Well well well. Mike Green Challenge (a Kuro5hin user) has brought the following to my attention: a brand new valve amplifier kit that costs only US$139.
This looks like a much easier route than fixing the existing amplifier, and I'm all in favour of easy :-) Conveniently, my employer is paying all staff a bonus this year ... :-)
Monday, March 28, 2005
Friday, March 25, 2005
The WestiAmp blog has moved
Due to the fact that I'm running out of space on my Ihug FTP server (I only get 10MB free space with my account), I have moved my personal blog to a new location:
http://westiamp.blogspot.com/
The new Atom feed for the blog is:
http://westiamp.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing the new location.
http://westiamp.blogspot.com/
The new Atom feed for the blog is:
http://westiamp.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing the new location.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Speech synthesis & voice control
After spending some time thinking about the UI for WestiAmp, I've decided on a rough architecture:
1. A daemon (almost typed 'service' - my day-job as .NET developer is having an adverse effect on me) called westiplayerd, that checks for the presence of control files (empty regular files with particular filenames like 'nextplaylist' or 'stop') and plays MP3s / OGGs and playlists accordingly.
2. Another daemon, called westicontrold, that accepts input, either through voice (using a speech recognition program) or from the knobs on the panel (probably through a parallel port?) and touches control files which will be acted upon by westiplayerd.
3. A web application (probably written in PHP) which will allow a user to upload music files to the WestiAmp, and delete those files if needed. It will also provide a UI that displays what westiplayerd is up to (i.e. which track & playlist it's playing), and that will allow the user to issue commands to westiplayerd (again by touching control files).
I'm investigating KTTSD to add speech output to westiplayerd for the purpose of letting the user know about errors, full discs etc. As of yet I have no idea what speech recognition software I'll be using, but I do know there's quite a range available for Linux.
1. A daemon (almost typed 'service' - my day-job as .NET developer is having an adverse effect on me) called westiplayerd, that checks for the presence of control files (empty regular files with particular filenames like 'nextplaylist' or 'stop') and plays MP3s / OGGs and playlists accordingly.
2. Another daemon, called westicontrold, that accepts input, either through voice (using a speech recognition program) or from the knobs on the panel (probably through a parallel port?) and touches control files which will be acted upon by westiplayerd.
3. A web application (probably written in PHP) which will allow a user to upload music files to the WestiAmp, and delete those files if needed. It will also provide a UI that displays what westiplayerd is up to (i.e. which track & playlist it's playing), and that will allow the user to issue commands to westiplayerd (again by touching control files).
I'm investigating KTTSD to add speech output to westiplayerd for the purpose of letting the user know about errors, full discs etc. As of yet I have no idea what speech recognition software I'll be using, but I do know there's quite a range available for Linux.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Another constructive evening
I've had another constructive evening working on the WestiAmp project. I've dismantled the base of the gramophone cabinet, and removed the speaker grille and speaker.
The speaker looked old and naff; the base of the cone was missing and it was covered in dust. Out of curiosity I hooked it up to one of my stereos (a cheap but cheerful NZ$150 Warehouse special) to test it, & it sounds every bit as bad as it looks. Quiet, crackly and horrid. Looks like I'd better start reading up about speakers ...
I've also started thinking about software; at this stage I'm considering using speech synthesis to provide feedback to the user, and the two right-most knobs on the front to skip between playlists and tracks.
The further I get into this project, the more fun it becomes (despite having bleeding cuts on both my hands from removing tacks from the grille with a pair of pliers).
The speaker looked old and naff; the base of the cone was missing and it was covered in dust. Out of curiosity I hooked it up to one of my stereos (a cheap but cheerful NZ$150 Warehouse special) to test it, & it sounds every bit as bad as it looks. Quiet, crackly and horrid. Looks like I'd better start reading up about speakers ...
I've also started thinking about software; at this stage I'm considering using speech synthesis to provide feedback to the user, and the two right-most knobs on the front to skip between playlists and tracks.
The further I get into this project, the more fun it becomes (despite having bleeding cuts on both my hands from removing tacks from the grille with a pair of pliers).
First photo of the WestiAmp
This is a photo of the WestiAmp as it is now; in original condition, sans the gramophone cabinet door:
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