BOOTS
Drum Machine

B00TS Drum Machine is my baby.

B00TS Drum Machine it’s something that started as a simple idea rattling around in my skull during a CSC 132 class. We had to come up with a final project and we had less than a month to bring it to life… I had less than a month to coax her from ether into flesh and in that time I pushed through three iterations of code. Each one got a little tighter, a little closer to the sound I wanted. I leaned on Tkinter, Librosa, and Pygame to pull off real-time sample stretching and It worked. Even if it felt like I had to wrestle the idea down by force, we got there eventually. That wasn’t as easy as I made it sound either. It was like pulling teeth, but if I told you every hurdle we went through, we’d be here forever. Just know it was hard, but I got it done. Cool? cool!

When I wasn’t coding, I was designing. My groupmates were largely hands-off throughout the process. Designing its look took a few long nights. Finding her look took time. I couldn’t complicate things too much. I knew I could build something that worked, but I wanted something that breathed. I didn’t exactly know what I wanted but I knew I wanted B00TS to have a soul. Eventually, I landed on something I loved. The wooden casing pays homage to the wood paneling found in vintage electronics, which I’ve always admired. Something about it feels more human than a plastic shell. It’s the kind of thing you’d see in old hi-fi sets and analog synths or record players. I wanted it to look like something your grandfather might have spun vinyl on. In fact, the initial idea was to build her from an old record player, but that didn't work out.

My groupmates and I carved, cut, and assembled it ourselves. It was made with love and care. She never left my sight. I feel like a part of my soul is in B00TS, so I guess I was successful. It’s like my Horcrux.

Out front, there’s a screen secured with black tape. No, I promise, it wasn’t necessary at all. Purely aesthetic. The screen fit perfectly fine without it, but in turn, the face just felt naked without it. Too clean. The entire face panel is taped up for this reason. Beneath that screen, “B00TS v1.2” is scrawled, etched by hand. Below the lettering, a row of colored LEDs flicker in sync, adding a subtle pulse of color.

Around the back, there’s a hatch so I can reach inside, tweak the guts, and nurture her growth. I always planned to keep refining B00TS, even after the class was over. She’s not perfect, but she’s mine.

B00TS Drum Machine was birthed through my own hands and it's the first time in university that I was actually able to bring a project to life in the way that I (almost) exactly envisioned. It’s a bit of me, molded by my own hands. It’s proof that with some grit, a newfound dependency on energy drinks, and a whole lot of heart, you can pull something from the back of your mind into the real world whether it wants to be here or not. It’s not just about making something. It’s about that feeling in your chest, in your breath. It’s about making something that’s alive because you gave it life.

B00TS Drum Machine is my baby.