The Machine
Elements
Each unit stands alone, with its own power and controller, and only listens to the shared signal.
String robot
One string on 600 mm aluminum extrusion. Pitch comes from a motorized slide resting on the string, pressed by a spring-loaded teeter-totter.
Ball cannon
One tube that fires a tethered wooden ball at a target, reels it back, and re-cocks without help. Mostly 3D printed.
Chain drop
A chain wound in coils on a horizontal stick. When the stick tips, the coils slide off the free end together and free-fall onto the target as one dense crash.
Chime carousel
A separate instrument from the single ball cannon, using the same cannon mechanism. A ring of tube chimes hangs from a motorized hub at the top center of an aluminum extrusion cube and turns.
Chime chandelier
A ball cannon surrounded by hanging tube chimes. Each chime is a note, so aiming picks the note.
Drip bowl
A metal bowl holding a little water, rocking slowly in a cradle and struck by a mallet. The sloshing water bends the pitch while the bowl rings.
Pellet drum
A motorized pellet drum, after the damaru. The drum rocks back and forth about a vertical axis and beads on cords strike its head, two hits per rock.
Swinging striker
An aluminum extrusion frame shaped like an upside-down U. A single arm hangs from the middle of the top bar and swings side to side.
Whirling striker drum
Spinners are motors whirling a wooden ball on a short tether. They run at full speed all the time and strike only when moved so the ball's path crosses the drum head.
Windmill arpeggio machine
A wheel of single-string arms rotating past a fixed pick. Each arm is a step in a physical step sequencer; rotation speed is the tempo.
Ball catapult
An alternative to the ball cannon. A counterweighted arm lobs a wooden ball at a target, a winch pulls the arm back down, and the next ball rolls into the cup.
Notebook
- Electromagnetic string harpFixed-pitch strings, each driven by its own coil. Infinite sustain and swells; organ-like control of strings.Strings
- Harmonic node stringA fixed string; soft-tipped actuators touch nodes at 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5 of the length to select harmonics.Strings
- Harpsichord / autoharp windmillFour instruments on a wooden X; a fixed pick strums each one as it sweeps past. Strings run radially so the pick crosses all of them.Windmills
- Mechanized harpsichordA real harpsichord; fine to gut it. A single carriage on a belt rail (3D printer hardware) travels to each key and presses.Harpsichords
- Percussive windmillSame wheel as the windmill arpeggio machine, but the fixed pick is replaced by a striker: a lever on a fulcrum with a mallet on the far end.Windmills
- Roll callA small app that reads out the names of the guests who are present: "Jane Doe, present. John Smith, present."Voices
- Rotating string drumStrings on a rotating frame passing a fixed exciter; a hurdy-gurdy turned inside out.Windmills
- SP-404A malletA mechanized mallet pressing pads on a Roland SP-404A to trigger samples. Inefficiency is the point.Samplers
- Sympathetic resonance fieldMany fixed-pitch strings, none played directly. A surface transducer on the soundboard or bridge is fed any audio (noise, voice, sampler), and the strings matching that audio ring.Strings
- Tension glide stringA single string; a motor varies tension for continuous pitch only (swoops, microtonal drift, vibrato).Strings
- The MetronomeLooks like an ordinary mechanical metronome. A technician starts it swinging by hand; the system takes it over invisibly.Pendulums
- Variable-mass stringA bead or clamp riding along the string changes pitch and timbre in non-linear, often bell-like ways. Pure experiment.Strings
Sketchbook
