Lava Lamp MIDI controller
Jason Hotchkiss is a DIY-er who has created the ultimate psychedelic ambient music generator. He took a lava lamp, a bit of custom electronic work and a Miduino PCB from Tom Scarff, put it all together to create a lava lamp MIDI controller. Pure, unadulterated awesomeness.
This first video shows the lava lamp mapped to synthesizer parameters in Reason, making some very strange ambient sounds, just in time for halloween:
About how it’s put together, Jason Says:
6 voltage-dividing pairs of light dependent resistors arranged round a standard lavalamp and read by analog inputs of Muduino (arduino clone) to generate semi-random streams of MIDI continuous controller messages
MIDI controllers then mapped to various controls in Propellerhead’s Reason.. just to see what happens really… Result is rather addictive and hypnotic… turn up the speakers, watch the lamp, turn into a zombie.
This next video shows the lava lamp mapped to pattern changes in Reason, creating some crazy random beats:
For this one, the sounds are from two redrum instances, one subtractor and maelstrom The controller signals are routed to them via combinator. Some great pattern switching results in some pretty interesting beats.
On Jason’s site, he’s got a full description on how he built it, including DIY explanations of how you can build your own, including the Arduino code.
Tune on, trip out …err Trip out, tune on and … umm, I mean Turn on, tune in, drop out. Right.
A very innovative MIDI controller.
Alrighty then, I may have to make one of these myself. Great stuff as per usual, my brosephs.
Great work! Any way we can get a schematic posted?
This is the coolest thing ever. Really.