The Ultimate Kit Guide

Community Quality: 5

(5=Most community) How much of a community is there around the kit? Are there builder groups, online forums, circles, and meetups? Is the kit used in class- rooms or after-school programs? Do the kit makers or builders have a presence at events like Maker Faire?

Nebulophone

Nebulophone

Make Kit Reviews

Nebulophone

$55-$80

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Reviewed: November 9th, 2011

Another small synth from Bleep Labs, the Nebulophone is more robust than the Pico Paso. It packs three potentiometer knobs, two buttons, an LED/light sensor combo that serves as an analog low-pass filter, and a unique piano-like series of pads on the PCB that you can control with an alligator clip. It has a programmable […]

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Pico Paso

Pico Paso

Make Kit Reviews

Pico Paso

$25-$40

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This tiny, handheld synth features two light sensors, two pots, and two buttons. It’s an easy build, even for newbies, soldering together very quickly with no difficult steps. I love how snug the little guy is, but this compactness comes at a price: no enclosure and no speaker. To hear the Pico Paso, you’ll need […]

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TubeSat Personal Satellite

TubeSat Personal Satellite

Make Kit Reviews

TubeSat Personal Satellite

$8,000

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Reviewed: November 8th, 2011

TubeSat makes space your personal laboratory. You build a satellite the size of a large soup can, get it launched into a 310km Earth orbit moving 17,000 miles an hour, and talk to it via ham radio a few times a day for 1–3 months. Smile as you reflect on your new skills in surface-mount […]

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NFC/RFID Controller Breakout Board

NFC/RFID Controller Breakout Board

Make Kit Reviews

NFC/RFID Controller Breakout Board

$50

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Reviewed: October 25th, 2011

In the next few years there’s going to be an influx of a not-so-new technology called Near Field Communication (NFC), which is very similar to RFID, and enables small devices to read passive tags and communicate with each other in close proximity. Card readers use it, as do phones that do payment processing. Adafruit’s PN532 […]

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