• Nic's Hackeramp

    The Hackeramp patch is a stupid but handy Maxplay application that turns your laptop into a simple amplifier for testing contact microphones, coil pickups, bent toys, homemade circuits, or any other audio device with an output jack. It provides enough gain for low-level microphones, and can be monitored over the computer's built-in speakers, through headphones, or through external speakers connected to the laptop's output. The on-screen controls centralize, and make easily accessible, audio adjustments that would otherwise entail messing around in system preferences.

    Download the Mac version.
    Download the PC version.

  • Build Your Own Reverb
    How to build your own spring and plate reverbs. I wrote this for for the March/April 2010 issue of Tape Op (#76). Contact mikes, slinkies and cymbals -- oh my!
  • The Super Switch
    How to wire up a momentary pushbutton switch that can be changed on the fly from Normally Open to Normally Closed. Sounds dumb but this is really useful.
  • Envelope Follower Circuit
    My first published work ever. This circuit appeared in Electronotes (Vol. 7, #60, December, 1975), the infamous newsletter of amateur synthesizer hackers -- roots of Handmade Electronic Music!