Music

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.

Tune into the Past with Radio Arduino Classic Edition

Tune into the Past with Radio Arduino Classic Edition

Mycroft Milverton used an Arduino and a Wave Shield to create the Radio Arduino Classic Edition, a retrofitted vacuum tube radio that plays different classic radio tracks when it’s tuned. The device plays 60 tracks in normal mode, but also has an easter egg mode, which can play thousands of tracks. Be sure to check out Mycroft’s original Radio Arduino as well; it’s built in the shell of an Oscar Belle two band transistor radio from the 1960′s.

Continue Reading Matt Richardson4
Hand-cranked Toy Piano Hack Keeps the Tunes Coming Forevermore

Hand-cranked Toy Piano Hack Keeps the Tunes Coming Forevermore

When a battery operated device runs out of juice, most of us reach for a fresh pair of AA’s. But when his daughter’s electronic toy piano had drained its batteries, Dominik instead installed a hand-cranked dynamo to power the instrument ad infinitum. He hacked apart an Ikea flashlight to co-opt its cranked generator and installed it inside his daughter’s plaything. Now a little bit of elbow grease keeps the tunes coming while saving the environment and a little bit of money to boot.

Continue Reading Matt Richardson12
The Musical Invention of Bart Hopkin

The Musical Invention of Bart Hopkin

We’ve written about the work of instrument inventor and musician Bart Hopkin here on MAKE before. But I just spent a bunch of time on his site today and am enchanted for the experience. A lot of instrument inventor/builders create objects that look cool but don’t sound very… instrumental. Or others create devices that make great sounds but aren’t much to look at. Bart’s pieces are novel, gorgeous, and sound amazing.

Continue Reading Gareth Branwyn
“Orchestra” of Floating Ping Pong Balls

“Orchestra” of Floating Ping Pong Balls

Though described as an “electronic instrument” and an “orchestra…composed of levitating balls whose physical height determines their volume,” London design group Poietic Studio’s “Floating Orchestra,” cool as it is, cannot possibly be producing the big, bold, brassy sounds of The Benny Goodman Orchestra that accompany their embedded video, above. Which naturally leads me to wonder what it really sounds like.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan8
Strum Motion Pictures with the VideoBass

Strum Motion Pictures with the VideoBass

Invented by Swiss media artist Michael Egger in collaboration with Maïté Colin, the VideoBass is an instrument that plays moving images instead of sound. The performer uses their left hand on the neck of the instrument to select or scrub through video clips and triggers them in rhythm with their right hand on PlayStation controller knobs. The result is a mix of visuals that stand on their own or compliment music made by traditional instruments. Originally developed in 2003, the first incarnation of the VideoBass has undergone many revisions since.

Continue Reading Matt Richardson