Monome Fun!
For some time now I’ve been slurping up videos of people making very sexy music with very sexy gizmos. The Monome is an open-source controller that has instant curb-appeal because it has buttons and blinking lights. Open-source, for anyone who doesn’t already know, just means that anyone can grab up on the design specs and firmware and build one themselves. The cool folks at Monome periodically release kits where you have to assemble and solder the bits together yourself as well as build (or source) custom enclosures yourself. An example of the open-source-ness of this is the Arduinome, which makes use of the open-source Arduino circuit board to replicate the innards of the Monome.
In any case, I’ve ordered 2 Monome 40h kits. I’ve been reading for most of the year now about the incredible demand for both kits and completed units…so I was ready for the release of these kits, finger hovering over the refresh button at order time! Luckily I got in right away and was able to snag the prize. I understand they sold out in 30 minutes!
Now, I could never afford, or justify a completed unit, which runs around $500 from Monome, and much much more on ebay, if you can find one. The resale of these devices is ridiculous! (this is why I ordered 2). I’ve been interested in the DIY culture for awhile now, and have always wanted to get into electronics, but always avoided it. My buddy Brad has been dabbling in the soldering arts here and there for the last year or so, and is playing with an Arduino, which has kind of reminded me of this interest I have. I figure I’ll buy a couple of small kit projects to get started with, and then I’ll jump into these Monome kits. 2009 will see me confidently wielding a soldering iron, or it will see me with 2 Monome kits for sale. :) Seriously, though, there is nothing like building something yourself to make you feel great about using it. And the Monome is just about the coolest thing I can imagine building right now.
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