Mechanisms Midterm Proposal
For the past year I have been working on an electroacoustic, robotic step sequencer/drum machine called CrudBox. It has an interface just like any other step sequencer, but instead of playing digitally created or analog synthesized sounds it controls motors, solenoids and other electronic devices and then amplifies their sounds and the sounds of them striking other objects. Any device can be controlled by CrudBox as long as the power source is strong enough. Until now I have mostly been working with solenoids from hacked doorbells, replacing their chimes with various materials like wood, plastic, and sheet metal, and attaching Piezo contact mics to the chimes to amplify their sounds as they are struck.
Because I’ve been using solenoids, each output of the CrudBox can really only make 2 sounds: one when it is switched on and it moves forward to strike the thing in front of it, and the second when its switched off and it falls back and hits whatever its behind it. These sounds are also always predictable and controllable, which is good, but it would be interesting to throw some amount of randomness into the mix.
So for my Mechanisms midterm I would like to create a series of CrudBox-controlled instruments based around DC motors. Whereas when energized a solenoid moves outward in a straight line, then goes back to its original position, a motor starts spinning from wherever it was the last time it stopped, and with this there is a certain amount of controlled randomness, which interests me. Each motor will be held firmly in place on a platform. Attached to each motor will be some sort of mallet, and within reach of this mallet will be various amplified surfaces for it to strike.
In order to do this I need to figure out 1) How to firmly attach a DC motor firmly to a platform, and 2) how to attach a mallet to a DC motor shaft. The rest of the project will largely be experimentation with sounds and with finding the stall torques of the motors to figure out how to build objects for them to strike which are not too heavy or sturdy for them to strike and push past.
I’d like to build 3 of these with different size and strength motors and with the mallets striking different materials.
The budget for this project will be very small. I have a few dozen motors of different sizes and powers at home waiting to be used, I have a few toy xylophone mallets which I could use, and cheap or free wood is easy enough to find.
