Kaleidophone Lissajous Generator

The experiment
Explore and expand on the design of Charles Wheatstones Kaleidophone (1827) and Jules Lissajous's Tuning Fork mirror technique (1857) to create Lissajous figures that draw the sound from purely mechanical means, essentially 'drawing' the sound.

The object
Two rods attached to cut down speakers with objects placed perpendicular to each other. A small laser is projected onto one mirror, reflected off the second mirror onto a screen creating a Lissajous figure that responds to the sound being played through the speaker.

Sound
Pure tones, mixed with noise to illustrate the different patters. Pre-recorded.
Perhaps voice responsive - voices fed to each speaker (more experiments needed)

Audience experience
Viewed on small screen

Use
Installation & performance

Equipment
2 cut down speakers, rods with small mirrors. Secured so they don't move with vibration.
1 x stereo Amplifier
(Idea that there may be 3 speakers one for each voice - to be worked out)
Armature holding laser pointer, directed at mirror
Screen

Comments

PHONAUTOGRAPH

Patented in 1857 by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville "It transcribed sound waves as undulations or other deviations in a line traced on smoke-blackened paper or glass. Intended solely as a laboratory instrument for the study of acoustics , it could be used to visually study and measure the amplitude envelopes and waveforms of speech and other sounds, or to determine the frequency of a given musical pitch " (Wikipoedia) The recordings from this device were not translated into sound until 2008 when image to sound conversion software became available.

Acoustic Inertia

The experiment A bowl is placed over an oval speaker cone. The vibration of the cone causes the bowl to rock back and forth. When using ball bearings, the balls move around in the bowl adding rattling tones to the sound. When using a liquid, the vibrations make cymatic patterns in the liquid, but also inertia means that the liquid appears to stay in the same place while the bowl moves around it. The object Perhaps four speakers are arranged, two with ball bearings, two with liquid. They can be arranged in a number of patterns or configurations. Sound Responds to low frequency bass sounds - can provide bass lines in overall installation soundscape. Pre-recorded. Audience experience Unmediated Use Installation and performance bass lines Equipment 4 x speakers with oval cones 2 x stereo amps 4 x metal bowls matching the speaker cone size ball bearings rheoschopic liquid Also viewable on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/337667196

ACSVROI workshop notes

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