[sdiy] Lo Fi Munchers (was) Help On Creating An Effect

[Michael Ruberto]

>
>Hey, thanks for the compliments, Mike!


much deserved Doug. your site is in my bookmarks and one of the most 
enjoyable DIY sites I have seen.

Actually, I have
>been planning something similar to this for a long time,
>but using a rotating speaker. I have a wonderful little
>slip-ring assembly that works very well for a rotating
>assembly, but have not completed a project on it as this is
>not an easily obtainable part for others to get a hold of.
>
>I have experimented with building a slip-ring/drive
>assembly using old tape decks for parts, and have had
>moderate success. Maybe this fall I will get something up
>on the website for others to try.
>
sounds like it will be a real challenge. I remember trying to do something 
similar in high school trying to build a robot with a rolvolving head with 
sensors in it. I believe I had too many issues with the trip switches and 
contact noise from the home-made slip-ring thing I made in shop class. been 
afraid of revolving electronics ever since ;-)

>In my salvaged parts bins I also have a neat little chopper
>motor from a spectrophotometer that would be perfect for
>this chopped vocal effect; it has a flat disc with sections
>cut out to "chop" the light path, attached to a stepper
>motor. Almost exactly what was previously described here.
>

hmmm, that sounds like it could be very promising. stepper motors can be 
rather noisy though. I have found that the steppers in old 5 1/4" floppy 
drives are pretty quiet (almost silent) and powerful for their size but 
don't have a great speed range. it could be enough range for a sound chopper 
though.

>I was considering building a large box containing a
>rotating speaker source and a number of resonant chambers
>and sound paths to microphones including choppers and
>solenoid gates to control the sound "flow". So many
>projects, so little time...
>
this is a REALLY cool idea! try to obtain some ribbed swimming pool pump 
hose for a resonance that's entirely crazy. would it also be possible to 
create physical VCFs by moving sections of sound deadening material in the 
path between mic and speaker?
it's good to at least put the ideas for projects to paper so you don't 
forget them. for instance I created the basic core circuit for my Aztec in 
1999 and luckily put it to paper before using the breadboard for a new 
project.
~M

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