Didgeridoo modded to include electronic manipulation

posted Nov 6th 2009 11:58am by
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.



67 Responses to Didgeridoo modded to include electronic manipulation

  • JBot says:

    “malipulation”?

  • Skinner says:

    This is absolutely amazing

  • AridTag says:

    That is so awesome!

  • Skitchin says:

    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.

  • Cabe says:

    Eigenlabs, hire this dude NOW!

  • robomonkey says:

    hello, skywalker ranch?

  • polymath says:

    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.

  • piku says:

    Sounds like Aphex Twin :)

  • Will says:

    That was 900% fantastic

  • mr_hsu says:

    Very well done! Sounds incredible!

  • JackC says:

    Damn that’s good! :)

  • Boudico says:

    Beautiful, both in application and sound.

  • andrew says:

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

  • yoyo says:

    @Mr.Mib/andrew

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

  • The DON says:

    BBC RadioPhonic workshop – eat your heart out.

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

  • MrX says:

    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.

  • McSquid says:

    This hack is SO win.

  • SOOPERGOOMAN187 says:

    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!!!!!!!

  • Kyle says:

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

  • namedujour says:

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

  • cyanide says:

    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

  • mic says:

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

  • ras says:

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

  • Jack Sprat says:

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

  • Twanzio says:

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

  • esteb says:

    Imagining him trying to get through airport security with that…

  • Jack says:

    Serial Port or GTFO

  • therian says:

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

  • AMediumPace says:

    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.

  • anon says:

    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)

  • Is Mexican says:

    One word, “El Awesome o”

  • mb says:

    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!

  • Ouch says:

    This gave me bilateral testicular hematomas.

  • smilr says:

    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?

  • Tachikoma says:

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

  • Matthew Wiebe says:

    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.!

  • juan says:

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

  • mdalgleish says:

    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

  • PocketBrain says:

    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.

  • Mark Prunewinkle says:

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

  • kyle says:

    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.

  • james says:

    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

  • james says:

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

  • Josh L says:

    @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

  • TauPan says:

    All hail hypnotoad!

  • Paul says:

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

  • j s says:

    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.

  • Lagspike! says:

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

  • Sander says:

    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.

  • Jason Y says:

    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.

  • ab says:

    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!

  • gr8fzy1 says:

    Strangely haunting!

  • mrb says:

    he should have all the controls in one easy place.

  • J4y says:

    Wow, My room mate and I use to play pvc pipes like a didgeridoo. Never thought of running one the a processor. Very cool sound.

  • Jnr Hacksaw says:

    add a granular freeze function and you wont need to circular breathe!

  • OrganizedChaos says:

    Wasn’t this in Popular Science?

  • OrganizedChaos says:

    Oh, I guess it was.

  • gary says:

    this SOUNDZZ like it could be dangerous. good luck

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