Phil Atkin
@ramoneskaraoke.bsky.social
I make software, electronics and 3D prints to enable people on tiny budgets to hear and record the extraordinary sounds of bats. Big fan of wildlife, of records with prominent guitars and snappy snares, and every second of the 1970s.
10,000! Probably 9,000 don't have a microphone they can use, but that's 9,000 potential Griff Mini units just waiting to be built. p.s if you build a Griff Mini and are intending to use Android, do NOT use a USB-C Pico clone from AliExpress - a combo of design fault and Android stops it from working
November 18, 2025 at 8:20 AM
10,000! Probably 9,000 don't have a microphone they can use, but that's 9,000 potential Griff Mini units just waiting to be built. p.s if you build a Griff Mini and are intending to use Android, do NOT use a USB-C Pico clone from AliExpress - a combo of design fault and Android stops it from working
Freely downloadable 3D printable cases for pippyg, 2 versions :
a) Apodemus rev0 / pippyg 3.7 ("old microphone" designs) and
b) pippyg 3.8 / pippyg 4.0 versions ("new microphone")
In an act of profound idiocy I managed to put the mic holes in slightly different positions 🤡
From www.pippyg.com
a) Apodemus rev0 / pippyg 3.7 ("old microphone" designs) and
b) pippyg 3.8 / pippyg 4.0 versions ("new microphone")
In an act of profound idiocy I managed to put the mic holes in slightly different positions 🤡
From www.pippyg.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Freely downloadable 3D printable cases for pippyg, 2 versions :
a) Apodemus rev0 / pippyg 3.7 ("old microphone" designs) and
b) pippyg 3.8 / pippyg 4.0 versions ("new microphone")
In an act of profound idiocy I managed to put the mic holes in slightly different positions 🤡
From www.pippyg.com
a) Apodemus rev0 / pippyg 3.7 ("old microphone" designs) and
b) pippyg 3.8 / pippyg 4.0 versions ("new microphone")
In an act of profound idiocy I managed to put the mic holes in slightly different positions 🤡
From www.pippyg.com
Yes, I made 2 of these. Number 100 is outside right now, trying to determine how many bats of different species will fly past our front door tonight.
October 31, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Yes, I made 2 of these. Number 100 is outside right now, trying to determine how many bats of different species will fly past our front door tonight.
Every time I add a new feature I have to update the damn PDF. It drives me CRAZY. Can't people just work this stuff out telepathically without me having to tell them?
October 31, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Every time I add a new feature I have to update the damn PDF. It drives me CRAZY. Can't people just work this stuff out telepathically without me having to tell them?
Griff the USB microphone finally got his own device page (like a product page but he isn't a product), linked from the QR code on the revised Griff Mini PCB : www.pippyg.com/griff.html
October 6, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Griff the USB microphone finally got his own device page (like a product page but he isn't a product), linked from the QR code on the revised Griff Mini PCB : www.pippyg.com/griff.html
I’m too old and too male to be in the Rainbows, but as a result of some volunteering / educational outreach we did a couple of weeks ago on behalf of the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social I am now the very proud owner of a Rainbows “Bat activity” patch. It is deeply excellent.
October 6, 2025 at 7:52 AM
I’m too old and too male to be in the Rainbows, but as a result of some volunteering / educational outreach we did a couple of weeks ago on behalf of the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social I am now the very proud owner of a Rainbows “Bat activity” patch. It is deeply excellent.
Great day out at @nationaltrust.org.uk Lacock this week. Sunshine, apple trees heavy with fruit and Mistletoe, and the remarkable volunteer Naomi using forensic science skills to preserve historic floor tiles. Plus a DAZZLING early colour (Devin Tricolor) photo exhibition.
October 5, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Great day out at @nationaltrust.org.uk Lacock this week. Sunshine, apple trees heavy with fruit and Mistletoe, and the remarkable volunteer Naomi using forensic science skills to preserve historic floor tiles. Plus a DAZZLING early colour (Devin Tricolor) photo exhibition.
Kestrel keeping a wary eye on us this afternoon. Eventually it ran out of power poles and shot off.
October 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Kestrel keeping a wary eye on us this afternoon. Eventually it ran out of power poles and shot off.
Ooh ooh ooh - TK Maxx in Swindon, a single pair of the most PERFECT wireless headphones for folks to use with Bat Detector on their iPhone. So anyone in the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social needs to get a move on to secure them - I left them REALLY visible :)
October 3, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Ooh ooh ooh - TK Maxx in Swindon, a single pair of the most PERFECT wireless headphones for folks to use with Bat Detector on their iPhone. So anyone in the @wiltsbatgroup.bsky.social needs to get a move on to secure them - I left them REALLY visible :)
A trip to Buscot Park yesterday, where they now allow photography in all rooms. I skipped snapping the Rembrandt - and it is a GOOD Rembrandt! - and made straight for the immense Briar Rose sequence by Burne-Jones, the most exquisite immersive art installation you ever saw. Photos by iPhone 16e.
September 25, 2025 at 7:55 AM
A trip to Buscot Park yesterday, where they now allow photography in all rooms. I skipped snapping the Rembrandt - and it is a GOOD Rembrandt! - and made straight for the immense Briar Rose sequence by Burne-Jones, the most exquisite immersive art installation you ever saw. Photos by iPhone 16e.
The revised user manual for Bat Detector - 2.4, the next release - has a new final page with a plea for decency from folks who enjoy using high-quaility, free software with zero profit motive. The app is free and has no nag screen, it tries to be as nice to you as possible, so please be nice back.
September 23, 2025 at 9:38 AM
The revised user manual for Bat Detector - 2.4, the next release - has a new final page with a plea for decency from folks who enjoy using high-quaility, free software with zero profit motive. The app is free and has no nag screen, it tries to be as nice to you as possible, so please be nice back.
Bat Detector v2.3 build 17 live on TestFlight. It creates sonograms as it captures wavs, so you can do a rapid visual scan of your recordings folder to see where the interesting stuff happened. Great for spotting Horseshoes that you missed due to noisy pips and crickets :) Images are from the app.
September 20, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Bat Detector v2.3 build 17 live on TestFlight. It creates sonograms as it captures wavs, so you can do a rapid visual scan of your recordings folder to see where the interesting stuff happened. Great for spotting Horseshoes that you missed due to noisy pips and crickets :) Images are from the app.
Lovely titchy little Grass Snake on our walk about the village just now. Nothing beats a chance reptile encounter, it’s so unusual nowadays.
September 7, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Lovely titchy little Grass Snake on our walk about the village just now. Nothing beats a chance reptile encounter, it’s so unusual nowadays.
Since today was the #NatBatConf I had to pop outside for a bat walk. More of a bat dash to be honest, I was only outside for 7 minutes, here's the first minute after I closed the front door behind me - 4 or 5 species in here, plus a fox, highlight was 3 big, fast Serotines whipping inches overhead.
September 6, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Since today was the #NatBatConf I had to pop outside for a bat walk. More of a bat dash to be honest, I was only outside for 7 minutes, here's the first minute after I closed the front door behind me - 4 or 5 species in here, plus a fox, highlight was 3 big, fast Serotines whipping inches overhead.
Stick it on your guitar, 4 built-in kits, 8-bit companded samples, the whole point being the "Guitar body noises" kit to make KT Tunstall / Ed Sheeran / Danish Pete looped noises using just a magnetic soundhole pickup. I'll publish this for folks to build, but THERE WILL BE ZERO TECH SUPPORT.
August 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Stick it on your guitar, 4 built-in kits, 8-bit companded samples, the whole point being the "Guitar body noises" kit to make KT Tunstall / Ed Sheeran / Danish Pete looped noises using just a magnetic soundhole pickup. I'll publish this for folks to build, but THERE WILL BE ZERO TECH SUPPORT.
Brilliant evening of bush cricket detection last night. Such a shame that those noisy annoying bats kept butting in and ruining my recordings ...
July 27, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Brilliant evening of bush cricket detection last night. Such a shame that those noisy annoying bats kept butting in and ruining my recordings ...
Done! 4 sampled kits of 8 drums. Hard Rock, Linn, 808 and Latin, which probably needs a tweak - clueless about that genre. The 2 LEDs indicate the kit, binary coded, the little pads are previous kit / next kit. Hard Rock incorporates my synthetic “Glitterclap”. Guitar goes in, output goes to looper.
July 26, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Done! 4 sampled kits of 8 drums. Hard Rock, Linn, 808 and Latin, which probably needs a tweak - clueless about that genre. The 2 LEDs indicate the kit, binary coded, the little pads are previous kit / next kit. Hard Rock incorporates my synthetic “Glitterclap”. Guitar goes in, output goes to looper.
I've been quiet on the bat front for the last month because I've been coding and building a drum machine to use with a looper pedal. Guitar goes in, guitar or drums comes out, selected by a switch. 3 sampled kits, 1 modelled. Build cost under £10. No support will be provided, at all. So don't ask.
July 23, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I've been quiet on the bat front for the last month because I've been coding and building a drum machine to use with a looper pedal. Guitar goes in, guitar or drums comes out, selected by a switch. 3 sampled kits, 1 modelled. Build cost under £10. No support will be provided, at all. So don't ask.
Here’s what bats ACTUALLY sound like if you slow them down 16x.
July 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Here’s what bats ACTUALLY sound like if you slow them down 16x.
Wildly exciting batting yesterday evening. Newly-fledged common pips on the wing, flying in crazy tight circles with their mothers, inches from our faces, tons of feeding buzzes. Plus a pair of Serotines - loud! - low and slow in the gloom. And a bonus prize of a fox in the field next to the church.
July 10, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Wildly exciting batting yesterday evening. Newly-fledged common pips on the wing, flying in crazy tight circles with their mothers, inches from our faces, tons of feeding buzzes. Plus a pair of Serotines - loud! - low and slow in the gloom. And a bonus prize of a fox in the field next to the church.
Serotine outside the front door last night, and so close above my head - 4 feet ish - it was clipping harder than Roger Taylor's drumming on Sheer Heart Attack. But had it not been so close I would have struggled to see it, lots of tree cover and getting dark at almost half past ten last night.
July 9, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Serotine outside the front door last night, and so close above my head - 4 feet ish - it was clipping harder than Roger Taylor's drumming on Sheer Heart Attack. But had it not been so close I would have struggled to see it, lots of tree cover and getting dark at almost half past ten last night.
This one really is the last update. Manual frequency override! So you can turn your awesome auto-scanning, time-expanding, full-spectrum recording iPhone into an old-school manually tuned detector, just like the cavemen had back in the 1990s. It's like a heritage rock act, but for bats.
July 1, 2025 at 11:27 AM
This one really is the last update. Manual frequency override! So you can turn your awesome auto-scanning, time-expanding, full-spectrum recording iPhone into an old-school manually tuned detector, just like the cavemen had back in the 1990s. It's like a heritage rock act, but for bats.
A new one for me - Box Tree Moth.
June 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM
A new one for me - Box Tree Moth.
This is the final update in the current round, so let me know if there are issues. Changes - sensitivity and signal strength now reported in dB, added visual feedback on the current filename being written. If nobody raises issues this will go on the store, then no more updates or fixes for a while.
June 30, 2025 at 12:21 PM
This is the final update in the current round, so let me know if there are issues. Changes - sensitivity and signal strength now reported in dB, added visual feedback on the current filename being written. If nobody raises issues this will go on the store, then no more updates or fixes for a while.