(no subject)
Back in June I got the hardware and bought the software that would give me the wherewithal to make music on my Game Boy. Which I have done since then.
More recently, though, I've gotten curious about the program's capability to take input from a computer keyboard and turn it into music. Performance is still a long way away, but I don't want it to consist of me simply pushing a button to set the music in motion. I've just been programming music, and I wanted to be able to actually play it. So I bought a couple of Game Boy link cables through the internet and started taking one apart.
Eventually I opened up a keyboard to see if there was anything I could do before I started trying to cut open keyboard cords. Sure enough, the cord plugged into something inside the keyboard casing, so I ended up sticking link cable wires into the plug at the keyboard end of the cord and piggybacking them thusly into the keyboard.
This made it possible for me to show it off to family members, but the wires came out too easily and it just wasn't reliable enough. So I took the leap and cut open the keyboard cord and started putting the game link cable plug on the end of the cord, so I can just plug the keyboard straight into the Game Boy.
The next hurdle, which I haven't passed yet, was to get the link cable pins and get the wires onto them. But I lost a crucial plastic part on Sunday, and at this point I'm just building up my resolve to break open the plug at the other end of the cable, to get the other plastic part (not to mention extra pins that I wouldn't have to remove wires from). It seems like too much work for such a simple result, but I'll be satisfied when I'm done.
I've begun brainstorming about stuff that hasn't been done for the Game Boy, as far as I know. I want to somehow create (or commission) an object that will turn audio input into two numbers representing pitch and volume. These two numbers would be fed into a Game Boy program (as yet nonexistent) via the link port. The Game Boy program would, in turn, output a sound that replicates the pitch and volume of the original sound. If someone spoke, the Game Boy would make a noise like a buzzy version of adults talking in the Peanuts cartoons.
More recently, though, I've gotten curious about the program's capability to take input from a computer keyboard and turn it into music. Performance is still a long way away, but I don't want it to consist of me simply pushing a button to set the music in motion. I've just been programming music, and I wanted to be able to actually play it. So I bought a couple of Game Boy link cables through the internet and started taking one apart.
Eventually I opened up a keyboard to see if there was anything I could do before I started trying to cut open keyboard cords. Sure enough, the cord plugged into something inside the keyboard casing, so I ended up sticking link cable wires into the plug at the keyboard end of the cord and piggybacking them thusly into the keyboard.
This made it possible for me to show it off to family members, but the wires came out too easily and it just wasn't reliable enough. So I took the leap and cut open the keyboard cord and started putting the game link cable plug on the end of the cord, so I can just plug the keyboard straight into the Game Boy.
The next hurdle, which I haven't passed yet, was to get the link cable pins and get the wires onto them. But I lost a crucial plastic part on Sunday, and at this point I'm just building up my resolve to break open the plug at the other end of the cable, to get the other plastic part (not to mention extra pins that I wouldn't have to remove wires from). It seems like too much work for such a simple result, but I'll be satisfied when I'm done.
I've begun brainstorming about stuff that hasn't been done for the Game Boy, as far as I know. I want to somehow create (or commission) an object that will turn audio input into two numbers representing pitch and volume. These two numbers would be fed into a Game Boy program (as yet nonexistent) via the link port. The Game Boy program would, in turn, output a sound that replicates the pitch and volume of the original sound. If someone spoke, the Game Boy would make a noise like a buzzy version of adults talking in the Peanuts cartoons.