Programming and Electronics for Art & Music

This class is an introduction to the use of DIY electronics and microcontroller programming in the context of music and art-making. No previous experience is needed, although you must be willing to really dig in to the subject. There's not nearly enough in-class time to cover these topics thoroughly, so you'll need to spend a lot of time outside of class doing your own research/learning. The best way to learn is to teach yourself!

There are three main components to the class:

Discussions covering historical and contemporary uses of programming and electronics in numerous disciplines, forms, styles, and movements, and the work of individual artists.
Lectures and hands-on electronics experiments: we'll cover the basics of electronics theory, the design and construction of simple sound/light circuits, different types of sensors and actuators, and microcontrollers (focusing on the Arduino and similar).
We will provide many of the electronics components, but you will need to buy some basic supplies for the class.
Short, written responses to weekly prompts posted on the courseworks site.

This is a LIVE and INTERACTIVE class! That means we're doing projects and experiments in class, we're all participating and asking questions, and we're always open for discussion and suggestions for pieces to listen to or videos to watch in class. Please get involved!

Note that there is no final project. Your grade is determined soley by class participation. Each unexcused absense, skipped weekly response, or skipped exercise lowers your mark by 1/2 letter grade!

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Class meets every THURSDAY afternoon from 3-5pm. I get very grumpy if students are late. Please be on time. Prentis Hall is a 10-15 minute walk from main campus.

Office hours for Douglas and Onur are Tuesday afternoons from 3-5pm. One of us should always be around, but if it's an emergency make sure you email us before coming over to make sure we're here.

PLEASE COME SEE US IF YOU NEED HELP! WE LOVE TO HELP!

Syllabus

We'll spend 1-3 weeks on each topic, in roughly this order:

Intros & class logistics
Electricity: friend or foe? * *
Electromagnetism
Algorithms & logic *
Sensors, actuators, & microcontrollers

All subject to change based on number of students in the class, the group's interests, and cosmic noise.

Classroom & Workshop Access

Taking this class gives you 24/7 access to the classroom space and workshop. To reserve the classroom use the signup sheet at:

http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/cmc-reservation-system/

The password will be given to you on the first day of class.

The workshop is a shared space and can't be reserved.

Recommended Resources

Electronics & hacking books
- The Art of Electronics by Horowitz & Hill
- Physical Computing by O'Sullivan & Igoe
- Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking by Nicolas Collins
- Make: Electronics by Charles Platt
- Making Things Move by Dustyn Roberts
Materials and components
- Herbach and Rademan: surplus motors, mechanical components, power supplies
- All Electronics: surplus electronics, small motors, batteries
- Digikey: new electronic components, tools
- McMaster-Carr: new mechanical components, tools
- Adafruit: Lady Ada's DIY electronics & kits
- Sparkfun: kits, sensors, microcontrollers

The End

(Have some fun!)