Hi peeps,
I have just completed Electrons questionnaire and it led me to introduce a concept that I’ve been thinking in for some years and thought I’d find out what others thoughts are on it.
Basically, I want to busk / play live without the need of requiring any external power. I also play guitar so of course can play my acoustic but I want to add electronic / sequenced sounds that can’t be done any other way.
So the concept is having either a physical chamber that can be attached to a battery powered ( heck solar powered ) groovebox , or some other Sci Fi way of projecting the sound without making the device too expensive.
I don’t necessarily want to rely on external power because with that comes limitations , permissions , cables , health and safety , etc etc.
In a nutshell I just an instrument that has the tactility and feel , with the acoustic qualities of an acoustic instrument ( probably guitar influenced as I am a guitarist ) which can produce different sounds.
I m just putting this out there to stretch the imagination of what can be done, aswell as trying to get music back to its origins a bit more as believe it is becoming a bit maddening with all this gear that is basically reliant on these electrified amplification concepts to get the sound out.
Any positive thoughts or extra considerations would be welcome- maybe elektron will read this thread and come up with something unique . Thanks for reading
Hey, I’m not sure I clearly understand what your idea is about, but it seems like what you’re referring to, would be close to the Onde speakers.
There are a few contradicting ideas in your pitch though, you can’t have electronic / sequenced sound, without having some form of amplification/speaker. You can have a more tactile feel and rely on physical properties of a resonating chamber by using a big resonating speaker box, which is basically the concept of the Onde speakers from “La voix du luthier”.
Also, if you need a very sci-fi and cool way of projecting sound, you should look up “sound laser”/“sound beams”. (there’s actually an hackaday article about a diy version of these type of devices : Creating Coherent Sound Beams, Easily | Hackaday)
Hi thanks for your thoughts.
Yes I realised after typing that I hadn’t made it completely clear though.
A resonating chamber was what I initially had in mind , but to then take this as a concept and expand it by including other features was where I got carried away a bit.
I guess there are 2 concepts here.
- The tactile , hands on , sequencing that can be manipulated in real time ( a la the general Elektron thing ) but with more perhaps expressive controls (- and something that again I have always gotten frustrated with trying to sync electronic devices with live playing of instruments -) something that grooves along to the tempo of your playing that ebbs and flows - perhaps the device would have to’ listen ’ to the performance , but with this the device would always be behind you. Alternate is a midi clock stompbox I guess but I ve never tried it - and you’d have to be always stomping along. With this in mind I think some form of attachment to either your hand or guitar that picks up movement or strumming pattern could make for a very interesting alternative. Saying this as not everyone that makes beats or uses electronic instruments is exclusively looking to work within the boxes and their confines. And I don’t want to be live sampling / looping or anything much more technical than playing guitar / singing and operating a few knobs,/ buttons .
- Is the amplification resonant chamber/ sound projection idea. My initial limited thoughts would be to house a speaker inside a collapsible wooden chamber similar to an acoustic guitar. It would probably need to be alot bigger though to get the type of levels that would be needed. I probably need to do some tests, but the volume you can get from a vibrating string from a guitar seems quite step up from what said string would sound like by itself with no chamber . Question- would a cone like shape be best to amplify and project the sound , what is the best shape ? Does it depend on what is causing the noise ? Obviously all acoustic instruments are shaped differently for this reason .
Thanks for your suggestions so far. I will look into them and perhaps drop a further reply.
Honestly your best bet in terms of getting the sound out would be something like the Roland Cube Street or other similar D-class amp. An acoustic chamber, while looking cool, will probably get annoying as the shape of it will likely influence the sound. This is good for an acoustic guitar, but when you’re playing electronic music with a wider frequency range, it can start to sound a bit weird.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist
Ha ha , That solves most of my concerns !!
Portability not being one of them !
One way would be harnessing the power of a flywheel in the shape of a bicycle wheel…With the bike on a suitable stand pedal furiously (or change gear) and that will turn a dynamo. Rectify the voltage and drive some super low power gear. Then when you’re done, bike off stand and ride off into the sunset.
Bonus is you get to sit down the whole time. Winning.
I’m not sure if I should be posting this here or in the Top Tips section of Viz…