need a hobby to get over boredom

[BassistFreak416]

i have always been one to imagine and design, mostly as drawings. i spend most of my days at school busy doodling away at a new bass design or a cool amp to reach the lowest frequencies. as fun as dreaming is for me, i seem to have reached a point where i want to apply some of this and get a real result, though not in the same scale as a complete bass.

i recently built a roadrage 2 channel looper kit with my friend at his house, and while there, i learned the fun of hooking up the vibrating machines in the xbox controllers to batteries and seeing the results, while basic electronics, it got me to imagine what can be done with electronics.

now that i have this feeling for constructing, i need a place to start. i would like to learn how to wire up speakers, maybe make a device i can hook my ipod to and hook the speakers to. i have thought about rc cars and thinking about getting a kit or finding a way to build or upgrade a cheap one.

what do you all think? how can i start a hobby in electronics?

 

[ThatGermanDude]

Look for an easy project on something like lifehacker or makezine, then go to radio shack, get some supplies and start soldering away.

 

[Sterling_Bass]

Are you in high school or college? Some high schools offer introductory electronics or computer repair classes that let students build exactly the kind of things you're interested in.

 

[Jim Nazium]

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Pr...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258896625&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282/ref=pd_sim_b_4

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Circuits-Evil-Genius-Projects/dp/0071448810/ref=pd_sim_b_44

hth

 

[RWP]

MCM Electronics is a great resource.

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[BassistFreak416]

high school, but my school is way too small to consider an electronics class.

those books look pretty cool, i may check if my local borders has any of them.

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

If they don't, you can definitely get them ordered.

 

[tycobb73]

My friends and I designed our own speakers in college. There's places that will see you just the speakers and you buy programs to design boxes.

 

[BassistFreak416]

if u mean complete speaker construction, that's more than im looking at. i would probably use a small wooden box or cardboard box and just wire the speakers to a jack to be hooked up somewhere for power and sound

 

[Absentia]

hackaday.com

 

[BassistFreak416]

well, i managed to take apart some old headsets and have gotten 2 to work when wired to a 1/4 jack (i hook my ipod up with a 1/4 adapter). i plan to use a shoebox as a cabinet for now. sadly the speakers are awfully quiet. either way, its a start.

i have had other plans to build a cheapo eub by screwing an old squier neck and bolting it to a thing of wood, building a wooden bridge, and using piezos form radioshack for pickups, and ill have a simple eub.

 

[James_B]

Well my personal advice to you, is to take a ton of math and physic classes and get this hobby of yours, working for you, big time. A technical mind is an incredible thing.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

Perhaps you should pick up an instrument. Like the bass guitar.

 

[BassistFreak416]

i do have a bass and do play it, but i need something to be made and that i can see the results of it

 

[Lapicide]

You'd like something that you could see the results... how about hear the results? Start recording. There is freeware software available, drum software too, you'd just need a recording interface, as you prolly have a computer. Then you'd develop your bass skills more with recording also. A basic setup is all you'd need. That would keep you busy very long. And there is alot to learn.
There are several websites that have electronic kits to assemble, pedals, all sorts of stuff. That would be a good place to start. When in high school, I started in electronics with Craig Andertons electronic projects for Musicians from PAIA. I breadboarded and built several pedals. That got me interested and then I went to college for an electronics engineering degree......Lapicide

 

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Hobbies can be many things... such as building models, etc... Personally I find Lionel O gauge trains to be a nice pastime. Downside... expensive and takes up a lot of room. But hey... now the Lionel trains are made in china, so it's affordable to start with the Gomez Addams method for model railroading.

 

[karrot-x]

Have you considered internet porn?

 

[BassistFreak416]

hahaha, i no comment on that

i have considered recording. thought about getting a drum machine, then just working from there. maybe an electric drum set for extra fun, also bcause i have wanted to learn drums now and then. idk, i think recording would be more fun with friends so you could make a song or somethin.
most websites require u to buy a pcb board, which i would rather just buy some parts from radioshack so i can learn exactly how it all works.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

hahaha, i no comment on that

i have considered recording. thought about getting a drum machine, then just working from there. maybe an electric drum set for extra fun, also bcause i have wanted to learn drums now and then. idk, i think recording would be more fun with friends so you could make a song or somethin.
most websites require u to buy a pcb board, which i would rather just buy some parts from radioshack so i can learn exactly how it all works.

Yeah. I think you might get some satisfaction out of recording. It's a totally different mindset than just learning and creating basslines. Very satisfying. Also, are you in a band? Perhaps consider starting/joining one.

 

[J. Crawford]

Or pick up another instrument, start from scratch.