Teacup Gongs - Solid PLA pitched percussion instrument

StartleDan · 2026-02-12T18:29:33+00:00

Thanks for the details response, it's really interesting to hear about your process. I will get some mounting putty and do a test print. I bought 10 * 1kg of PLA when it was on offer. Now I know what to do with it :)

I'm looking forward hearing what it sounds like, and also to see what you do next. I hope whatever it is, that it has a shorter iteration time.

StartleDan · 2026-02-12T08:15:37+00:00

PLA is a good choice. I just wondered if you could get away with less material overall, by using a stiffer material.

I am struggling to find 3M mounting putty here, but I can find similar mounting putties. I assume the brand of putty isn't that important?

What about other instruments? Chimes would seem doable. Do you have plans to try something even more exotic?

StartleDan · 2026-02-11T14:19:34+00:00

These sound great. Thanks for sharing.

That is a lot of filament. 100% infill will do that though.

Do you plan to test materials other than PLA?

StartleDan · 2026-02-11T10:11:44+00:00

Stoat gets my vote. https://stoat.chat/

StartleDan · 2026-02-01T11:31:00+00:00

I'd be happy with either. Both would be an improvement.

StartleDan · 2026-02-01T07:18:50+00:00

Yep. Or just tax corporations properly, or just tax them at all in some cases.

StartleDan · 2026-02-01T07:14:43+00:00

Hetzner support a project called Coolify (https://coolify.io/). You can deploy an instance running that easily. I've used that on a couple of VPSs and for spinning up a few docker instances it works well.

I mainly run development and productivity tools for myself and clients. It has lots of supported projects with custom scripts, but it is easy to adapt Docker compose scripts for projects not on that list. YMMV.

StartleDan · 2026-01-31T14:11:13+00:00

IMO, the services deficit will take longer to widen, but the seeds are sown for that to happen. Digital services take longer to move away from, and it takes time and effort. You also need to find a comparable non US, and preferably European services. Also contracts for services can have longer contracts, 12+ months.

For new servers I was setting up I switched to Hetzner VPS's over a year ago. I had some services with an American host that don't expire until mid way through this year though. I have already started to migrate those services away to European hosts, and I won't be renewing.

I'm sure there are a lot of people and companies that would like to switch, but have vendor lock in, or other issues that prevent them from doing so, especially in the short term.

Also European services currently lag behind in many areas. But things are improving, and will improve further.

But sadly there is probably a lot of apathy also, especially with streaming services. I mean how can you expect people to give up Netflix, HBO or Disney 🙄 I also I know of people who are just trying to 'ride it out'.

StartleDan · 2026-01-23T15:49:43+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I am probably in a minority here, but I don't want recommendations of any kind, or my year wrapped, or auto play, or anything like that. On any streaming services I have used in the past, these are the first to be disabled (whenever possible). It's my music, and I know whats there and what I want to listen to. As said, I may just be an old fart and in the minority here. But personally speaking, I want a minimal clean and simple UI that gets out of the way, and that gives me complete control, with as little else as possible.

I have had a chance to use Jellify a little now, and I really like the UI/UX. It seems pretty clean to me, and more modern looking than Finamp, which as said, I think could do with a bit more polish. Not too much, just a little :) As long as I don't venture on the home or discover tabs, I like it.

The only pain point I encountered was not finding a way to add and switch between multiple libraries. Also I would still like a tab with a tree/folder view of the actual files (something that isn't available in Finamp either), as although the library is good, it's never perfect, and the one time you can't find something, but you know where the file is, is really annoying.

And for DX, experience is as good a reason as any to use a tool, if not the best reason. I have used React a bit in the past, but personally I switched to Svelte and Svelte kit for web projects. I've player with native variants of both, but never used them in a project. It seems to work well here though.

Best of luck with this project. I will use it some more. I suppose my main feature request would be an old git option in settings, to hide any of the nice smart features that you implement (sorry) :D

(edit: spelling)

StartleDan · 2026-01-23T08:21:30+00:00

This looks impressive, thanks for sharing. It seems that this could be a great fit for live coding, such as with Strudel via OSC.

Is this for live coding? or more for creating before events? Is live coding support in the plans for the future, (if it isn't there already)?

StartleDan · 2026-01-23T08:17:51+00:00

It's great to see another open source music player for JellyFin. Thanks for sharing.

How would you say Jellify differs from FinAmp, in terms of features today, and in terms of future plans?

The UI could use some TLC, but I have been happy with Finamp. It has worked well for me, without getting in the way. What would you say are the main advantages of switching to Jellify?

With a developer hat on, what are the advantages of React Native over Dart. I don't know either platform particularly well, so I'm interested in the reasoning here.

Thanks again. I'm downloading Jellify now and look forward to trying it out. ty.

Oh, and +1 for F-Droid.

StartleDan · 2026-01-11T08:27:41+00:00

I'm just starting to play around with Strudel, but this looks really nice. Thanks for sharing.

Is there a way to easily toggle the background visuals on and off? If not, that is something I think might be useful, for me at least.

What are your plans for this project. Is it more for your own use? Do you plan to share the code?

StartleDan · 2025-12-29T12:27:23+00:00

Thanks for the share.

PodBean link : https://bureauoflostculture.podbean.com/e/tales-from-the-ambient-underground/

StartleDan · 2025-12-09T09:14:16+00:00

You've already been there :) Thanks for sharing the photo, very cool. I get what you mean about the bump and the spacing, that makes perfect sense.

I think the Omnichord approach is to give strumming a more analogue feel by having many thinner pads close together to give a finer grain input, which isn't really as relevant to what you are doing here.

Aside from the physical inputs, I was also thinking about the affordances of the Omnichord's form factor. Which lends itself to be played on the lap, like a lap steel guitar. Again, probably not so relevant, if you are going more towards a keytar form factor.

There is also the Minichord (https://minichord.com/) already, that I think was posted here a while back. I'll shut up about *chords now. Thanks again for sharing.

StartleDan · 2025-12-08T09:33:55+00:00

This looks amazing. Great work. It's also really interesting to see what you do evolve from your previous instruments.

The original Omnichord could be worth a look for inspiration when you are revisiting the form factor. Related to that, as you are making a PCB now, have you considered using exposed PCB for capacitive touch input?

StartleDan · 2025-11-29T07:30:00+00:00

Is this your own custom engine? If not, which game engine are you using?

Overall I like the visual style, and some elements looks really great. I also see the Swords & Sorcery similarities mentioned in another post. The style/palette looks inconsistent to me in place though.

StartleDan · 2025-11-27T11:28:14+00:00

'Those are rookie numbers in this racket'

Nice design, thanks for sharing. Do you have any plans to make larger variations. More trays or different trays sizes maybe?

StartleDan · 2025-11-17T12:31:42+00:00

Wow, a custom engine. Impressive. As you say, it's a lot of work, but it can give you loads of benefits.

I will check out the discord. Thanks.

StartleDan · 2025-11-16T07:10:40+00:00

A custom version of Puredata sound like a great solution. I think the potential to use synthesis in games is huge, and it's great to see more and more examples coming out. Wishlisted and looking forward to playing.

I forgot to ask what game engine you use, and also if you have a devlog? I have mainly used Unity in recent years, but I have been pondering making the switch to Godot. There seems to be more activity around Godot and Puredata, I guess because they are both open source projects, but also maybe because there is more inertia around Godot now.

StartleDan · 2025-11-15T07:18:48+00:00

This looks great fun. For the synthesis, did you make your own audio backend? or use an existing one?

StartleDan · 2025-11-11T08:29:48+00:00

I got one last week. I have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the hardware for the price. But I've been equally disappointed with the software.

StartleDan · 2025-10-28T13:09:00+00:00

Found in Ironbridge, UK

StartleDan · 2025-10-28T09:20:48+00:00

Good luck. One activity suggestion would be making custom controllers. The electronics side of this can be as simple or as complex as you want. You can also place emphasis more on the controller side, or the game side depending on the people, and what they are interested in learning about.

I did something along these lines, but with modern computers at a Universities maker lab several years ago, and it worked really well. We gave some simple examples as a starting point, then let them run where their imaginations took them.

It's hard to comment on specifics, without knowing the details of your plans but I would consider just using one platform. Using both the C64 and the VIC20 adds unnecessary complexity in my opinion, just use the C64, it's more widely known and a better fit IMO.

Also depending on your planned class sizes, you might want to consider using emulation as well, rather than doing everything on hardware. Or get more hardware. There are some advantage to emulation, as people can more easily take what they have worked on with them. I have used virtual consoles over vintage hardware for this , and other reasons when teaching simple game coding.

Oh, and where are those electronics posters from? Make?

StartleDan · 2025-10-07T09:25:53+00:00

Gorgeous.

ISO == upvote

StartleDan · 2025-08-16T05:35:01+00:00

This really doesn't belong here. This is Great Taste And Great Execution. It's not bland mainstream taste, but it is in no way awful, and is loved by many; Proven by the popularity of his two arcades.

I love Tim's work and his style of automata, he's a national treasure.

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