notesdontmatter

Forum – Week 8 – Completed instrument:

Well here it is, the ‘Squarewave/Piezo/Vicsynthingy-Mach-1’. It is a combination of manipulable Square wave oscillators, piezo transduction, and Victorian synthesiser concepts that functions as a stand-alone instrument (with the exception of external amplification). The output of the square wave oscillators feeds into a single piezo, which resonates inside a metal can. This is picked up by a second piezo, also inside the can, and fed to an amplifier. There is a Victorian synth device sitting on top of the can, the sonic result of which is also picked up by the piezos, therefore merging the two sounds.

Expressive device attachments are in the form of LDR and pot controls, and push on/off – off/on-switching devices, and manual Victorian synth control. Also, the can itself can be tilted to create varying timbres from the altered positioning of the piezos. The end result is an instrument capable of producing a variety of tones and timbres that allows for plenty of performance techniques to be applied ‘on the fly’.

Click here to link to online folder containing a high resolution photo archive and an audio example.


Reference:

Christian Haines. "Music Technology Forum - Completed Instrument." Music Technology Forum - Instrument Project. Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, September 2007.

posted by David J Dowling @ 12:03 PM