Hackpacts: "Home school" prototyping

Project: CONVERSATION between formats (COURSE?)

mixed between practical info and fiction sending > receiving information focus on details regarding digital networking and data modulation (processing) meaning of text: ASCII as image, code, sound, etc.

> Hosted on a Raspberry pi as publication!

Form of interactive fiction: (talking on a personal level) -Welcome to my home, you are here: showing pi -you traveled a long way to get here - you just looked outside through a window, staring at the screen again, you think about the past.

playing with the regular interaction: "Are you a robot?

Found tapes: -'alfa training' course for motivation, autonomy, and confidence to make decisions - software (detail: music snippets of abba in between) - How to get online: recordings, of course, a process (mechanical typing sounds) - sound & music: leaders: 1bit music

Prototypes:

IRC bot experiments: (Urzaloid Franklin)
1-Bit sound synthesis (on a 'hacked' TI calculator)
SSTV tests in Python: sending / receiving (encoding - decoding, storing on tape)
AALIB experiments + Ascii (quilting) and : img to txt / ascii generator
KCS workflow: txt input > generated text > KSC audio > HTML
API scraping(Planetary NASA data mixed with other sources)
A)PART to de(PART PY.RATE.CHNC workshop: collaborative tape loop creation and recording (materiality of magnetic tape, deconstruction of sound, sonic fiction)
interactive fiction + text based interface writing

Assessment: Michael says" "BE SELECTIVE!"

To add:

SI #10: flakes
SP #12: Daisy Bell, Bird report, etc
py.rate: creating! sharing

1-bit music: TI-83+ calculator experiments

I came across an open-source project that makes it possible to 'hack' old Texas Instruments calculators and turn them into 1-bit music composing tool (instrument). The program ([Houston Tracker)] is still not being used so much and remains quite obscure. HT2 converts the binary output of the TI-calculator to generate 1-bit sound. What I think is really interesting is that 1-bit sound represents the on/off binary basics of computing. The 1-bit sound is therefore close to the process.

key points:

1-bit music programming and playback (using Houston Tracker II by UTZ)
materializing binary data + sound of the CPU
recording on cassette tape (digital to analog processing)
the benefits of working with limitations.
'the sound of computing'
'Zombie media': reappropriation of obsolete tech and explore it's potential instead of discarding it: what does it mean?
low-tech design: reveal inner workings (transparency)
implement it in today's workflow (audio/visual, programming, etc)

Publishing: To spread this project and both music, I thought about making a publication/release/demo in one.

Not only for the music as an artist but also to spread the word about this project:

I would write a 4 track album for it and release it on a TI-83.

People that buy it would receive a TI with the tracks on it (collected from thrift store / Marktplaats)

mail it to people

If interest arises:

hands-on hardware to get started.

See how tracks were produced might get people started

enlarge interest, spread the word & expand community?

This way, the public can not only listen but also directly engage and get their hands dirty if preferred. What I also think is interesting that in contrary to making music with the sound chip of obsolete gaming consoles is that it's much further detached from retro aesthetics. So it focuses much more on the tech part and thinking how to use this device otherwise.

playful ideas & potentials to further explore:

publication to make 1-bit sound
implementing graphics: bitmaps
How to embed this in a modern context? What's the use?
BASIC programming language

Resources

TiLP is a linking program for Texas Instruments' graphing calculators:
http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilp/

HoustonTracker 2 is a music editor/sequencer for the Texas Instruments TI-82, TI-83/82STATS, and TI-83+/84+/SE. It allows you to compose and play multi-channel 1-bit music directly on your TI graphic calculator: https://irrlichtproject.de/houston/

Graphlink cable for converting binary data to sound: https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-94327-Graphlink-USB/dp/B00006BXBS

links

Houston Tracker 2: https://www.irrlichtproject.de/houston/houston1/index.html

DOORS GUI: https://dcs.cemetech.net/index.php/Doors_CS_7_Scratchwork

graphics: https://www.ticalc.org/pub/win/graphics/

1-bit synthesis paper: https://www.gwern.net/docs/cs/2020-troise.pdf

1-bit synthesis techniques: https://phd.protodome.com/#anchor-pulse-width-sweep

SSTV (Slow Scan Television) experiments:

protocol/standard to send images over radio
for the experiments I am using Python3 in Jupyter Notebook
exploring the materiality of data via sound
'slow' data transmission (in contrast with invisible processes and speed)
encoding /decoding: deconstruction of data
both interests combined: lo-tech graphics & sound!

Website prototype
Python workflow
proof of (half baked) concept

Sound file of Mars image(mode: MartinM1: File:Sstv mars.mp3
Sound file of Mars ascii image (mode: MartinM1) File:Sstv ascii mars.mp3

SSTV tests

playful ideas & potentials to further explore:

IRC bots that send audio signals you can receive with your phone!
Instagram offline broadcasting
broadcasting images over Spotify
music & SSTV data combined? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ2X6HmW49E

'Instagrain Broadcasts'
screengrab and input image
SSTV out
signal picked up by phone

Listen to this image: https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbox/~markvandenheuvel/results/t.wav

resources:

boadcasting software: https://www.qsl.net/kd6cji/downloads.html

Python scripts to convert images to audio: https://pypi.org/project/PySSTV/

general resources: http://users.belgacom.net/hamradio/sat-info.htm

RXSSTV: http://users.belgacom.net/hamradio/rxsstv.htm

SSTV tools (encoding/decoding) http://www.dxatlas.com/sstvtools/

recent SSTV project: https://hsbp.org/rpi-sstv

Pictures On Cassette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c38dLDQoRtM

KCS: digital data standard explorations

KCS workflow setup in Python (Jupyter Notebook) (text input > generated text > KSC audio > HTML)
slow data transmission / image arise line by line
materiality of data via sound (physical connection, embodiment of a process)
deconstruction: encoding/decoding
storage and playback (on audio cassette)

playful ideas & potentials to further explore:

bot that outputs encoded texts via audio
bot that outputs encoded ascii art (ASCII IMAGES) via audio
printing out text receipt printer
creating a modern Flexi disc floppy rom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard#/media/File:FloppyRom_Magazine.jpg

resources

KCS standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard
Storing https://www.instructables.com/Storing-files-on-an-audio-cassette/
future of data storage: https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/why-the-future-of-data-storage-is-still-magnetic-tape
Data Files on Tape (A Modern Attempt) https://youtu.be/muJDUonIOz8

Deconstruction workshop: materializing data over sound

recording sound of a deconstruction process: transfer to the physical carrier (analog tape)
recording data of images: broadcast SSTV signal
material combined in audio-visual performance