Hardware?

I got a very spontaneous idea about creating hardware for my digital instrument. But what implications are there attached with this idea and how feasible is it to undertake it? As explained in my previous blog my creative project/portfolio is still in a pondering stage, meaning that I haven’t consolidated any approach or plan for the project. If I decide to go hardware, this could be an extreme change of direction and plans, that would require learning some skills I don’t currently have. 

By hardware I mean that after finishing my digital instrument, either coding it or finishing the patch in Max, I will need to create a physical controller for it. This means an apparatus probably containing knobs and buttons, that functions as an interface between user and program.  In contrast if I decided not to go hardware, I will just have to create a UI for my project so people can use it in a computer. 

So lets split down the implications for hardware in this blog to be able to take a smart decision on the matter. Computer hardware is defined as external and internal devices and equipment that enable you to perform major functions such as input, output, storage, communication, processing, and more. There are two types of computer hardware: external and internal. External hardware devices include monitors, keyboards, printers, and scanners, whereas internal hardware devices include motherboards, hard drives, and RAM. More info here. For this project I refer to external hardware and not internal, I seek to create a physical interface for the program. 

Sketch 
To even consider the idea of hardware I thought it would be useful to just spit out a rough design of it and how would it look. This was an attempt to make speculative design, a strategy in design where people design something without considering its technical posibilities. In a way creating a magic device. The following image is a quick sketch in an notebook of an imaginary device. Excuse me for any spelling mistakes, it was a rough sketch in my book. 

In the skecth you can see a very abstract diagram of the device, full of parameter controls and its inputs and outputs. I also attributed imaginary functions to each knob and buttons just to speculate its functionality. The device has also a screen that shows you the recorded audio file of the program, this could facilitate the use of the device. The notes below was my attempt to outline an imaginary technical specifications of the device, similar to the one you see in music equipment in a online retail shop.  This idea was what I called an ML (Machine Learning) Sampler, where the user can plug directly a microphone and record something in it’s buffer, then the program would come up with a prediction of the next 10 secs of the audio, and generate the audio file that would be played and looped in the device. This sketch it’s indeed incredibly ambitious, and I doubt I’ll have the time and skills to create something like that. But the sketch was a useful tool to start thinking of ideas.

Things needed for hardware
– Micro computer that runs program.
– Components needed to interact with program (knobs, buttons, screens). 
– ADC and DAC to convert the audio in real-time.
– Power supply.
– Input and Outoput jacks.
– Casing.

Skills needed for hardware
– Physical computing (that I barely have).
– Soldering skills.
– Electronic components skills. 
– Program routing skills. 

Conclusion 
Outlining possible ideas and thinking about possible implications of hardware in this blog, helped me realise what it could take me to make this approach possible. But as outlined, it seems like making the instrument hardware would be extremely hard and time consuming, as I don’t have the enough knowledge and skills in this subject.
Although I’m not completely closed to the posibility, as the final outcoming of using this approach could be incredibly rewarding. I guess as I start researching properly my project, I will gain more knowledge to actually take an inform decision about the matter. Now it’s too early to decide.