[sdiy] Hewlett-Packard Oscillator

[Nathan M. Reeves]

i am downloading that song right now to listen for the HP

i do enjoy listening examples for all the gizmos that come up on the  
list =)

cheers

nate

On Jun 5, 2009, at 12:02 PM, Travis Shire wrote:

>> The cool thing about the Hewlett-Packard oscillator is that you can
>> hear it (or a clone of it) at the beginning of Frank Zappa's "Return
>> of the Son of Monster Magnet", the last song on the first Mothers of
>> Invention album "Freak Out" (1966).
>>
>> The clues are there if you listen closely... the oscillator is played
>> over the 20-200 Hz range, the 200-2000 range, and the 2K-20K range.
>> And each time he switches ranges, you can hear a little amplitude
>> "bounce" as the feedback loop stabilizes around the incandescent
>> lamp's thermal time constant.  This is a very unidentifiable
>> characteristic sound.  FZ notices it, and starts using the range
>> switch as a sort of percussion instrument.  And the oscillator is
>> overdubbed, so you can hear two of them going at it in a sort of
>> sci-fi counterpoint.
>>
>> While listening to this it helps to visualize FZ working the
>> oscillator with both hands like a mad scientist, with his eyebrows
>> going up and down.
>>
>> -- Don
>>
>
> Nice sleuthin'. I don't know if I ever made it all the way through  
> that "song". But I did notice the oscillator in it. He shoulda used  
> an echoplex on it instead of overdubbing another osc track. That  
> woulda gave him the space-sci-fi thing he was goin' for.
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