PROJECTS: PIXELMUSIC 3000
makezine.com/14/pixelmusic
MAKE IT.
BUILD YOUR
PIXELMUSIC 3000
START>>
1. MAKE THE CABLES
Time: A Weekend Complexity: Medium
If you’ve never hacked a cable before, there’s a rush when you make that irrevocable snip.
1a. Cut the stereo mini cable near 1
end, and strip the wires 2" down. Use
a multimeter’s continuity function to
identify left channel, right channel,
and ground (GND) wires, which correspond to the jack’s tip, ring, and
sleeve, respectively. Ground may be a
mesh surrounding the other 2 wires.
1b. Cut the mini-to-RCA A/V cable
near the mini end, then strip and
identify the wires as you did with the
stereo cable. This cable has an extra
ring for video, which connects to the
yellow RCA plug.
1c. Solder the cable wires to the
3- and 4-pin circuit board headers.
With the stereo cable, solder in this
order: ground, right channel, left
channel. With the A/V cable, follow
the order ground, video, left, right.
Confirm all connections with the
multimeter — inside my possibly
nonstandard A/V cable from a 99¢
store, the white and yellow wires
were reversed.
118 Make: Volume 14
