WHEN
Thursday evenings 6:30 -9:00 April 1st – 29th.

SUMMARY
Learn to build and animate simple 3 dimensional objects and characters using Blender3D. Blender3D is a free open source 3D program build for numerous platforms. The class will start with making simple objects and finish with making an animated kinetic chain.

REQUIREMENTS
A laptop you can bring to class
3 button mouse (yes it is maddening without one)
blender3D (2.49 version not the new beta) – http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/
optional – usb number keypad (help in switching views, but not needed)

COST
$25 for class and ~$5 each class to chip in for pizza/snacks. Payment via check/cash on first day of class. Class will be held in the class room at the Hack Factory.

REGESTER
http://blender-tcmaker.eventbrite.com/

If you didn’t get a ticket to Ignite Minneapolis or would rather hang out with a bunch of cool geeks instead of marketing drones and social media consultants then head over to the Hack Factory.

There will be minimal structure, just another great night of creating at the factory, including but not limited to the following:

• Free software swap – bring your favorite free app on a cd to trade, be prepared to do a pitch about how cool it is.
• Lensbaby test and review.  John Baichtal from Make blog and Geekdad scored some lenses from Lensbaby so he could write a review, so we will be testing those out.  He has a pinhole and soft focus lens, can anyone say geek boudoir?
• Kicad hacking, etc. – Adam Wolf (inventor of the Tactile Metronome) will be there doing something awesome as always.

What a great night! Our first Handmade Music was a big success, lots of people showed up and got to show off and learn a bit more about sound. The night was mostly just a free for all with no direction or organization, it was awesome, none-the-less we had a great response and some terrific enthusiasm.

A few people brought things to show off or play. It was a pretty diverse collection:

- Cigar Box Guitar
- PICaxe-based Synth
- Mini-theremin kit
- Synth chip and MIDI file playback.
- Drum Pad Game Controller
- MIDI drum pad and ChucK apps
- PAiA Theremin, KAOSS Pad, Drone Lab, Supercollider Apps, MFOS Weird Sound Generator
- 555 Throwies, Arduino Synth, Thingamagoop, Assorted contact mics

I didn’t take a head count or record attendees (live and learn) but I think we probably approached around 30 people total throughout the night.

Here are some pictures from the event.

And here are some of the ambient sounds of Handmade Music.

The next event will be on March 25th, 7:00 to whenever again at The Hack Factory, please bring things to share with the group. More information on that night and future nights can be found at Handmade Music Minneapolis Page on TCMaker’s Wiki.

One of the members, Paul, who runs Canada Goose Records also recorded the show and has released it on his little lable, there will be a short physical release of 10 copies watch Tim Kasier’s website for more information on that.

http://canadagooserecords.com/?p=777

Kristin Boehm finished putting the final touches on the ugly necklace that people at the Minne-Faire helped imagine. It will be submitted to the 2010 Land of Odds Ugly Necklace Contest. Kristin, if you missed her at the Faire is  a local umbrella guerrilla knitter and maker of felts.

FYI: The Welding class is now full.  Please add your name to the waiting list for next time.  Thanks!

You too could make a cool metal sculpture.

If you want to participate in any of the classes please feel free to register as they become available. We also need folks to teach classes. For more info, to suggest a class, or to teach a class please email twincitiesmaker@gmail.com.

As always, this is a space for you, and if you want to see it thrive we need your support. Membership, or a onetime donation will help to keep the TC Maker/Hack Factory going. This space is huge, and we all want to get some nice wood/metal working tools in place.  We also want to setup a electronics labs, and sewing areas too.   The only way for us to afford some of these nice things is to get our membership numbers up, and get people donating things!  So please check out our links on the top bar.

Yesterday’s Minne-Faire at the Hack Factory in Minneapolis was an outstanding success!

We showcased 16 different exhibitors and attracted hundreds of visitors.

Twin Cities Maker would like to thank everyone involved who put their time, talents, and energy into making this event such a grand success.

To our exhibitors: Thank you for making, sharing, and helping us learn!

To our sponsors: Thank you for supporting us financially and helping to make this event possible.

To our members, visitors, community, and maker friends everywhere: Thank you for your spirited encouragement and interest in the TC Maker organization. We hope to see you frequently in the future as members, attendees at our open events, or contacts in the cyber world.

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day! Be sure to visit our Flickr location to see Minne-Faire photos.

Update: If you missed it, Tim Kaiser’s performance has been archived and is available to stream and download over at Canada Goose Records.

Very humbly yours,

Twin Cities Makers

The first handmade music is coming up on the 25th @ the Hack Factory. The itinerary is being worked on currently as more info becomes available we will be posting it here.

Sneak peak: we have procured a sound system and are planning on having a little performance at the end of night, and lots of people at Saturday’s minne-faire have shown interest in the event, it should be fun.

We are exploring some ideas for the first time around, so please if you have some ideas or thoughts worth sharing about handmade music or perhaps you have been to an similar event and know what works, please share. You can comment on this post or email myself at sobczak.paul at Gmail or Pat if he wants to post his email.

Hi, this is Pat.  Feel free to email me at lifeisnoise at gmail or post on the forums or tcmaker google group.

More on Handmade Music over at Noisepages

First Update:

I’m thinking a fun project we could do is 555 “throwies” that I’ve been working on.  It’s an idea that is still in development (I built one prototype which I gave away), so it could be fun.  I’ll try to build one and post a pic later today.
Wayne (wammie) also has some speech synthesis chips that could be fun to play with.

We are looking for 2 acts to perform each set will be 30 minutes long, but we would like the artists to walk us through exactly what they brought to the stage, nobody is currently booked so if you are interested let us know.

February 18 update:

People have been wondering what this even is really all about, to get to the bottom of it I offer the following justification.

Handmade Music: Minneapolis is trying to cultivate a DIY music scene in Minneapolis, by having these open nights at the Hack Factory for people who make sonic machines to socialize and share ideas. (Note: This is basically the same goal as TC Maker has but just narrowed down to musics.)

Wayne will be bringing 2 or possibly three of the SN76477 chips to the event.

Talking to him last night about the chip, he had these up and running about 15 years ago so there is no telling if they still work but it should be fun to try. There are a few suggestions on the data sheet of setups to try, see the suggested setups from the data sheet:

The mothership connection again from the data sheet has the following setup:

I think we will try to set up one of the first ones. And possibly someone will wire up the mothership connection and bring it to a future event. If in the mean time you at home are interested in messing around with this chip there is a newer version of it here.

There has been some interest in performance but nobody has jumped forward as of yet so if you are interested let us know. There will be no compensation this time around as we are not charging for the event at all, that said, if you have been looking for a venue to show off what you have been working on this might be it, read it doesn’t have to be a finely tuned, a bit of sonic tom-foolery is welcome.

Also If you are currently working on or with with any of the following things:

• DIY Analog/Digital Synths
• Max/Msp
• SuperCollider
• Pd
• Arduino
• Circuit Bending
• Instrument building ect…

We are looking to find people to teach classes at The Hack Factory if you are interested and have some ideas of things you would like to do in the future let us know and we start to set it up.

For those new to The Hack Factory we do have some things if you want to build a kit or do a bit of trouble shooting during the night, We have a few soldering irons and 1 (1/2) oscilloscopes, a dc power supply and a few other things so you can bring pretty much anything to put together. We don’t have any electrical components yet so if you have some that you would like to donate that would be great.

We have a really good line up of makers and will have a music performance by Tim Kaiser starting after 8pm. Tim does some really cool ambient music and makes all of his instruments. Another published and active maker, William Gurstelle is going to be demoing some of the projects that he has created for Make: Magazine.

This event is free for all and kids are welcome! We will however be accepting donations and memberships to help our cause.

TC Maker is a not for profit with non-profit (5013c) paper work underway. Our goal is to provide services for local makers, and enrich both the community and people by proving a space for people to play, make, and share ideas.

There will also be upcoming classes for things like Arduino, welding (MIG/GMAW), wood working, etc.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Here is a video from a visit to Tim Kaiser’s workshop up in Duluth via Make: TV; William Gurstelle is part of the Make: TV crew.

-David (Aka, VideoMan)

Please check it out – http://www.tcmaker.org/blog/2010/01/minne-faire-feb-13th-2-11-pm-at-the-hack-factory/