If you’ve ever found yourself immersed in the wild realm of electronic dance music, then chances are you’ve probably heard [Flux Pavilion]’s dubstep banger ‘Bass Cannon.’ The music video released for the track shows [Flux] and his minion [Doctor P] performing twisted audio experiments on unexpecting research candidates by blasting them in the face with strong waves of sound vibrations, which blew back the hair of the people strapped to the chair. The audio trials took place inside what looks to be a warehouse filled to the brim with speakers, heavy duty subs, and sound boards; making it more like a ‘room of bass’ rather than a bass cannon itself. Yet, it inspired one of Hackaday’s Alum to literally create a bass cannon himself. And as you can see in the video below, his device packs quite a punch.
Most of us know [Adam Munich] as the guy who built this portable x-ray machine that could look through just about anything. He’s also built a nuclear bomb detector and has documented several radiation safety techniques, but every once in a while he decides to make something utterly ridiculous like this! He describes his homemade bass cannon as having a variety of fun and exciting uses including a mobile party on one’s shoulders, a way to frizz your hair, or an electrifying method to scare the neighbors.
[Adam]’s portable music machine was hacked together from a handheld AirZooka, a pair of voice coils, a class D amplifier, and a few other miscellaneous parts. It even came complete with a see-through plastic sight allowing people to aim the device anywhere they want.
Although [Adam] didn’t write up step-by-step instructions, he did provide a circuit diagram and enough pictures for those interested in developing their own.
In addition, here’s the original [Flux Pavilion] music video:
Lets build a rotary subwoofer and boost the power … for science
I agree. A rotary sub would be the only way to produce powerful sound in the sub bass frequencies (<100Hz) in this form factor. At least when I picture a bass cannon I expect sub bass and not the above 150hz that a normal voice coil loudspeaker can produce in appreciable volumes at distances greater than a few feet.
Rotary subs only work in an enclosed space, such as a room; they have to be installed between the listening room and some other space. Further, they’re not useful above 20 Hz.
“Science”
Boooooring.
I love high power audio so I approve of this device!
Nothing quite like swapping quality for quantity.
I’m willing to bet much of the distortion comes from the sound cannon overloading the recording device.
A subwoofer on a stick. Woooooo… hooooo…
*yawn*
I appreciate your thought provoking insight, this comment’s contribution to the discussion is greatly rewarding.
I’d love to have something strong enough to shake the car of bass punks that troll the streets. Fart sounds at 150+ dB would be perfect
+1 X infinity
P.S. Now get off my lawn!
Sounds like a task suited for a webcam and mic setup to track the car, and maybe a steerable beam via a phased array, or a turret mounted ‘audio spotlight’.
I hope it won’t smell as bad as that would sound.
wonder if those directional audio speakers elements can be sourced with a frequency response range low enough to make a viable bass cannon, that would be great.
I think Sir would enjoy number 8 on our menu then…
http://malti001.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Secret-Weapons-of-Nazi-Germany
There’s an xkcd for everything!
http://m.xkcd.com/368/
Yes, that’s why it’s annoying every time someone posts one…
Almost as annoying as posting “First Post!”
Now, get off my lawn!!!! :)
No! Xkcd is always appropriate! Now you get off MY lawn!!!
The fact that Xkcd has a post for almost any possible situation is what makes it unoriginal to the audience the poster is directing it to. Linking a situation to Xkcd is almost no more original or clever than posting “First post!”, and should be regarded in the same sense…
Oh well, from the title I was expecting Bass Cannon from Excision (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_EjaslTcg). The one used in that Dark Souls video.
I’ve seen that played live! Excision rocked the house so much that actual ceiling tiles fell from the roof :D
Wouldn’t a bass cannon be pointless since bass is kind of omnidirectional?
Sounds can be directional. Not like a laser beam, but still pretty focused.
not with low frequencies, at 20 hz the wavelength is around 15 m !
So long as your radiator is >> 15m, you can make a directional beam.
Perhaps, but a bass blunderbuss doesn’t sound as cool.
Er, I disagree.
+1 Blunderbass
HAD grasping at straws for a wider audience. Keep trying guys! =)
normal (bass-y-ish) speaker boxes are either too big, too heavy, or both for a backpak,
this guy used a cyclinder…
could i use a dryer hose??? (flexable/retractable hot-air exhaust hose)
or would the walls of it be too flexible for proper sound?
His site was chock full of science, but no info on this toy that he repurposed. Time to Google.
airzooka
I have a broken Airzooka, it works by the user pulling a plastic bag attached to elastic inside and sealed around the end backward, upon releasing fires an fairly directional ‘ball’ of air.
I wonder if a woofer mounted at the large end (instead of inside) could create an automatic rapid fire of air balls.
You could probably mount a sizable subwoofer to the end, rather than this smallish speaker.
I’m not sure where the at least 80W RMS amp and massive battery pack youd want to make this portable would be mounted though.
Actually if you notice behind the “smallish speaker” there is a respectably sized sub woofer(you can see the membrane of the diaphragm).I suppose the small speaker is a twitter.
*tweeter
And no, that’s a wideband speaker, something along the line of this: http://www.visaton.de/en/industrie/breitband/frs8_8.html
the filter at the input does mix the left and right and send the low frequency one one channel to the sub, and the mid/high to the other channel and to the small speaker
wowwww ! man .. nice !!
bass cannon, bass canna, bis canna-bis, cannabis, cannabis …
Some serious subliminal messaging in this song.
Looks like the original video is a sub-sub-sub-sub woofer. In fact, the frequency is so low, it’s DC. That is, it’s a fan, which seems to be always blowing in one direction. Any sound producing device would move your hair back and forth, right?
Bravo!
The Bass Canon goes to up to eleven!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htm_956k5ps#t=136
I posted the video URL with t=135 (where ther crank it up to eleven), nut the embed above seems to have removed that. :-(
Where’s the edit button? Canon -> Cannon, ther -> they, nut -> but. :-o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc
Been there. Done that. Got the Patent. US20080121220.
Steve K.
Ahh… A Disney air cannon patent!
fricking gema -.-
Really? Bass Cannon? Errr. No. FAIL!
I would hesitate to call it a bass cannon because it really is not musical. Like the air-zooka it does project strong air pulses many feet however.
sk
What’s the song played in a demo ? Cuz it ain’t Flux P, or I just can’t find the right remix, thx for answer