dimitris108

Guys I am about to buy one of these sensor boxes: I-CubeX, Eobody, Teabox.

i-cubex-eobody-teabox

Quote: dimitris108 wrote on Wed, 30 May 2007 18:11

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> Guys I am about to buy one of these sensor boxes: I-CubeX, Eobody, Teabox.

Try searching the forum for all the threads on this topic, one of which is quite recent.

http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensor_interfaces

Also, what are you planning on doing with the sensor box? That makes a big difference.

Quote: dimitris108 wrote on Wed, 30 May 2007 18:11
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> Guys I am about to buy one of these sensor boxes: I-CubeX, Eobody, Teabox.
>
> Which one is better and why?
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Try searching the forum for all the threads on this topic, one of  which is quite recent.  

Look at this chart:
http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensor_interfaces

Also, what are you planning on doing with the sensor box?  That makes a big difference.

I hate to say it cause I love their products, but Icubex has been very poor tech support, customer service, and build quality. The wires attached to the sensors broke within a week of using them (and not an unusual ammount, they were accelerometers and I was using them on a dancer who was beign very gentle). for the 1200 dollars we should have gotten the krooned gamma, it would have been more sturdy and able to handle what we need. Also I sent in the broken sensors so they could just reattach the wire and its been about 3-4 months and it seems I get an email a month from them, thats 1 month per wire.

I would say it really depends on the project but for installations where IO is needed go for the make/makingthings.

I hate to say it cause I love their products, but Icubex has been very poor tech support, customer service, and build quality.  The wires attached to the sensors broke within a week of using them (and not an unusual ammount, they were accelerometers and I was using them on a dancer who was beign very gentle).  for the 1200 dollars we should have gotten the krooned gamma, it would have been more sturdy and able to handle what we need.  Also I sent in the broken sensors so they could just reattach the wire and its been about 3-4 months and it seems I get an email a month from them, thats 1 month per wire.

I would say it really depends on the project but for installations where IO is needed go for the make/makingthings.


they finally got my stuff back to me and its great now, they fixed and reinforced everything, Im sure it will hold up. I hope they do this to all their sensors in the future.

they finally got my stuff back to me and its great now, they fixed and reinforced everything, Im sure it will hold up.  I hope they do this to all their sensors in the future.


The Ipsoncompact, more ins and outs, faster, cheaper. No beautifull casing.

Even though our cable-to-sensor connections rarely have problems, following the experience with Axiom-Crux's GForce2D sensors (sorry for the delay !), we are actually implementing a really sturdy method for the attachment of the cable to the sensor for all our sensors. We're also working on a new sensor-to-interface connection method that's still compatible with all our (past and new) sensor interfaces.

As for selecting a sensor to computer interface, keep in mind that if you want to compose/perform music rather sooner than later, your work will be greatly simplified (read: shortened) if you only need to plug in a sensor (as opposed to finding / figuring out the circuit diagram, soldering it and then connecting it - all this in a robust way). I-CubeX aims to do that because we'd like to think (correct us if we're wrong) that you want to spend your time composing/performing music and/or designing interesting ways of controlling your music, and not designing sensor hardware. Weigh this against specs that may seem better of other devices, but which spec you may not need anyways. Comparing specs is not always straightforward either, by the way.

Finally, please note that we're doing a time-limited, targeted promotion right now for the StarterPack for US$199 (not listed on the website but mention "Cycler" in the order comments box).

In case you wanted to go wireless, try the thumb-sized Wi-microDig sold as part of the Wi-microSystem package together with a rechargeable BatteryPack for US$599.

As for selecting a sensor to computer interface, keep in mind that if you want to compose/perform music rather sooner than later, your work will be greatly simplified (read: shortened) if you only need to plug in a sensor (as opposed to finding / figuring out the circuit diagram, soldering it and then connecting it - all this in a robust way). I-CubeX aims to do that because we'd like to think (correct us if we're wrong) that you want to spend your time composing/performing music and/or designing interesting ways of controlling your music, and not designing sensor hardware. Weigh this against specs that may seem better of other devices, but which spec you may not need anyways. Comparing specs is not always straightforward either, by the way. 

In case you wanted to go wireless, try the thumb-sized Wi-microDig sold as part of the Wi-microSystem package together with a rechargeable BatteryPack for US$599.


Glad to hear that. Im surprised you never had any problems previously. Had anyone used these for dance before that you know of? Im sure they would work great for installations but when it came to moving it around I don't even think I pulled out the first wire that broke, it slowly wore away as it would move back and forth. at any rate its fixed now..

Not sure if you guys checked it out, but I did get a recording of the performance that we did back then. Im now working on making a much better one that is more inherently syncd.

http://axiom-crux.net/video/sensordance.html

Glad to hear that.  Im surprised you never had any problems previously.  Had anyone used these for dance before that you know of?  Im sure they would work great for installations but when it came to moving it around I don't even think I pulled out the first wire that broke, it slowly wore away as it would move back and forth.  at any rate its fixed now..

Not sure if you guys checked it out, but I did get a recording of the performance that we did back then.  Im now working on making a much better one that is more inherently syncd.

http://axiom-crux.net/video/sensordance.html


Yes, lots of people use our stuff for dance. And usually people get back to us when something doesn't work (anymore). Anyways, thanks for the link - nice work ! Would you be willing to share what you do with the GForce2D signals ? How do you process and map them ?

well its a bit complex, but the jist of it is that I was running max/msp with a custom granular/physical modeling patch including sogs~ by IRCAM, as well as absynth for the shrill atmospheres. Then I was transmitting the data over netsend to another g5 running jitter with AUVI objects. using a 2d tilt for each arm (the right arm sensor broke while she was stretching right before the performance) and a bend for each leg, and thats about it! we would change the mapping for everything on the fly.

The new stuff were doing is much more synced as we only had about 2 weeks to prepare that performance. Im sure we will do another one once we have something truely amazing prepared.

well its a bit complex, but the jist of it is that I was running max/msp with a custom granular/physical modeling patch including sogs~ by IRCAM, as well as absynth for the shrill atmospheres.  Then I was transmitting the data over netsend to another g5 running jitter with AUVI objects.  using a 2d tilt for each arm (the right arm sensor broke while she was stretching right before the performance) and a bend for each leg, and thats about it!  we would change the mapping for everything on the fly. 

The new stuff were doing is much more synced as we only had about 2 weeks to prepare that performance.  Im sure we will do another one once we have something truely amazing prepared.


So you were not filtering the sensor data to get rid of sudden variations due to quick movements ? If using the inclination angle of the arms was the aim, didn't you want to reduce the presence of acceleration data in the output signal ? The GForce2D can be used to measure both but to get the inclination angle (tilt) you need to apply a low-pass filter to the signal (or not make any sudden movements).

I use the Teabox and the expander and I'm completely happy with it. The Teabox is very rugged, but the expander is not at all...no cover or anything. Not sure what they were thinking there, but it works great right out of the box with the teabox~ object.

as I said, I didn't want to get too deep into it.. but yes I was using smoothing/lpf