud ->http://www.ljudmila.org/~savskib/wp-cumulus.php

Wordpress plugin – BS Sound Cumulus Plugin

Visual sound jukebox mixer based on once prolific tagcloud plugins (wp-cumulus, wp-cirrus, …). Now this is turned into random html5 player of mp3 files that the plugin finds on the site.

Some statistics is used to evenly play excerpts of audio files. Clicking on the cloud item overrides this mode and plays the whole file. You can also specif... more


Travel guitar

Travel guitar

Travel guitar is usually a short version of regular length guitar. In this case the strings are folded at the bottom and machine head is at the back. It is an electric guitar with a relatively wide fretboard (for my thick fingers) – basically a copy of the acoustic guitar that i have.

The final motive is simplicity and precision. Again the Cirkulacija 2 space proved invaluable for this project! CNC2 router was used throughout.

The idea came after a plan to have a performance of a p... more


Passive audio limiter

Passive audio limiter

It happens that experimental approaches have victims. These are amplifiers and especially loudspeakers. Two amplifiers and a couple of loudspeakers of Cirkulacija 2 are now dead. What was needed is an effective audio compressor/ limiter. This is it. After recent changes seems to work well.

The nature of limiter is that it instantly changes the amplification factor – the moment the input peak signal surpasses a certain voltage level – all the sound is than pushed down at the output. T... more


Dežnik sončnik vetrnik | Parapluie parasol paravent

Dežnik sončnik vetrnik | Parapluie parasol paravent

Borut Savski: Dežnik sončnik vetrnik| (Parapluie parasol paravent

Trije parazitski svetlobni objekti, ki so imeli v osnovi motiv matični ulični svetilki jemati nevtralnost in dodati svoje dinamike sprememb. Te so svetlobne lise, sence, moire in svetlobni odboji (refleksije) – skupaj: gibanje svetlobe.V praksi so potem postali samostojni svetlobni objekti – z lastno lučji v sredici.

Obstajajo tri motorizirane izvedbe teh novodobnih mobilov – dinamičnih skulptur. Postavitev ... more


The real theremin

The real theremin

In 2017 I decided to finish building two pieces of “classic” theremin by using the two printed circuit boars that i etched five years ago. The circuit is basically the “etherwave” theremin by Robert Moog. The prototype was built and tried successfully at that time – but then the time somehow evaporated. So this now is the psycho-disciplinary action: finishing what was started – and: something to do in-between.

I was able to do the instrument building in the wo... more


Plečniks – Omnidirectonal loudspeakers

Plečniks – Omnidirectonal loudspeakers

The two loudspeakers were built using sewer pipes. This gave the name: Plečniks (suggested by Vlado Repnik, when used in his theatrical performance in 2018 -> HONEY, CINNAMON, RAISINS AND TIME robot fugue for live art / balletquintet w/m Stefan Doepner, Marieke Sophie Werner, Borut Savski and Vlado R. Gotvan). Jože Plečnik was an architect who built most of the representative buildings (and bridges) in Ljubljana – his very post-modern idea was to use large pre-built sewer pipes as pillars ... more


BorutSub | turboSub / lateral transmission line subwoofer system

BorutSub | turboSub / lateral transmission line subwoofer system

After some research of how to build a real subwoofer system for the projects at Cirkulacija 2, the two main principles emerged:
– transmission line (a quarter wavelength) principle
– and a bass-reflex principle
In both cases there is an additional tuned situation at the lower end of woofer frequency spectrum, that allows to get about an octave lower response – then the loudspeaker’s enclosure resonance allows.

The usual approach to push the loudspeaker l... more


Harry F. Olson – Acoustical Engineering

Harry F. Olson – Acoustical Engineering

The bible of acoustics. The pdf is of a book which i read a lot at the Technical library of the University of Ljubljana in the early 1980s. First published in May 1957 – based on an earlier work entitled Elements of Acoustical Engineering, by Harry F. Olson, copyright 1940, 1947 by D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.

https://ethw.org/Harry_Olson

Doubled here with some other sites.

HarryOlson_AcousticalEngineering.pdf

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AND Rijeka / ATT C2 – access to tools fair

AND Rijeka / ATT C2 – access to tools fair

A double-bill event: 5/6 february 2016 in Rijeka and 9 february 2016 in Ljubljana at Cirkulacija²!

Borut Savski: small arduino systems/ gadgets

1. Cirkulino midi sequencer (interface for time and pitch sequencing with enhanced functionality)
2. XGMidi synth module with LCD to play XG midi voices
3. Moire generator of visual moire effect with high power LEDs
4. Wardenclyffe Tower sensorized sound generating piece (raspberry pi and arduino)

Access to tools and kno... more


IBALLS & iballs

IBALLS & iballs

For the Cirkulacija 2 project of Cultural Interfaces in 2015 i devised a spheric type of wireless interface called IBALL (the big ones) and iballs (the little ones). It is arduino based wireless midi controller of XZY position.

Originally it was used to control the turning of the XY loudspeakers which Stefan Doepner made for Cirkulacija 2 events. At the same time it was a controller to play directly on the midi input to various software.

It can be used as a transmitter/ receiver of midi t... more


A thing with noname?

A thing with noname?

Festival PixxelPoint 2015 – OBJEKT – 16. mednarodni festival medijskih umetnosti, Nova Gorica,  27. november – 4. december 2015
Pixxelpoint 2015: OBJECT – 16th International Media Art Festival, Nova Gorica (Slovenia) and Gorizia (Italy), 27 November – 4 December 2015
http://www.pixxelpoint.org/sl/

“Media art no longer exists. Medijske umetnosti ni več. Non esiste più. Gibst nicht mehr. Ne existe plus.” Igor Štromajer, para-curator.

The claim b... more


Wardenclyffe Tower

Wardenclyffe Tower

Zvočna instalacija/ instrument

Prva postavitev:
MFRU-KIBLIX 2015
KIBLA PORTAL, Valvasorjeva 40
Festival 7.−9. oktober 2015
Razstava 7.−23. oktober 2015
http://mfru-kiblix.si/?cat=7

Opisno:

antena s šestimi aktivnimi kovinskimi kraki, občutljivimi na intenzivnost dotika – sočasno ali posamezno, kar proizvaja zvok, oziroma spremembo zvoka. Vsak krak je svoj senzor za dotik. Zvoke  igra obiskovalec, če pa obiskovalca ni, se dogaja osnovni ... more


XG midi synth

XG midi synth

DB50XG Yamaha daughter board bought years ago was finally used to make a stand-alone midi synthesizer – as it was envisioned. Arduino platform had to come my way – to be able to do all the little programming to be able to set the the instruments manually with rotary encoder. It is now used extensivelly.

The board can play back very high quality samples from the extended midi (XG) set of instrument sounds. While for artistic approach I prefer the co-called “de-naturized” s... more


Arduino projects

Arduino projects

These are pictures of some arduino projects by Borut Savski:

The worktable will be soon a CNC machine for softer materials (wood, plastics,…)

The workspace showing Cirkulino midi sequencer (coca-cola style), the nacibaci midi scratcher and some home-made arduinos. On second picture: recent setup from Bogdana Herman & Borut Savski performance,  16-channel midi-controller and  unfinished sound-producing mechanism at far end.


<... more


Intro to arduino

Intro to arduino

http://www.arduino.cc/

Osnova za platformo arduino je 8-bitni mikroračunalnik (običajno imenovan mikrokontroler) podjetja Atmel.  Vezje nosi oznako AVR, kar v bistvu pomeni da gre za mikrokontroler, ki ima vse funkcijske bloke združene na eni silicijevi rezini. Zasnovano je bilo leta 1996, razvoj pa že vedno poteka. Na splošno velja, da so AVR kratice za oba glavna razvijalca: “Alf (Egil Bogen) in Vegard (Wollan) – Risc proces... more


Cirkulino

Cirkulino

Cirkulino je koncept, ki se je očitno izpostavil sam:

– je sekvencer – kot eden od najbolj raširjenih načinov uporab arduina
– ima določene posebnosti – na vizualno-uporabniški strani je uporabljen rotirajoči princip – cirkuliranje (kot pritiče povezavi z delavniškimi dejavnostmi  Cirkulacije 2)
– kot naslednja stopnja od prototipa je inženirsko bolj dodelan in že želi sčasoma postati izdelek
– to pomeni,... more


Arduino programming

Programsko okolje in jezik Arduino je nastal na osnovi odprtokodnih razvojnih orodij – na platformi za programiranje mikrokontrolerjev Wiring, osnova za razvojno okolje pa je bil Processing.

http://www.arduino.cc/
http://wiring.org.co/
http://www.processing.org/

Osnovna paradigma je odprtokodnost, kar pomeni da se vseskozi ohranja filozofija dostopnosti izvorne programske kode in tudi samega hardverja – samoizgradnje naprav. Razširjenost platforme je pripomogla, da je nas... more


Theremicro

Theremicro
[Original at http://www.3via.org/records/index.php?opt=item&id=24]

Borut Savski – Theremicro, Theremini – Capacitive proximity sensor I Products > Hard (viewed: 4233, purchased: 9)

Description

Title: Theremicro – capacitive proximity sensor I.
Author: Borut Savski
Years of production: 2004/2008

This is a part of DIY series of projects that are described in details here. The know-how is closely linked to our art... more


Suitcase

Suitcase
[Original at http://www.ljudmila.org/~savskib/borut_galerija/index.php?folder=electronics/suitcase]

Laptop in a suitcase

This was a leisure time project that seems to help to get the mind off the more complicated art projects, but still fullfils some of the (neccessary?) need for “creative” work.

What’s the hack? I had (and still have) an enormous box for my computer that served me well over the seven years, but it was a horror to transport i... more


SimpleMixer

SimpleMixer
[Original at http://absurdevidence.radiostudent.si/borut/simplemixer.html]

A simple audio mixer

A simple compressor/limiter

Advanced  simple compressor/limiter

The simple song:

It is organised as building blocks,

combined according to personal taste and need,

best if organised on a pre-drilled universal printed circuit board,

with holes for the input, output sockets, potentiometers,

all drilled into pcb,

then screwed and fixed w... more


Pseudo quadro stereo mixer

Pseudo quadro stereo mixer
[Original at http://www.ljudmila.org/~savskib/borut_galerija/index.php?folder=electronics/mixer]

Pseudo quadro stereo mixer

This audio mixer is a bit special. It has the ability to add and subtract each of the six stereo channels and the resulting (L+R, L-R, 2xL, 2xR) outputs are sent to four amplifiers and loudspeakers. It can be used as normal stereo mixer also. I finished it in 1997.

The knobs are fo... more

Tube amplifier

Tube amplifier
[Original at http://www.ljudmila.org/~savskib/borut_galerija/index.php?folder=electronics/tubeamp]

The Harp of New Albion

A somehow poetic name relates to the rich harmonic content of tube amplifiers (and to the piano piece by American composer Terry Riley).

I wanted to build one for years and it came to life a decade later (with the know-how). It came to life with a realization that it is all the truth (the musicality of the vacuum tube).

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