Join us a for an action-packed day of audio hacking. Bring a cool hardware and/or software project to work on. Work individually or in teams.

Presented by Soundhackers and New Adventures In Sound Art

Schedule:
2:00 – 2:15 Hacklab Tour and Hackathon Overview
2:15 – 2:30 Introductions / Team Formation
2:30 – 6:00 Work on Projects
6:00 – 7:00 Break
7:00 – 10:00 Finish projects
10:00 – Midnight Show & Tell / Performances

Demos:
Soldering (soldering irons are available)
Making Inductor Coil microphones

Kits available to purchase:
NAISATron
Contact Mic
Micro Radio Transmitter

All experience levels welcome. Participants welcome to use any tool they wish.

Possible technologies include Arduino, Max, Pd, Ableton Live, Supercollider, Fabrication/3d Printing (TBD)

Admission $10
Open to the Public

cadsoft EAGLE workshop: Feb 9, 16 & 23
$free (donation to hacklab encouraged & appreciated)
https://hacklab-cadsoft-eagle.eventbrite.ca

Come learn CADsoft Eagle, “award winning software [that] offers user friendly, powerful and affordable solutions for PCB design, including Schematic Capture, Board Layout and Autorouter.” It’s used by many hobbyists thanks to the free version, which isn’t horribly crippled, and it’s used by Spark Fun, so many open source PCB designs are already available and easy to copy from! The tutorial will be in three parts, over three consecutive Mondays:

Monday February 9th: Schematic Capture. Taking your circuit schematic and laying it out in Eagle, including things like adding parts, wiring parts, and naming things. ERC electrical rule check.

Monday February 16th: PCB Layout. Including part placement and routing of signals. Trace thickness, autorouting, layers, and DRC design rule check.

Monday February 23th: CAM Processor, Ordering Boards & using the Parts Editor. Using the CAM processor to create Gerbers (the data files that all board houses accept). Quick review of some PCB making services. Creating a new part. Copying and editing an existing part. Library management.

Attendees should come to all three sessions, to get complete coverage of Eagle. So make sure you are available for all sessions before signing up. Please download and install Eagle before the first session.

The tutorial will be taught by Eric and Sen, we both have years of experience using Eagle to make PCBs for shipping products.

NOTE: the interface is confusing, you need only one ticket, just pick the first date from the dropdown, and you’ll be registered for all three dates of the event.

Some folks are at the lab eating Christmas Curry and Axis Of Evil Cookies, listening to secular christmas music and debating whether we want to subject ourselves to Seth Rogen’s The Interview. There’s quite a bit of hackery happening, and vegan hot chocolate has been enjoyed by all.

Whatever you’re doing this holiday season, we hope you’re having as much fun as we are.

Happy Hackmas from everyone at the lab!

Sen using a thermal camera to monitor the exact temperature of the Roller Derby skates baking in our oven. For science!

Hacklab will be hosting a weekend Open-House on Saturday December 20th, starting at 2pm and going until at least 6pm (but likely later). Come bring your curiosity, neat projects, your weird and crazy ideas and your awesome selves.  As always, our open-house is at 1266 Queen Street West, Unit 6.  Buzz our unit number at the door to be let in.

Any questions about this event can be directed to us via the Contact page.

Hope to see you there.  Happy hacking!

Hacklab is open to the public every Tuesday night!  Doors are open from from around 6pm until late. Come show off your projects, make something awesome, just chill out with other geeks!

Joseph brought in his Oculus Rift for people to try:

Alex ran a demonstration of CNC embroidery:

And created this neat shirt! (YOU SHOULD BUY THIS! All proceeds are donated to hacklab!)

Misha’s demonstrated his new display:

Hey everyone!

We get asked every now and again if we could host weekend open-houses for those of you who can’t make it out to our Tuesday Open-House nights. Well, your dreams have come true!

Hacklab will be hosting a weekend Open-House on Saturday December 6, starting at 2pm and going until at least 6pm (but likely later). Come bring your curiosity, neat projects, your weird and crazy ideas and your awesome selves.  As always, our open-house is at 1266 Queen Street West, Unit 6.  Buzz our unit number at the door to be let in.

Also, there will be free vegan food! Show up for some noms, stay for the blinking LED’s!

Any questions about this event can be directed to us via the Contact page.

Hope to see you there.  Happy hacking!

Alex will be demonstrating his CNC embroidery system this Tuesday!

Hacklab is open to the public every Tuesday night!  Doors are open from from around 6pm until late. Come show off your projects, make something awesome, just chill out with other geeks!

When: Sunday, November 23 – 2:00pm to 5:00 PM
Where: Hacklab.TO! 1266 Queen Street West, (Buzz Suite 6 or 12) Toronto, Ontario M6K 1L3 (map)

Hacklab.TO will be be hosting a 100% free-to-attend CryptoParty in partnership with Toronto Crypto. All and any are welcome! No experience required, cryptoparties are all about learning!

A few topics will be covered:

• Secure web-surfing with Tor Browser Bundle
• Understanding Heartbleed: An introduction to SSL (HTTPS)
• Mobile phone security and how it affects you

Format of the CryptoParty:

Talks regarding the topics above will range from 10-20 minutes each, with each talk accompanied by a interactive station. These stations will provide in-depth experience to help attendee’s better learn security and privacy through interaction. Toronto Crypto is always looking to improve their experience, so please come with questions that are important to you!

Questions? Contact us or tweet at @TorontoCrypto

Full details and RSVP (not required) at https://torontocrypto.org/

Buy, Sell & Trade Musical Instruments & Audio Gear

Sunday, November 16 – Noon to 5:00 PM

1266 Queen Street West, (Buzz Suite 6 or 12)
Toronto, Ontario M6K 1L3

• Andrew Kilpatrick of Kilpatrick Audio will be on hand to demo the Kilpatrick Format Synthesizer and Modules
• Cool D.I.Y. NAISAtron synth, Micro Radio Transmitter & Contact Microphone kits from New Adventures In Sound Art
• Live music from ambient noise improvisers Odradek
• Come hang out and talk shop
• All Are Welcome!!!
• Admission is FREE (suggested $5 donation to help keep the lights on)

Tweet your gear to #audioswapmeetTO
Join, invite friends and more info on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1586580628236712/

After countless design revisions, we’ve finished our Hacklab Indiegogo Plaque! See complete gallery on flickr. Thanks to everyone who supported our campaign, we raised over $7000 towards moving expenses, and everyone got some awesome swag! The plaque consists of 3 layers: a laser etched wooden base (wood cut and finished by our friends at Ultimate Workshop), a laser-etched acrylic map of the space, and a third acrylic layer highlighting the awesome skylights and treehouse areas in the space. Hex spacers provide the distance between layers. The vertical parts of the plaque also create this super cool shadow effect when you move lights around! Thanks to Khuyen Forsythe for the design work, MakeWorks for use of their laser cutter (which is super fast at etching), and Martin Tomsky for the idea of laser-cut layering.