[dorkbotdc-announce] Learn how to make Soundscapes with Python and Arduino

[Dorkbot DC]

In lieu of the March DorkbotDC meeting, your totally overworked 
Overlords offer you lovely dorks this fun event at sister org HacDC 
(with apologies for the late notice!):

Tomorrow (Thursday, March 26) night 7pm at HacDC!
(http://hacdc.org [which lists the date as Thursday March 28 which is 
wrong!]

*Learn how to make Soundscapes with Python and Arduino*

A soundscape is “an environment of sound (or sonic environment) with 
emphasis on the way it is perceived and understood by the individual, or 
by a society” (Barry Truax, "Handbook for Acoustic Ecology"). 
Soundscapes can include natural sounds (like animal noises or weather) 
and/or environmental sounds that result from human activities.

Microcontrollers connected to both external sensors and computers (by 
serial or wireless communication) offer a wonderful and accessible 
platform to generate complex and interactive soundscapes. Light, motion, 
distance, and temperature sensors, along with large buttons (in this 
case crafted with piezoelectric devices inserted into felt-crafted 
designs) and computer-monitored variables such as time of day, rate of 
online activity, season, etc. can add mountains of additional texture to 
a soundscape.

Using Arduino and a soundscape package for Python called Boodler (see 
Boodler.org), we will explore and discuss the potential for highly 
personalized soundscapes that incorporate microcontrollers. The speaker, 
Todd Fine, has only very recently begun playing with Boodler, but he is 
interested in introducing it to others interested in Soundscapes, 
Python, or Arduino.