@duhrer.bsky.social
I revived a five-year-old project to use a Launchpad as an isomorphic "Tonnetz" controller. It's fun.
Pico Launchpad Tonnetz
I revived yet another Launchpad project, this time to make an isomorphic “Tonnetz” controller. About four years ago, I made a quick sketch in a repository I used for sketches to create Tonnetz tuning ...
duhrer.github.io
October 15, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I revived a five-year-old project to use a Launchpad as an isomorphic "Tonnetz" controller. It's fun.
This week I revived an old project to create microtonal setups using "normal" MIDI controllers and synths.
Pico Microtoner
I was looking through some older demos while working on my last project, and started thinking seriously about making a new version of my microtoner, a MIDI router that adds microtonal support to any c...
duhrer.github.io
October 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM
This week I revived an old project to create microtonal setups using "normal" MIDI controllers and synths.
I kept working on my Pico Launchpad code, and added support for my whole fleet of Launchpads.
Pico Launchpad Multi-Family
I updated my work on the Pico Launchpad to support a wider range of devices. Last week, I published a new project called the Pico Launchpad, which was my first attempt to set up a microcontroller to w...
duhrer.github.io
October 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
I kept working on my Pico Launchpad code, and added support for my whole fleet of Launchpads.
Finally made progress on driving a Novation Launchpad with a microcontroller. Miles to go, but pretty happy so far.
Pico Launchpad
After working on other projects using dual-USB microcontrollers, I’m back together with my long-time muse, the Novation Launchpad. One of the first things I tried when I wrote code for my first dual-U...
duhrer.github.io
October 1, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Finally made progress on driving a Novation Launchpad with a microcontroller. Miles to go, but pretty happy so far.
Now that school is back in, I'm back to making things with microcontrollers. This time it's a new version of my "cheater's guitar", which is like one of those cool MIDI guitar controllers but a lot cheaper.
Pico Cheatar
I’m continuing to work with dual-USB pico boards, and used one to recreate my earlier work on a “cheater’s guitar”. The Cheater’s Guitar When I was a kid at family gatherings, there was always music. ...
duhrer.github.io
September 23, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Now that school is back in, I'm back to making things with microcontrollers. This time it's a new version of my "cheater's guitar", which is like one of those cool MIDI guitar controllers but a lot cheaper.
I spent the school holidays thinking about a new project to make a platform to replace a lot of my early WebMIDI work, and made good progress on that this week.
Pico MIDI Transformer
After my recent experience with OGX Mini, I decided to try and make my own dual-USB project. Over the years I’ve made a lot of demos involving MIDI devices. Lots of them are what I call “transforming ...
duhrer.github.io
September 8, 2025 at 5:46 PM
I spent the school holidays thinking about a new project to make a platform to replace a lot of my early WebMIDI work, and made good progress on that this week.
I tried out OGX Mini to get a few ideas for dual-USB setups with the Raspberry Pi Pico. It's an impressive and inspiring bit of "prior art" to get me thinking about my own projects.
Cutting Bait, OGX Mini Edition
I have been looking for a solution to move a few projects forward, and got some great leads this week. At our weekly social at the hacker space I belong to, I mentioned that I had a few projects where...
duhrer.github.io
August 4, 2025 at 12:06 PM
I tried out OGX Mini to get a few ideas for dual-USB setups with the Raspberry Pi Pico. It's an impressive and inspiring bit of "prior art" to get me thinking about my own projects.
I finally had a chance to try the "Tandem Mode" accessibility feature on two secondhand Google Stadia controllers. It's great, and dirt cheap, as long as you act before December 2025.
Google Stadia Tandemonium
I collect controllers, especially discontinued ones, and this time it really paid off. I bought my first Stadia controller the week Google announced that the Stadia service would be discontinued. With...
duhrer.github.io
July 29, 2025 at 7:47 AM
I finally had a chance to try the "Tandem Mode" accessibility feature on two secondhand Google Stadia controllers. It's great, and dirt cheap, as long as you act before December 2025.
I need to use a new material for a few projects, so I "cut bait" and spent some time learning with a few small prototypes.
Cutting Bait, Infinity Mirror Edition
Today, I’m learning to use mirror tint film. Join me. I have a long-term project that will feature an infinity mirror. Instead of making one for the first time as part of a more complicated project, I...
duhrer.github.io
May 28, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I need to use a new material for a few projects, so I "cut bait" and spent some time learning with a few small prototypes.
I finally put everything together and mounted my new light project on the wall!
Double Rainbow Demo
As covered in my last few posts, I’ve already designed a case for my “double rainbow” project, and then assembled it. Now I need to put the components in. I almost waited to add this bit to the last p...
duhrer.github.io
May 16, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I finally put everything together and mounted my new light project on the wall!
There are a few interesting new approaches to wood going around, this one aims to replace steel and concrete with wood.
Exclusive: InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that’s stronger than steel | TechCrunch
The material has 50% more tensile strength than steel with a strength-to-weight ratio that’s ten-times better.
techcrunch.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:36 AM
There are a few interesting new approaches to wood going around, this one aims to replace steel and concrete with wood.
I put together the case design I made last week. It's my least crummy case to date!
Double Rainbow Case, Assemble!
As covered in my last post, I needed and ultimately designed a laser-cut case for a project that’s been stalled for a while. The cut parts arrived, and I put them together this week. Snijlab removes a...
duhrer.github.io
May 8, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I put together the case design I made last week. It's my least crummy case to date!
I took a break from coding projects and worked on a laser-cut case I need (for a coding project, duh).
Double Rainbow Case
I recently resumed work on a NeoPixel light project I started last year, the “double rainbow”. Last year I did a lot of experimenting with NeoPixel lights. These are individually addressable LEDs that...
duhrer.github.io
April 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I took a break from coding projects and worked on a laser-cut case I need (for a coding project, duh).
Here's a good piece on the trend towards "UI as code", with a lot of links to other good reads.
On UI as code
UI as Code as a named slogan originated in the context of Dart’s Flutter UI toolkit created by Google. It is centrally described by Bob Nystrom in this thoughtful posting Marking Dart a Better Languag...
ponder.org.uk
April 2, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Here's a good piece on the trend towards "UI as code", with a lot of links to other good reads.
I found the tool I needed to make a new Pebble watch face, this time with real animations.
Nepenthe
I had an idea for another Pebble watch face, this time using proper animation. The Idea An ePaper display like the one on the Pebble watches needs very little power to preserve a static display, but r...
duhrer.github.io
March 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I found the tool I needed to make a new Pebble watch face, this time with real animations.
I spent a few minutes reflecting back on 9 months using Linux (Bazzite) as my daily driver.
Settling into Linux
After years on OS X, I moved back to Linux, and after nine months, it’s pretty comfortable. Early last summer, my six year old MacBook Pro (the last Intel MBP) was slowly grinding to a halt. It was be...
duhrer.github.io
March 24, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I spent a few minutes reflecting back on 9 months using Linux (Bazzite) as my daily driver.
I had ideas about rotating vector images created from an SVG on the Pebble. They worked out.
Rotating SVGs using the Pebble C SDK
After working on my first watch face and making a second watch face for the hackathon, I had an idea for a new watch face, one that would require me to be able to rotate paths over time. After I publi...
duhrer.github.io
March 17, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I had ideas about rotating vector images created from an SVG on the Pebble. They worked out.
I learned a lot during the Rebble hackathon, and used that to improve my first Pebble watch face.
Revisiting My First Pebble Watch Face
After all I learned during the Rebble hackathon, I went back to rewrork my first Pebble watch face. In working on my “Sisyphus” watch face for the Rebble hackathon, I learned a lot about working with ...
duhrer.github.io
March 14, 2025 at 11:04 AM
I learned a lot during the Rebble hackathon, and used that to improve my first Pebble watch face.
I keep saying I'll stop, but I keep finding things to improve in my latest Pebble watch face.
Sisyphus Keeps Moving
I’m continuing to refine my Sisyphus-themed Pebble watch face. In my last blog post, I wrote about reworking the watch face I created for the Rebble hackathon. I wasn’t overly happy about the state of...
duhrer.github.io
March 12, 2025 at 12:52 PM
I keep saying I'll stop, but I keep finding things to improve in my latest Pebble watch face.
I had so much fun with my project for the Rebble Hackathon that I kept refining it afterwards.
Sisyphus Knows All About Iterating
People gave me feedback on my Sisyphus-themed Rebble hackathon entry, and I’m using their ideas. In the last post, I went through how I created the initial version of my “Sisyphus” watch face. Sisyphu...
duhrer.github.io
March 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
I had so much fun with my project for the Rebble Hackathon that I kept refining it afterwards.
I love the idea of designing things that people can build and repair themselves. Here's a flatpack toaster project!
Kasey Hou
Repairable Flatpack Toaster
www.kaseyhou.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
I love the idea of designing things that people can build and repair themselves. Here's a flatpack toaster project!
I learned to write Pebble watch faces just in time for the second Rebble hackathon. Here's my entry, called "Sisyphus".
March 2025 Rebble Hackathon Entry
After spending a few weeks learning to make Pebble watch faces, I made one for the week-long March 2025 Rebble Hackathon. By happy coincidence, I finished my last project just in time to take part in ...
duhrer.github.io
March 6, 2025 at 12:53 PM
I learned to write Pebble watch faces just in time for the second Rebble hackathon. Here's my entry, called "Sisyphus".
The latest version of my Pebble watch face, which I made configurable over the weekend.
Pebble Watch Face, with Configurable Colours
In this (hopefully) last pass at making my own Pebble watchface, I added better colour and the abilitity to configure the colours. This post is the fifth in a series, for background, check out part on...
duhrer.github.io
March 3, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The latest version of my Pebble watch face, which I made configurable over the weekend.
I updated my Pebble watch face to use custom fonts and colour. It was definitely a learning experience.
Pebble Watch Face, with Coloured Fonts
Strap yourself in, this is a long journey to attempt to achieve a seemingly simple goal. In part one, two, and three of this series, I worked my way towards making a watch face for the newly revived P...
duhrer.github.io
February 26, 2025 at 11:52 AM
I updated my Pebble watch face to use custom fonts and colour. It was definitely a learning experience.
Round three of building a watch face with the Pebble SDK, I'm pretty happy with how far I got.
Pebble Watch Face, Frame Buffer Version
I updated my Pebble watch face to use a frame buffer. Introduction I’m (still) learning to build watch faces for Pebble. In round one, I tried in Javascript, and ended up with the janky version show h...
duhrer.github.io
February 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Round three of building a watch face with the Pebble SDK, I'm pretty happy with how far I got.