[sdiy] Telharmonium motors, perhaps?

[john mahoney]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Parkhurst" <tparkhurst at siliconbandwidth.com>
>
> A sine encoder is a very useful thing IF you have drive circuitry
capable of
> reading the encoder output and using it properly. From what I
understand, it
> makes it easier to get accurate motor position, direction, AND
velocity.
> This sounds more like a servo motor, but it looks like a standard DC
motor,
> so I couldn't say for sure. Also, most motor controllers aren't set
up to
> work with sine encoders. Here's a little more info
>
> http://www.naic.edu/~phil/mbeam/motor/sinEncFdBack.pdf
>
> Anyway, sounds fairly involved to make proper use of the sine
encoders. I
> worked for a motion control company for about two years, and the
sine
> encoder was a fairly rare option.

But Tim, we wouldn't be doing much of anything with the encoder
output. The idea is just to let the motors run free and use the
encoder outputs as fixed frequency audio signals. Run them through
waveshapers and frequency doublers, I suppose.

Given a bank of motors, I'd set them up to have a master frequency
control as well as individual tuning controls. I doubt the would stay
in tune (relative to each other) at anything other than "standard"
pitch. However, the master tuning knob might make for a nice pitch
bend effect.

This gives new meaning to the term VCO, ha ha.
--
john