Spark plug music

posted May 23rd 2010 1:20pm by
filed under: digital audio hacks, musical hacks

This is (video above) perhaps the most abstract way of playing sounds…ever. Yes, we’ve heard Hard Drive music and Obsolete technology bands, but [DJ Sures] brings us the first ever, spark plug instrument.

Much like Velcro and Teflon, the musical spark plug is claimed to be an accident. After testing energy use vs. spark power with his flare stack ignition controller, [DJ Sures] noticed that different frequencies could be produced. It was only a matter of reprogramming before death metal Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is heard. Now he just needs to refine it a bit and build a full stereo cabinet.



20 Responses to Spark plug music

  • MS3FGX says:
    May 23, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    Wait, that is supposed to be Twinkle Twinkle?

    Reply Report comment
  • alankilian says:
    May 23, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    Silly and fun. Well done.

    Reply Report comment
  • HPM says:
    May 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    A good start. But think BIG.
    Have you seen Urenholt123′s music-playing tesla coil?

    This guy is crazy:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/uhrenholt123#p/a/f/0/5NDjJYcplWA

    Reply Report comment
  • tronic says:
    May 23, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    thats nothing compared to singling tesla coils. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ff_AXVlo9U There are also some nice instrucions to making them where its doing pretty much the same thing as this except significantly better.

    Reply Report comment
  • D_ says:
    May 23, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    So the spark plug is acting as a weak audio transducer? BTW; Velcro was not an invention by accident. The inventor made note of something that nature invented, purposelessly set out to duplicate it in a useful way. IMO the invention by accident web page fails big time for several reasons, not a good reference source.

    @MS3FGX yes the vid info box says it’s twinkle twinkle, but admits the tuning is off.

    Reply Report comment
  • Michiel145 says:
    May 23, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Check out this plasma tweeter, that is the real deal! : )

    Reply Report comment
  • barry99705 says:
    May 23, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    He’s got a while until he gets this kind of fidelity…

    Reply Report comment
  • boondockspark says:
    May 23, 2010 at 4:31 pm

    @barry99705 WOW!…just WOW!

    o/t i have a craving for schnitzel and kraut now….

    Reply Report comment
  • selfSilent says:
    May 23, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    DJ Sures must be the only person who doesn’t know how TTLS goes. with that frequency range he’ll probably do better with Deep Purple’s Smoke on the water.

    Reply Report comment
  • tantris says:
    May 23, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    since spark in sparkplug is phonetically identical to sparc, a trademark held by si international, it could lead to confusion among your readers and they could be let to believe that sparkplugs are manufactured by sparc, si.
    since you further mention “obsolete technology” and ẗhe word “spark” in the same paragraph, this has to be considered a deliberate infringement of trademarks.

    Reply Report comment
  • Jake says:
    May 23, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    OK, I watched the spark plug video and I was like meh, meh, meh. Then I watched the video that barry99705 posted… WOW!!!!!!

    Reply Report comment
  • infinitemayhem says:
    May 23, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    this is nothing more then a plasma speaker. they have been around for years. lol it is also called the singing arc.

    Reply Report comment
  • 3w4r says:
    May 23, 2010 at 11:51 pm

    Do a search for plasma tweeters, people have had pretty good results

    Reply Report comment
  • Mikey says:
    May 24, 2010 at 12:11 am

    It seems like his pitch is off a bit on some of the notes.

    @barry99705 that’s awesome!

    Reply Report comment
  • Brad Hein says:
    May 24, 2010 at 6:23 am

    Also noteworthy is the fact that this is a form of spark-gap transmitter. It surely puts out a noisy but distinguishable signal across a wide range of lower radio frequencies.

    Turn on an AM radio to any frequency and you should also be able to hear the transmission!

    Even better: Connect it to a radial and broadcast your spark-gap music to the neighborhood.

    “Pirate Spark Radio station” lol.

    Reply Report comment
  • davo1111@work says:
    May 24, 2010 at 7:51 am

    my mate made a plasma speaker around 5 years ago, very cool

    Reply Report comment
  • dnny says:
    May 24, 2010 at 7:53 am

    Reply Report comment
  • Hacksaw says:
    May 24, 2010 at 8:19 am

    So he calls himself “DJ Sures” and claims that this weird approach to making music was an accident…something smells funny there

    Reply Report comment
  • Stonewall says:
    May 24, 2010 at 10:37 pm

    Hacksaw did it ever occur to you that his first name is DJ?

    Reply Report comment
  • hyperion says:
    October 17, 2010 at 10:37 pm

    thats it??

    Reply Report comment

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