Spotted on the Dieselpunk site: In 1910 Gaumont demonstrated his Chronophone system, which synchronised sound and film, at the Gaumont Palace in Paris. The compressed-air amplifier, which he called the Eglephone, was just a part of the whole system. The volume was enough for an audience of 4000. Initially the longest moving picture that could […]
Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Optical-Tremolo-Box/2276/1
Inspired by Charles Platt’s “Stomp Box Basics” article (MAKE Volume 15, page 82), follow along as we build this Optical Tremolo Box, which reads a patterned disk with a light sensor to create a warbling audio effect (tremolo).
For this project, MAKE Technical Editor Sean Ragan used a cadmium sulfide photoresistor to provide us with our light sensor – a component we have used in previous Weekend Projects. Not only does it look cool and sound great, but once you’ve made the project, you can customize it by making your own effects disks!
Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Infrared-String-Bass/2049/1
You’ll convert light to sound in this Weekend Project. Using the LM386 amplifier, and pairs of infrared emitting and detecting diodes, we’ll show you how to build a four-string optical bass guitar. Mount your hardware onto a piece of lumber, or build your own classy chassis. Then, get ready to rock!
Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Bottle-Radio/2077/1
Crystal radio technology has been around for many years. This “bottle radio” take on a crystal radio requires no power source, operates on the power from radio waves, and receives signal from a long wire antenna. As radio stations slowly move away from the AM band, the “window of opportunity” to experience this remarkable technology is dwindling. The “crystal” in question is contained inside a germanium diode, and is used to rectify the radio signal so that our ears can hear it.
Sarah Pease borrows from David A. Mellis’ open source speaker design and mates it with mason jars as enclosures. They not only have a great look, but different sizes and types of jars can be swapped out to create different sound signatures.
Using a pulse sensor (now available in the Maker Shed) to translate into a drum beat is certainly possible. The pulse sensor can be plugged into the Arduino and then translated as MIDI data through the Arduino’s serial port. Check out this Arduino Playground page to learn more details. You can also take a look at this tutorial to familiarize yourself with the process. Once you’ve done this, the serial data can be used as an input for lots of different audio programs that accept MIDI.
Martin Klimas places paint upon a translucent material, underneath which is a speaker. When music is played, the carefully selected mixtures of paint explode from the surface, reaching upward and intertwining. Klimas captures these events photographically and mates each photo to the piece of music that created it (the one below is Kraftwerk’s “Transistor”).
