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Helen Leigh nerdybio: The Nerd Community

Helen Leigh

Interviewed on
July 18, 2022 in Hardware Hacker

Who are you, and what do you do?

I am Helen Leigh. I am a maker, hardware nerd and writer. I mostly make experimental instruments in my own work (one example here), and I wrote a book about craft and electronics, published by McGraw Hill. I am also Head of Community for [Crowd Supply][crowd-supply], which is a curated crowd funding platform for open source hardware.

What hardware(tools) and software do you use?

I use all sorts of microcontrollers and single board computers in my work, from Arduino and Pi to Beaglebone and Adafruit. I try to purchase open source hardware whenever possible. I also like to support indie hardware creators so I have lots of cool boards.

I started off with the Arduino/Wiring version of [C++][c-plusplus], but I use [CircuitPython][] a lot these days. I also love using block code on the [Circuit Playground Express][circuit-playground-express] for quick and dirty prototyping. For coding sounds, the open source software Pure Data (or, ideally, my preferred fork [Purr Data][purr-data]) is great, as are the [Teensy][] libraries by Paul Stoffrogen.

What would be your dream/dream setup?

My favourite combo for making embedded instruments right now is probably a PocketBeagle with a Bela cape, paired with a Trill cap touch sensor and Purr Data software.

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