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.
The Steampunk-inspired barbershop group Brass Farthing crooned and serenaded attendees at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. In this video they tell the story of one rapscallion of a trombonist who steals the heart of a concert-goer’s wife. With their period clothing and brass aviator goggles, you can squint and almost imagine yourself within a Jules Verne novel.
Chris McMullen and Steve Withycombe’s Potentially Annoying Sound is a kinetic sound sculpture constructed from various mechanical elements and a set of discarded church organ pipes. At Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, attendees delightfully turned a large red wheel which was geared to pump air from a bellows into the pipes and play a chord. Interestingly, the name “Potentially Annoying Sound” was inspired by a question on the Maker Faire exhibitor application which asked what kind of noise it makes. After listening to it in the video above, I think you’ll agree that the sound is not annoying at all. In fact, it’s quite pleasant.
Cousins Brian and Leon Dewan make “analog, solid-state” instruments covered in knobs and dials, housed in beautifully finished cases. The instruments are called Dewanatrons. From MAKE Volume 27: It’s impossible to precisely control, so the “primates-in-charge” must guide the machine to produce melodies, percussion, and innumerable unpredictable sound effects. Brian explains, “It is the responsibility […]
First in a series of shorts from Larchmont Films promoting Brighton’s first Mini Maker Faire to be held at the Brighton Dome on 3rd September (this Saturday). Featured here is Brighton programmer, Jason Hotchkiss, in front of the Brighton Pier demonstrating how to make music from lava lamps. Jason and the Mini Maker Faire team are passionate about sculpting or creating something unusual from the everyday.
Charles Gadeken demonstrates Aperion, a large sculpture depicting a flower resting on three large leaves. Aperion is a large tesla coil which processes sound into electrical impulses. At Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 he uses an electric guitar as a controller for the massive Tesla coils that are part of Aperion. The sculpture detects the […]
Cornell students Anson Dorsey, Eric Gunther, and Jonathon Smythe built this controller as part of their “Designing with Microcontrollers” class. It uses flex sensors on the fingers to determine the note to play as well as the force of the touch. [Via Embedded Devices]
Long-time MAKE pal Jim Frize of UK audio OSHW kit-maker Sonodrome (past coverage) just sent us this preview vid for their soon-to-be-released Ronin 8023 shield. Me wantee. Check out the deets over at the Sonodrome home page.
