Surgeon’s Hobby Creating Cigar Box Guitars
Kirk Withrow, a surgeon and cigar box guitar maker, imparts a good deal of maker wisdom in this lovely CNN profile.
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.
Maker Rock Star Roundup
I was talking with one of our staff members tonight and mentioned some of the rock stars that we’ve written about over the years who are makers of some sort. After the call, I decided to scare them all up. Did I forget anybody that we’ve covered? How about other rock musicians who are makers of some sort?
How Humans Perceive Nonlinearity
In this vid, “mathemusician” Vi Hart and Sal Khan (of the amazing Khanacademy) discuss the difference between linear and logarithmic scales and human perception. I like their joking idea of a liner scaled piano where the keys would get fatter and fatter as you moved up the scale.
Thigamakit Remixed into a Robot
Travis Chen of L.A. added a Thingamakit synthesizer (formerly sold by Bleep Labs) along with with dual LEDacles, to his Nintendo R.O.B. robot, then sold it on Etsy. [Via Bleep Labs]
Cat DJ Scratching Toy Eerily Mimics Esoteric Musical Instrument
The “Cat Scratch” cardboard scratching toy for cats by SUCK UK is fashioned in the shape of a DJ turntable, with concentric rings of corrugated cardboard (which cats love to scratch) serving as the proverbial record. The turntable part is just for show, but it is a novel idea that (likely unintentionally) harkens back to an experimental instrument called the Savart’s Wheel.
Waterwheel Powered Musicboxes
This is a wonderful project made by one of my favorite creators of beautiful whimsey, Niklas Roy and his friend La belle Imira for Berlin’s Museum Night. He calls it a “water powered multi channel sound installation”. I call it awesome. Imira and I connected the huge water wheel in the outside area of Berlin’s […]
Vi Hart on “What is Up with Noises?”
The amazing Vi Hart (daughter of our Math Monday columnist George Hart) has blown our minds again with this over 12 minute video explaining the math, science, and art behind sound. In many of Vi’s videos, she talks really fast, and it’s a style that works for her, but for something this info-dense, with lots of visual aids, it’s worth going through a few times to absorb everything.
