Didgeridoo modded to include electronic manipulation

posted Nov 6th 2009 11:58am by Mike Szczys
filed under: arduino hacks, digital audio hacks

didgeridoo-sound-synthedsizer

It’s not a bazooka, but this altered instrument makes it look like the player is toking off of some type of weapon. [Kyle] wanted to take the already mysterious sounds produced by a didgeridoo then capture and alter them electronically.

The physical build of this project is nothing short of beautiful. He’s mounted several curved control boards to the outside of the instrument. The controls feature six push buttons, five toggle switches, and six potentiometers that interface with an Arduino. The sound is picked up by the device then sent along with the switch settings to a computer via Bluetooth. The computer then works its magic to create the wicked audio effects heard in the video after the break.

His article, linked above, includes several diagrams detailing the synthesis process. They’re a little beyond our understanding but if you know what’s going on, please share your insight in the comments.

Comments [58]

tagged: arduino, didgeridoo, synthesizer

Reader Comments

O.O

Incredible!

Posted at 12:01 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by derp

“malipulation”?

Posted at 12:07 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by JBot

This is absolutely amazing

Posted at 12:13 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Skinner

@JBot: Thanks, fixed.

Posted at 12:15 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Mike Szczys

That is so awesome!

Posted at 12:19 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by AridTag

I’ve got a buddy who plays and is pretty damn good at the didge, blows me away the different sounds you can make, let alone with signal processing o_O.

Posted at 12:22 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Skitchin

Eigenlabs, hire this dude NOW!

Posted at 12:22 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Cabe

hello, skywalker ranch?

Posted at 12:28 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by robomonkey

Reminds me of the time I set off some homemade fire works too close to my head. Everything sounded kind of like this for a few minutes… Course this is a much more pleasant way to enjoy these sounds. I wouldn’t recommend attempting to make your own flash bangs.

Posted at 12:29 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by polymath

Sounds like Aphex Twin :)

Posted at 12:32 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by piku

That was 900% fantastic

Posted at 12:35 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Will

Very well done! Sounds incredible!

Posted at 12:45 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by mr_hsu

Damn that’s good! :)

Posted at 12:50 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by JackC

I think my brain just melted a little.

Does anyone know what language he’s using in those pictorial diagram things?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ufLpblaMIFI/SvN09v0Mo3I/AAAAAAAAAGo/UuDl6oCfNVU/s1600-h/Picture+3.png

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ufLpblaMIFI/SvN095zH1QI/AAAAAAAAAGw/X8EctlOGYPo/s1600-h/Picture+4.png

Posted at 12:51 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Mr. Mib

Beautiful, both in application and sound.

Posted at 12:55 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Boudico

@Mr. Mib: I was wondering the same thing…

Posted at 1:13 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by andrew

@Mr.Mib/andrew

looks like max/msp to me…
http://www.cycling74.com/products/max5

Posted at 1:16 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by yoyo

BBC RadioPhonic workshop – eat your heart out.

The new Dr. who sound effects team have just been replaced.

Posted at 1:19 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by The DON

WoW. This is the best instrument hack I seen in years.

The sound processing effects are very adequate for that instrument’s dynamic range, where the processed sound result is really powerful. The designed human interface used on the instrument also looks very useful and well thought.

I’m definitively going to build a didgeridoo and learn to play it. Effects will come later :)

Does someone know the signal processing software he is using? TFA says it is custom built.

Posted at 1:23 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by MrX

This hack is SO win.

Posted at 1:54 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by McSquid

digeridoo hero!

Posted at 2:10 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by svofski

Been playing Didge for 12 years and you Sir are GOD to me NOW!!!!

Just F’n Blown away by this. Pardon the pun….
I want!!!!!!!

Posted at 2:11 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by SOOPERGOOMAN187

I can see someone either stealing this idea or paying big money for it. It would sound awesome live along with the right band.

Posted at 3:20 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Kyle

Plumbing Punk!

Posted at 3:21 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by maxster

Looks like fellatio on a sniper rifle. Sounds like the steamy bowels of hell, awesome!

Posted at 3:38 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by namedujour

i can’t wait until this gains notoriety and a major band will feature it. it almost sounds like there are voices. jesus christ, this could be used to create the sounds for a movie where there’s a scene in hell or something.
congrats on making the didgeridoo an even spookier instrument, kyle!

p.s. if i ever see something like this being sold i will try my hardest to buy it

Posted at 3:47 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by cyanide

At first sight I thought it was a giant homemade shotgun! Sounds awesome, probably would have scared some people on Halloween.

Posted at 4:14 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by mic

this is the coolest thing i’ve ever seen/heard. ever.

Posted at 4:39 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by ras

Damn! If I had the schematics and the materials I’d go make one right now!

Posted at 4:48 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Jack Sprat

Wow! That sounds like a bad acid trip or the inner circles of hell… and I want one.

Posted at 5:04 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Twanzio

Imagining him trying to get through airport security with that…

Posted at 5:13 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by esteb

This is gay.

Posted at 5:22 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by WTF

Serial Port or GTFO

Posted at 5:38 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Jack

now try to implement it as stand alone unit by using analog sound processing

Posted at 5:43 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by therian

I wasn’t terribly impressed by the sound. I kind of expected to hear that kind of output with effects added to a didgeridoo. Not that I’ve ever seen it done. Thanks for the video.

I’m also not impressed with the layout of the controls.

But man you scored big bonus points for going wireless with the whole contraption! Good job.

Posted at 6:43 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by AMediumPace

HA its a Digitalerido

Posted at 7:04 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by psycodrew

now do that to a flute or some other wind instrument that can actually make good music by itself and you’ve got a real winner (though i doubt it will ever be as popular as an electric guitar or violin)

Posted at 7:19 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by anon

One word, “El Awesome o”

Posted at 8:33 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Is Mexican

this is awesome, you are definitely going to be famous!! Somebody should hire this guy he’s brilliant! haven’t seen anything like this before, genius!

Posted at 9:11 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by mb

This gave me bilateral testicular hematomas.

Posted at 11:13 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by Ouch

Very very cool – but I have a practical question: monitoring.

How loud is the didgeridoo by itself? Loud enough to be heard in it’s natural form over the top of the processed result? Or on this model is it (like an electric guitar) mostly silent without the computer amplifier / processing?

I assume the audio processing is done in realtime, but are you using speakers or headphones to hear the processed result as you play?

If speakers – how did you avoid feedback / echo from the speakers to the pickups on the didgeridoo? Or like on electric guitars is it really not an issue under normal conditions?

Posted at 11:13 pm on Nov 6th, 2009 by smilr

Really nice… reminds me of the dark ambient music scene.

Posted at 12:43 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by Tachikoma

GOOSEBUMPS. 100% serious, too. I’d take a photo to prove it, but the cam is upstairs and they’d be gone by the time I got back.!

Posted at 3:15 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by Matthew Wiebe

Does anyone else think this looks like a perfectly good sniper rifle that should be included in the halo series?

Posted at 4:30 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by juan

Hi guys,

From the first image ( 3.png), the processing patch is definitely built in (Cycling 74’s) Max 5. There’s quite a few things going on – lowpass filter (using the bigquad object), delay, reverb, compression and peak limiter.

I’ll check out the other patches when I get home later

Posted at 6:56 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by mdalgleish

Hey man, I make didgs, but they don’t sound like this. Or look like a bazooka from Starship Troopers 8; it’s a Yidaki from hell!
Seriously, they should hire him to make ambient music for the next Predator film.

Posted at 7:22 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by PocketBrain

This is fantastic. I’d love an album of that music.

Posted at 9:58 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by Mark Prunewinkle

Yes i do monitor with loudspeakers. The lavalier mic i use is very good at protecting from feeding back. I have to worry more about RF interference. Performing this instrument live is different because you can hear the natural sounds of the didge blended with the processed sounds. I use this to my advantage by utilizing the dynamics of the didge and experimenting with mixing wet and dry signal by changing how loud i play and controlling my output and input levels in Max/MSP. Audio processes include:
Resonant Lowpas Filter – cutoff freq. control
Short Delay – feedback control
Reverberation – control over wet/dry mix
Ring Modulation – control over carrier freq.

Posted at 10:28 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by kyle

this is all fairly simple audio post processing. you could use a pizio electric element as a microphone and run it into Abelton live. Control would be using a midi mapped controller device.

if im not mistaken he’s using

#1 a compressor to fatten up his sound
#2 a flange or filter sweep type phaser with an LFO
#3 he adds a short delay to emphasize the other sounds he makes the yipps and other sounds

controls could be as simple as one “mute” one “vol” and one “control” per effect. he looks like he made alot of control knobs. just hope he can reach them all :P

Posted at 10:28 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by james

hahaha kyle ya beat be to the punch.. i was close.. i would have used max to control abelton…. myself :P

Posted at 10:37 am on Nov 7th, 2009 by james

@esteb

My first thought exactly.

@Mark Prunewinkle

I would also like to buy an album of music like this. Reminds me of this radio station:

http://somafm.com/play/dronezone

Posted at 11:27 am on Nov 8th, 2009 by Josh L

All hail hypnotoad!

Posted at 3:07 pm on Nov 8th, 2009 by TauPan

Check out his video with the equally trippy video effects http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rbi3cZ5zYo

Posted at 5:33 pm on Nov 8th, 2009 by Paul

The only problem with this is that every didgeridoo is different. This is because they are created with a natural process- they are made from a eucalyptus log which has been carved with termites.

Posted at 7:34 pm on Nov 8th, 2009 by j s

That thing is the best acid trip ever just waiting to happen!

Posted at 8:16 pm on Nov 8th, 2009 by Lagspike!

This is not the first time I have seen an electronic didgeridoo. The owner called it a cyberdidg.

Some years ago a fellow who modified a genuine didgeridoo traveled by kayak/canoe around the top end of Australia showing this instrument to the Aboriginals, pretty much to get their ideas and permission to use it. Not that he really needed permission. It was a respect thing.

It was a documentary that I have yet to find again. With it he could also change and make any sound you can imagine including animal noises, like a lions roar etc.

Posted at 4:55 am on Nov 9th, 2009 by Sander

Isn’t this basically:
1. Use a pickup of some sort to get the sound.
(2. Convert to digital.)
3. Run through an effects rig of your choice
?

I bet that a less sophisticated rig of didge, mic or piezo, and multieffects processor can offer a less tech-savvy user interesting results.

Posted at 8:28 am on Nov 10th, 2009 by Jason Y

kyle, i am so impressed! little did we know when you hauled those didgeridoos back from Australia that you would be doing this with their sounds! Keep up the fantastic work!

Posted at 11:02 pm on Nov 13th, 2009 by ab

Didgeridoo modded to include electronic manipulation

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