What is it about solenoids that makes people want to make music with them? Whatever it is, we hope that solenoids never stop inspiring people to make instruments like [CamsLab]’s copper pipe auto-glockenspiel.
At first, [CamsLab] thought of striking glasses of water, but didn’t like the temporary vibe of a setup like that. They also considered striking piano keys, but thought better of it when considering the extra clicking sound that the solenoids would make, plus it seemed needlessly complicated to execute. So [CamsLab] settled on copper pipes.
That in itself was a challenge as [CamsLab] had to figure out just the right lengths to cut each pipe in order to produce the desired pitch. Fortunately, they started with a modest 15-pipe glockenspiel as a proof of concept. However, the most challenging aspect of this project was figuring out how to mount the pipes so that they are close enough to the solenoids but not too close, and weren’t going to move over time. [CamsLab] settled on fishing line to suspend them with a 3D-printed frame mounted on extruded aluminium. The end result looks and sounds great, as you can hear in the video after the break.
Of course, there’s more than one way to auto-glockenspiel. You could always use servos.
Very cool
There is something just magical about live music. Its somehow “satisfying” to hear music being created from instruments as opposed to speakers.
Proper in copper. Lmfao
Good one
In the next iteration, I’d love to see rubber mounts for the solenoids, plastic or wooden hammer caps and time-corrected variable attack strength please.
I am not sure the note-independent thud we hear at the onset is really emitted from the solenoids. Maybe decoupling the whole structure from the table is enough.
people can play faster
Not all music is Yngwie Malmsteen. Some is Jean Michel Jarre.
I guess one should start by cutting the pipe for the lowest note.
Then if it gets too much cut off, it becomes the piece used for the next higher note.
Don’t know about you, but I always use a belt sander to tune my auto-Glockenspiel.
How about auto bagpipes?
Straight from Skynet we have McBlare
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/mcblare/
Technically, these would be chimes/tubular bells rather than a glockenspiel. A glockenspiel uses flat bars, sometimes with resonator pipes below them.
Or tubaphone…
Be happy they didn’t call it a xylophone!
Seasonal request: https://musescore.com/user/12287421/scores/3022181
Automate one of these “Tounge Drums”:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LH-J_zsxU0g
When I first saw this article I was excited because I have a large pile of leftover copper pipes from an ancient plumbing project (I use PEX now). But then I watched the video and realized that the thing sounds awful with those initial thuds.
But now this has me wondering if there might be some sort of purely electromagnetic (no mechanical impact) way to induce resonance in the pipes, preferably using fields somewhat less intense than the ~1 Tesla range of MRI machines.
Research needed…
Interesting idea. The EBow is a such resonator device for electric guitars. It sounds pretty cool. Although, an electric guitar doesn’t require very much amplitude, so the power requirements still may be pretty high to excite something like a steel pipe.
Nice result!… Reminds me good memories of my own project of the same kind, yet another self playing Glockenspiel :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDA98d1k4czCp31zG0Rtx2t4uluENyvoJ
Not sure why, but these sounds do not sound recognizable. You may have to tweak something.