Week 1: Introduction & Planning
This week I'm getting started with the "How to Make Almost Anything" course!
Things I did: Set up my website, Reviewed the syllabus and student agreement
Website
I've always wanted to make a website that's more Windows 95 style, the sort of pixellated nostalgia that I pseudo-miss. A lot of this is already a importable JS framework but also quite easy to just implement in css with some basic JS cursor handling for the draggable windows.
It was a bit annoying to deal with the JS and DOM stuff, I still haven't implemented altering the z-stack that moves a window to the front upon clicking it, but it's pretty easy to do.
I also added a hidden audio element that plays a live recording of Chinatown by Bleachers, a recording the band airdropped at a live show I was at. I also made everything able to render markdown, since that makes it much easier for me to put in my weekly updates without having to wrangle some annoying HTML stuff!
Ultimately, I decided to not go with some fancy JS framework because I like the classic HTML/CSS stack. It should be able to do everything you need to do, without some bloated Next.js or React framework.
Next steps:
Moving into Week 2, I'll start working on my first actual project using the laser cutter for some wood art pieces.
Last updated: September 11, 2025
Some things I looked at while making this:
Final Project Ideas
- A physical music player that allows you to interact with the music you're playing
- Viral sound propagation machine
- Anthropomorphize everything!
Physical Music Player
A simple initial cad were just variations on Gridfinity generations.
Viral Sound Propagation
Build a network of sound nodes that "infect" each other with musical patterns. Each node is a physical device with speakers/mics that listens to neighbors and mutates what it hears before retransmitting. Patterns evolve and die out like biological systems. It would be interesting to also be equipped with the ability to take in the conversations people are having near each node, take some snippets, and sent it along to the other nodes (but slightly distorted). Makes a space feel a bit smaller without full eavesdropping.
- Mesh networking protocols - Nodes communicate wirelessly to form a distributed network
- Real-time audio analysis - Each node processes incoming audio to extract musical patterns
- Genetic algorithms for pattern mutation - Patterns evolve through algorithmic mutations
- Custom PCB design - Each node will be a custom-designed circuit board
The project draws inspiration from Conway's Game of Life and biological systems where patterns can propagate, mutate, and evolve based on local interactions. Each sound node acts like a cell that can "infect" its neighbors with musical DNA.
- Create a self-organizing musical ecosystem
- Explore emergent behavior in distributed audio systems
- Design and fabricate custom hardware for each node
- Develop algorithms for musical pattern evolution
- Create an interactive installation that responds to its environment