"In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete"
Now this isn’t really a tool to make lock picking easier, but someone mentioned this to me the other day as a clever idea how to make lock sport fun for audiences: build a pick into a drawdio for
theremin-music performed by the act of picking! (Thanks for the tip from community member Kent K Barnes)
It’s a standard short hook lock pick with a modified theremin attached. Works pretty well as you can see….
Check out this great Drawdio project video and documentation from The Maker Mom.
We happened upon the Drawdio, the pencil-based device that turns anything that can conduct electricity into a theramin (you know that odd instrument from the Beach Boys’ song Good Vibrations?) after learning about Makey-Makey. You can buy the Drawdio pre-assembled or in kit form.
We opted for the kit from AdaFruit, which The Maker Teen then assembled, not without a few moments of frustration. Still, he saw the project through from start to finish on his own in one sitting. (What? Like I would have been able to help him?)
Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! It’s great project for beginners: An easy soldering kit with instant gratification. Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper.
Runs on a single AAA battery for many hours (even ‘nearly dead’ batteries will work)
Use any pencil – mechanical or plain. The kit comes with a 2B pencil, the softer the lead the better
Ridiculously fun for all ages
The electronic kit comes unassembled with all electronic components, PCB, hardware and pencil. AAA battery and tools necessary for assembly are not included. Please check the kit contents list to see what is included. Assembly is very easy and takes less than an hour, even if you’ve never soldered before!
We starting stocking the Colorforms Brush with Genius last week – half-theramin/half-paintbrush. When painting, the conductivity of the watercolors changes the sound pitch that comes out of the little speaker in the brush.
Can be used on most surfaces with just water—no paints required!
Jay Silver’s design (photos) is used in this product, very cool! The the pink and purple brush wasn’t Jay’s original design, but University games’ take on his design. Very cool to see a brand/company like Colorform working with makers like Jay!
Hi, I’m a Mechanical Engineer who has discovered a real interest in electronics! Recently my main relay on my Civic died (cracks in the solder joints on the relays caused intermittent failures). I read about the problem on-line, whipped out my soldering iron and saved myself 50 bucks! I was grateful for a father who taught me just enough to make me dangerous with a soldering iron. It’s come in handy in my career even as a Mechanical guy (after all the solder failure was mechanical anyway!). Anyway it got me thinking it was time to start teaching my son these essential skills! Here is Brian soldering up his very own drawdio. He calls it his squeaky pencil. He is 7, and did all the soldering himself except the first component (when I taught him) and the speaker (we chose the advanced method), He loves it! Sometimes the making is more fun than the end product!
Thanks for the great products and the wonderful service.
Check out this awesome Kickstarter project by the same guys that worked with Ladyada to develop the Drawdio. Take a MaKey MaKey controller, connect up some alligator clips to just about anything conductive, and interact with your computer and the internet.
Alligator Clip two objects to the MaKey MaKey board. For example, you and an apple.
When you touch the apple, you make a connection, and MaKey MaKey sends the computer a keyboard message. The computer just thinks MaKey MaKey is a regular keyboard (or mouse). Therefore it works with all programs and webpages, because all programs and webpages take keyboard and mouse input.
we experimented with a simplified drawdio, then we combined this bit of electronics with a first glove the cyclist glove. To make this terribly designed monster more fashionable, by-wire.net made another fine glove. We had to find the right kind of small speaker, and we used a button cell and a 555 3e timer chip to get the parts smaller. But fitting the electronics in the fashionable glove, and especially with the conductive thread we ran into trouble: cotton is the wrong material for sewing conductive thread on.
Teaching groups of kids (in this case, family) how to solder and various areas of circuitry and physics using Drawdio kits.
A lot of the “learn to solder” kits are boring. Why not have the kids make a fun, educational, and “annoying as heck” toy? Even the 8 and 10yo kids (all brothers, sisters, or cousins) had no problem understanding how it works and how to put it together (mind you that the 14yo is learning matrix convolutions, so this might be a bit more of an advanced group of kids.
That’s my family….literally full of nerds and I love them). The kit was also great in dusting off some of the 40+yo Engineers in my family. Their names are Griffen, Cassie, Morlan, and Calder just in case
Your site inspired me to try and inspire my daughter with the things I enjoy doing… Drawdio makes an EXCELLENT first project for kids, and helps to create some Daddy-Daughter time in dad’s workshop! Thanks for your awesome projects and knowledge.
What do you think of your new creation?
I love it.
And you built it.
Yes.
We are getting all teary eyed, thank you for sending this wonderful video in and photos! Nice work Cat!
At Interaction 2011, a research group at Ochanomizu University demonstrated EaTheremin which are eating utensils that make various sounds when they’re used.
“The sound produced varies, depending on the resistance. When you bite the food on the end of the fork, electricity passes through your body, forming an equivalent circuit. The resistance value depends on the food, and the sound produced depends on the resistance.”
“Electricity passes through your whole body, so no matter where you touch this to your body, you will get a sound. But because the inside of your mouth is the wettest part, you get a really good sound there.”
“Our aim is that, because this creates a good rhythm, people will want to eat more, or try eating foods they didn’t really like before. We think it would be great if children have fun with this.”
If a food has a different consistency on the inside and outside, the difference in the resistance values creates a richer, more complicated sound. And flexible items, like chicken skin, can generate vibrato effects as they stretch.
“Several people can use this if they eat together. With the current system, I think it would be fun if a special sound could be created when two people make the same sound as one person.”
As well as forks, the researchers are thinking of using this system in spoons and cups. With spoons, it could be used with liquid foods such as soup as well. Also, by dividing the electrodes between two utensils, the system could be used for both at the same time. For example, a variable sound could be created when pouring a drink from a bottle into a cup.
Just wanted to say thanks for the awesome kits and information. Here are a couple of photos of my 7 year old daughter Izabel , assembling a drawdio kit she got for a gift. She loves to solder and is good at it!
Each day during the week we’re going to have a sale on one (or more) items in our store week days 12/6 through 12/21. Just tune in to the site, or twitter or our RSS feed each day for the code that will give you 11% off.
The items will all go to eleven % off. Each day, eleven, eleven, eleven and… It’s not ten. You see, most places, you know, will be doing sales at 10% off. They’re stuck on 10% off – Where can they go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Put it up to eleven.
Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! It’s great project for beginners: An easy soldering kit with instant gratification. Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper.
This octopus jellyfish-inspired puppet lets you make different squeaky sounds using an embedded Drawdio. Hold the puppet by putting one hand in the loop on its belly. Use the other hand to touch conductive spots on its legs, which complete the Drawdio’s circuit to make sounds. Using the technique shown in the Make:Online project Unruly, 100K resistors in the legs create a change in pitch between each conductive circle. I experimented with different resistor values at the end to change the sound of each leg as a whole and included some that I thought sounded cool. Feel free to change up the resistor values and make your own unique soundscape.
More:
Drawdio kit – v1.1 – Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! It’s great project for beginners: An easy soldering kit with instant gratification. Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper.
Printable catalog (PDF) or (EPUB)
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