I recently got TE’s Oplab and want to make a scratch pad with an old hard drive I have laying around. Anyone know how I would go about doing that? I know they specifically mention this DIY idea on the main page for the Oplab, but some tips and tricks on how to do it would be great!
I’d also like to be able to bend pitches without having to press the shift/arrow keys as I play… I was thinking maybe I could connect a strip of electrical tape that’s on a piece if cardboard to the Oplab and then as I slid my finger up or down, I’d be able to bend the pitch of the notes on the OP1… Any ideas or suggestions??
I did spend the last 5 days making my own Oplab box from scratch. Sanded the crap out of it and I’m pretty happy with the results. I used redwood and some pine. I sanded it, cut it, cursed at it all with my own hands and mouth… Hehehe… It felt so good when I finished it!! Hehehe… Check it out below:
oh yeah. i’ve ordered an Ototo and some Arduino sensors. especially breadboard and cables … wiring up some old sound chips and stuff.
this hard drive thing sounds awesome. i think TE will release more of their oplab vids…because they’re 5 to watch and the playlist goes up to 8 i think.
My guess is that you will want to simply hook up to the spindle motor of the hard drive. This will need to be translated somehow, I would think, into controlling other things. If you are using a hard drive, you could also look at using the head assembly as some sort of bender.
I’ve emailed TE twice mentioning if they had any tips on using the Oplab in more creative ways. The last email I got from them, Tobias said he’d be forwarding the info to Jon, the Oplab specialist… That was almost a month ago.
I just used this thread as a catalyst to send them a reminder email about my inquiry. I mentioned there were others who were interested in knowing how to use the Oplab with old hard drives and such… Hopefully they’ll respond soon!
they haven’t even updated the Oplab in damned near two years, and KNOW it has a pretty bad bug atm, too (MIDI In isn’t forwarded to MIDI Out). I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting on a response =/
ohhh man getting an old HD open is no easy task. make sure you get a torque screwdriver… well actually you need a torque to close it properlly. anyhoo have fun trying to get an HD open.
As far as I can tell it is not supported to use a HD like that yet, currently Oplab supports 3.3v digital in and out via the digital connector, and CV/Gate in and out, I can not think of how a HD could be interfaced without some other circuit in between. But it is simple enough to add resistive ribbons, piezo discs, pots and switches to do some fun stuff.
