Showing posts with label Building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Building. Show all posts

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Insight to Building a Computer


Image : http://www.flickr.com


Building a computer is not cheap, do not be mislead. What you do not get from buying a retail computer is the ability to pick every single computer component out. Picking your components out is the main benefit of building a computer, especially if you are building a gaming computer.

The Internet gives you the ability to shop around at so many different vendors. Two of my key vendors online are Tigerdirect and Newegg. These two vendors offer a huge selection of computer parts to pick from.

One might ask, how do you keep up with the latest technology? Browsing computer magazines will give you new great ideas for future builds. Doing a little research and familiarizing yourself with the computer technology will give you a greater advantage before building, your next awesome system. This is how one truly becomes aware of the current market. Go to your local store, pick a computer magazine up, and start reading. For more of a variety you could look through a few computer magazine tittles.

Before buying your new computer components, write everything out on paper. This will allow you to visualize your project. Make sure all component technology you are about to buy is supported by your chosen motherboard. This will save time and a headache later. Mailing items back to these two vendors is allowed. They allow the normal thirty day from purchase return policy. This is something to keep in mind if buying things slowly. You might wave your return option. Knowing this you might opt to save your money, and build when your ready to.

Now we will shift into gear an install the computer semiconductor boards. You will need to wear a grounded wrist strap, to prevent static electricity from smoking the semiconductor boards you are going to install. If you do not own one, then you will need to buy one at your local computer parts store like a Radio Shack. Grounding yourself will eliminate static charge, and reduce component failure. Static is the main cause of component failure. Do this and do not take any chances on damaging any components. Trust me, I have been on the side that lost several hundred dollars to static electricity, it really gets your goat, when new to building computers.

Once you have received all your new components, it is time to build. First open the computer case, unwrap the motherboard, line the motherboard up with the wholes in the case were the motherboard goes, and locate the screw wholes below the motherboard. You will need to install shoulder nut screws into the case were the motherboard will rest. Now take out the motherboard and place the shoulder nut screws in the locations that you just identified. The motherboard will rest on these shoulder nut screws, and will be bolted down to them. Once you finish installing the shoulder nut screws, install the motherboard onto of the shoulder nut screws, and screw the motherboard down with the correct screws. This secures the motherboard to the case, but leaves a gap between the back of the motherboard, and the back of the case were the shoulder nut screws are located.

Install the floppy, hard drive, CD-ROM, and DVD drive and connect the corresponding data and power wires to them. The DVD and CD-ROM drives will also have an audio cable connection for running audio to the motherboard.

If you bought a case without a power supply, now is the time to install the power supply. Use your motherboard manual and device manuals to hook up the power leads from the power supply to your devices and motherboard.

Now connect your video card, if installing one and any other cards at this time.

Install your memory and or RAM into the motherboard. Make sure you seat the memory correctly. Install your CPU (Central Processor Unit) and heat sink into the motherboard socket. Follow the instructions that came with the motherboard or memory for correct installation of memory modules. Follow the install instructions for the CPU and heat sink.

Connect all fans to either the power supply or motherboard fan connectors if supplied.

Now install the case wires (Hard Drive LED Light, Power Switch, Power Switch LED, Reset, et cetera) to the motherboard. You will need the manual that came with your motherboard. If you do not have this, go online and download it from the manufactures website. You will also need the most recent set of motherboard drivers for your motherboard. The drivers that shipped with your motherboard are most likely out of date. Download new ones off the manufactures webpage. New drivers will have a host of new fixes in them.

Hook up your monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the computer. Close your case and add power to the computer. Your computer should boot and show the bios on the monitor screen and say it can not find an "Operating System". Awesome job so far.

Next install your operating system and your computer is finished. Motherboard drivers are installed after the operating system is installed.

Install your motherboard drivers now.

Do a defragment to clean the hard drive of fragmented sectors.

Install virus software, like AVG.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

4 Steps to Learning How to Play Any Song on the Piano


Image : http://www.flickr.com


1. Determining the melody - Melodies are the actual tune to a song, some song are melodious and tend to be a bit flat but it sound good because it is sitting on a nice set of running chord. For beginner I would recommend starting with song that are melodious and get the tune of it, Play it on the piano in single tune, it means without the chords and bass lines. Melodies determine what chords will be played. If you can use your ear to figure out what notes are being played in the melody, you are 1/4 on your way to learning a song!

2.Harmonizing the melody - This part of it, is that you must have some understand of chords and how chords are form. In music and music theory a chord is three or more different notes that sound simultaneously. Once you have figured out the melody, it is time to harmonize it. This is simply choosing various chords to accompany the melody. There are several techniques and tricks to doing this. An example of a chord formation is always use the 1, 3 and 5 note of a scale for a major chord, example C chord is make up of C, E and G and a G chord is G, B and D.

3. Altering Chords - This is the best part! Now that you have strategically figured out the melody to a song and have harmonized it, altering your chords to produce certain sounds is the next step. If you were playing gospel music, you would alter your chords differently than if you were playing classical or country music.

4. Listening - After you have determined the melody, harmonized the melody, and altered some of your chords, there are various techniques you can use to make sure that your song sounds right. Personally I listen to the bass line and whether is from the bass guitar or from the piano this can help you more, the bass line does help you to determine the timing of the song too.

I personally learn all these theory from "The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" 300-pg Course by Jermaine Giggs and would strongly recommend this if you want to learn to play piano by ear. He has taught literally thousands of musicians how to play the piano by ear. This is very different from learning to read music score as what the classical pianist are trained.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Building Your Own Electronic Drum Set


Image : http://www.flickr.com


For decades, a drummer with a design do-it-yourself attitude and have been establishing its own electronic percussion. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this unique hobby, it is actually very easy to build a basic electronic drum kit, and the benefits are many. For many drummers, there are two main obstacles to owning a drum kit. One is living in a residential area where an acoustic drum was too strong, and the other is thehigh cost of set of electronic drums. Build your own electronic pad solves both problems can be very rewarding and satisfying. In fact, if properly designed, high quality drum kit can be built for about $ 200, including the form. Compare this with a similar kit, which would be new about $ 1000, and the value significantly in building your own costs. For many, the drummer is the only way to make a kit, and other funConstruction, is the primary motivation. Furthermore, the creation of an electronic drum kit can be done to suit your needs, or even build a very large kit that would be very expensive if purchased new change.

The first step in building a drum machine is to buy a MIDI module. The module is the brain of electronic drums, and as such is a piece that is difficult to build himself would (if not impossible, if you-know-how). InConsistent with the behavior of most economic do-it-yourself in possession, the modules used are a good alternative to more expensive models now. For countless drummers Alesis D4 drum machine to standby mode was. Because many of them are available, and for the high quality design, it is very easy to find a model used to sell on eBay or Craigslist. Expect to pay about $ 100, even if users will be found with sufficient units for less.

The next step is to build the battery.In addition to the module is the second key element of the electronic drums of the deduction, which only a piezo transducer. A piezo converts the vibrations into electrical signals and provides a response speed sensitive. In other words, converting a piezo-hits from the drum into electrical signals that the form in which a first wave of audio output that can be played either on an amplifier or headphones sent to convert. Piezo detractors can find very inexpensive and easy to use. ThePiezo hobby in common is Radio Shack Model 273-073, mainly because Radio Shack is the most common store for the purchase of electronics, and the portion of costs only a few dollars. This model is enclosed in a plastic bag that must be removed. A better solution from Radio Shack is an online provider of detractors piezo that are not included. Manufacturers of electronic products online is always cheaper than Radio Shack, and save themselves the trouble of breaking the electronic case, which can be difficult to do without damage to the piezo.

Once purchased, the piezo, the next step is to build drums. This is where you can be very creative. There are no restrictions on your project, you need only the piezo under some of the soft surface, a real drum gallows. The most common animals on the electronic drums are made of rubber or mesh, even if everything can be done and the transfer of the vibration function on the piezo. In fact, it would be possible to build an entire drum> Set type with your fingers directly and exclusively broadcast the piezo. Rubber heads are very common in do-it-yourself design, because they make it very easy to use. Mesh heads have the advantage of a calm and realistic feeling, but. With more patience and a good design, high quality Mesh Head Drum machines are made of common materials and a very low cost. For many people the satisfaction of such works and with material every day.

Pelvisalso be constructed using the same principles as the battery. Again, there are many ways to create a pool of electronics, ranging from simple to complex dual-zone triggers. Finding the key to the pelvis is something that feels so strong, like a pool, but also provides some damping characteristics in response to loud noise to be avoided.

The last element of homemade electronic drum set is the rack. There are many ways to build a rack to support the drums and cymbals, and this isshow where the personal adaptation in reality, as each battery has its own preferred setup. Common materials for the construction of a rack includes pipes (PVC, steel, copper) or wood. In creating the rack, it is important that it is rigid enough to dampen the vibrations of the drums, triggering can occur if you feel the vibrations of a different drum false.

Great set of electronic drums can be built on new rival their commercial counterparts in quality basicLocalities pricing. If you're a drummer, things like building, or never built, but nothing fascinated by the idea of trying, why not? It 'very rewarding, and once the kit will be even more motivated to practice because you are getting the satisfaction that it is built. This joy, along with the cost savings is the reason for the do-it-yourself know and love. So do not wait! Good luck building!