Take your creations beyond the workshop and onto the stage with diy music instruments! Let us show you how these creations range from simple, basic setups that produce beautiful sounds to more complex projects that require a greater level of engineering knowledge. With these tutorials and examples, we’ll guide you on this journey to make your own musical instrument for experimental, artistic or everyday use – so whether you’re starting out new or a seasoned sound creator, come explore the wonderful world of making your own music.
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This instrument is known both as a “glass harmonica” and a “glass armonica,” and I personally favor the later spelling to distinguish it from the better-known free-reed mouth harp also called a “harmonica.” The tone of a glass armonica is stunningly beautiful; a great 18th-century myth is that the purity of its sound will eventually drive a virtuoso to madness. Thomas Bloch’s website has more info about his work and about the particular custom-built instrument shown here.
Circuit-bending/music machine-building maestro Gijs Gieskes has posted the details of his latest creation, a synth that uses the SEGA video RAM as an audio source (after it’s been slowed down via a binary counter). Check out his use of magnetic patch bays to switch up the sounds. His tutorial on how to make the patch […]
Here’s a neat sound sculpture made by The Books. The spoons are animated by playing sounds on a speaker mounted behind them.
This is a gesture controlled MIDI controller I designed and built. It has a tilt sensor which affects to MIDI parameters it is sending out but also the color of the ball. I built several stereotypes to get it work the way I preffered. The pictures are from third generation. I am currently putting together fourth generation with better LEDs.
The They Might Be Giants love just doesn’t stop over here, check out Theremin Cat by Hine Mizushima for TMBG’s Here Comes Science.
his project is an Arduino based step sequencer, synthesizer and sound effects box. It was constructed a year ago as a third birthday present, and has recently come back to me for some ‘refurbishment’ – fresh batteries and some glue to fix LEDs that have been pushed into the box.
