Computer playing StepMania with servos

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Robbi-985
on July 6, 2008
in Music, Programs, Random, Touhou and Videos
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My latest project, and this is a mere prototype. A computer plays StepMania CVS 4, controlling servos to press the arrow keys according to step sequences in StepMania files. Lots more info and quite a bit of showing off in the video.

It plays “Overdrive” (for the sake of avoiding typing a really long title which I can’t translate) by IOSYS, and even gets a toasty on “Piano Variation for Remilia Scarlet”.

EDIT: Wow, this video’s quality really disappeared somewhere along the line.

For the technically-minded, I’m using an SSC-32 (microcontroller), and 4 Hextronik 5gr (HXT500) micro servos. The program was made with Visual Basic.

Double site speed!

Published
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Robbi-985
on July 2, 2008
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Sorry about the downtime here at robbi-985.homeip.net:8000 today.

But it was for the best, since now my server’s internet connection has a maximum upload speed of 64KB/sec instead of just 32! That means you’ll get faster site responses (since my server won’t have to keep uploading to so many people at once), and faster download speeds. The connection’s also higher-quality in general (via optical cable, instead of our really bad phone line).

I hope you notice and enjoy the difference with at least some things. =D

In The Groove 2: (3 songs) Trance, [Touhou] Digi-rock, J-pop

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Robbi-985
on June 30, 2008
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A “step up” from my previous DDR vid, using 2 cameras this time, along with audio from my camcorder and an audio stream of the game.

I wished I’d got a A+ or more on “Magical Dial” (I’ve got it before), but with all the previous recording attempts which failed, I thought I’d just go with the flow. “An A is fine too”. =P

More info about the songs is in the vid, but the 3 songs are:
- A remix of Sakuya’s theme (and stage music).
- A remix of Remilia’s theme.
- A trance song unrelated to Touhou.

Touhou StepMania pack 1 can be downloaded here (255.24 MB). “SS 2nd Style”, along with dozens of other StepMania packs, can be downloaded here (89.71 MB).

ITG2’s own difficulty is set to Medium, by the way, which I believe is identical to StepMania’s default difficulty of “4″.

I think this is the most decent-quality DDR vid I’ve made yet. At least, it was before uploading to YT.

StepMania (x3, Heavy, 866 combo, AA) : [Touhou] 御伽の国の鬼が島

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Robbi-985
on June 30, 2008
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This was a test of my crappy endurance. Sorry about the long intro.

I mixed in the MP3 of the music during play because, in the audio directly from my camcorder, the key-hitting made it very hard to hear the music from my speakers.

The song’s title can be transliterated to “otogi no kuni no oni ga shima”, and the song was created by ZUN.
This simfile is part of the “Touhou 2″ pack for StepMania, which can be downloaded here. (124.79 MB!)

Also, just for the record, I did this on the 7th of June but have only just uploaded it. I’ve improved a little more since then, so there’ll be slightly more “advanced” key-crunching vids on the way soon. =D

“Phantom” live at gig (23 June 2008)

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Robbi-985
on June 24, 2008
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Here’s my brother (”Steeeven1″ on YouTube, at far left on vid) playing 3 songs with his band at a gig which was held yesterday in Hemel Hempstead (in Hertfordshire, England).

Songs (already mentioned in the vid, but oh well):
“Warriors of the World” by Manowar
“Phantom” by Phantom
“Paranoid” by Black Sabbath

You don’t need to tell me that the feedback is nasty - it’s not their fault either. The sound assistant got it right in the sound checks, but for some reason felt the need to fiddle during the actual performance.

Oh, my camera skills are non-existant too.

Oh look, YouTube converted it to mono. Why am I not surprised? High-quality stereo MP3s of Phantom playing these songs:

- Warriors of the World

- Phantom

- Paranoid

Screeching open hard-drive

Published
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Robbi-985
on June 16, 2008
in Random and Videos
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This is what happens when you remove the screws holding the platters to the spinning axle. The metal surfaces rub against each other, producing this sound like some wailing creature.

Yuyuko-sama eats lightning

Published
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Robbi-985
on June 3, 2008
in Images, Random and Touhou
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…is the conclusion which I came to when having a strange chat about power cuts, with my friend “Sota-sama”, on MSN tonight. So I drew this with my graphics tablet in the MSN convo. (2 days ago, I got my tablet working better than it ever has done before. This lame attempt really doesn’t show it off well, though.)

(Click to see it at original size)

Here’s a coloured version at 4x the original’s size, but it looks worse IMO (due to the colour).

<BoringLengthyDescription> I had a momentary power “cut” (weakening, so my comp didn’t crash), and my friend said it might be a sign from Yuyuko (he’s said this before, it’s a kind of meme we’ve developed - usually followed by “be careful”). Then, a while later, a storm arrived where he lives, and the lightning was messing with his power. Through a strange chain of messages we decided that Yuyuko was eating the power, and the lightning was just a natural progression from there on.

Later on, we nearly decided that she was also fond of WLAN signals, but that was just getting silly. </BoringLengthyDescription>

Here are just a few of the scary points (I’m sure you can make up more):

- Her hands.

- Her hat (what exactly is going on?? Especially on coloured version).

- Her eyes. o_o

- The reverse-view of her head which looks like a lampshade.

The related part of the original MSN convo follows… (Please, if you value your free time, just move along…)

Continue reading ‘Yuyuko-sama eats lightning’

Bleeper Music Maker (revision 133)

Published
by
Robbi-985
on May 31, 2008
in Music and Programs
. 1 Comment

Just a minor update which should, when you use FMOD, stop it from clicking and crackling while using MIDI In.

It automatically puts the Note/Silence Ratio slider to 100% while notes are playing from MIDI In, then puts it back afterwards.

That’s all.

You can head over to the usual download place if you want to pick it up. ^^

[Touhou] ‘Singing motor’ with Sakuya’s & Remi’s themes

Published
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Robbi-985
on May 29, 2008
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That computer-controlled motor is back! Headaches guaranteed, or your viewing time back! (I’m sure Sakuya will sort it somehow.)

It just plays a short part of Sakuya’s theme “Tsuki Dokei ~ Luna Dial” (Moon clock) and Remilia’s theme “Naki Oujo no Seputetto” (Septette for a dead princess). Since I recently made them on BMM, I decided to challenge the motor to try to play them. Yes, it’s a useless mod for my program “Bleeper Music Maker“. In fact, it was only the first or second mod which I made for BMM, a while before I ever released BMM to the public.

I’ve changed it since last time so that now the motor doesn’t stop between notes (it was affecting being able to hit notes on time, and is no good for the power supply xD).

This time the usual motor has help from another motor which it spins via a drive belt, which adds more power to the sound (slight understatement). Amazingly, it seems it’s still strong enough to hit most of the notes.

Oh, and Yukari because… gaps are awesome.

U.N. Owen Was Her? (Flandre Scarlet’s theme) + 2 themes from Imperishable Night + Bleeper Music Maker (revision 132)

Published
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Robbi-985
on May 28, 2008
in Music, Programs, Touhou and Videos
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What a mess of a title.

Showing off the fact that this new release of BMM can, via MIDI-In, handle an unlimited number of notes at once (although it sounds silly while trying to play too many), here it is playing Flandre’s theme straight from the MIDI file. “…What?” Oh, I explain what’s actually going on in the second video, because I promised Flan’s would be next. ;)

Here’s the fractionally-more-formal introduction and explanation of the new feature of BMM, MIDI Input, showing off 2 more MIDIs from Imperishable Night! =D

The themes are “Retribution for the Eternal Night ~ Imperishable Night” (Stage 4 theme), and “Voyage 1970″ Eirin and Kaguya’s Last Spell theme).

As usual, you can download this latest version of Bleeper Music Maker here.

Things changed or new in this version:

- Will no longer fail on any computer to load files which contain Unicode characters.

- Ability to change channel and instrument on “MIDI Output Settings”.

- MIDI Input! (Info is in info.txt which is included in the download, under “MIDI INPUT MOD”.)

- A few typos in “info.txt” fixed.

- Now it actually shows text when you click “?” next to “Use MIDI output” (how could I have forgotten to program that? >_<)

- MSSTDFMT.DLL now included in download (many people seemed to be missing it) (info on exactly what to do with the file is near the top of info.txt, under “REQUIREMENTS / PREPARING / COMMON CAUSES OF ERRORS”) .