Ladies and gentlemen.. For your pleasure and edification, allow me to present... The singing Tesla coils!
Yes, if you're clever, and you're willing to do a whole lot of work, you can operate a Tesla coil so that the sparking from the coil produces a particular pitch. Even you're even more clever, you can vary the way that the coil is run to produce different pitches, and arrange it into a song. And if you're really remarkably clever, you can set up two singing Tesla coils, and have them play a duet.
Comments
Wow, now those guys bring a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Shock Jock...."
Posted by: G Barnett | November 5, 2007 5:05 PM
Just posting this comment might entail having to accept a whole new level of personal nerdiness, but this video is the most awesome thing I've seen all day by a wide margin.
Posted by: Zero | November 5, 2007 5:16 PM
I *really* want to see these in person, but I hear they're loud. Like, nearby thunder loud. In another video of a singing Tesla coil I saw, the crowd was shouting and screaming the entire time, but you couldn't hear them at all while the coil was going, only when it was off for a few seconds between sets.
Posted by: Xanthir, FCD | November 5, 2007 6:16 PM
That is truly the epitome of nerd excellence. Bravo! If Tchaikovsky only knew his music would last to be played on such a futuristic medium.
Posted by: BenE | November 5, 2007 7:06 PM
I'm left completely speechless. Even if it had occurred to me that Tesla coils were somewhat pitched, the thought of turning them into instruments never would have. And two? Man. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Posted by: David | November 5, 2007 7:14 PM
Zero, all day?! Nerdy indeed.
Posted by: Rodrigo | November 5, 2007 9:46 PM
Now, if you could only arrange Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy", the nerditude would reach critical mass.
Nah, better not -- I don't want to see a runaway nerd explosion.
Posted by: spudbeach | November 6, 2007 12:22 AM
Man, that's inspiring. This is making me want to find a dot matrix printer and a serial cable and jury-rig a drum machine, or something...
Posted by: Coin | November 6, 2007 12:33 AM
Sorry, but this one is better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1O2jcfOylU
Looks like the same event.
Posted by: Chad | November 6, 2007 1:36 AM
The bootleg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JScc2plLQOI&NR
has a couple of isolated bars, and another song, and more crowd noise and shots for scale (dimensions and loudness).
It also has awkward angles.
Posted by: Jonathan | November 6, 2007 7:02 AM
There was recent demo of this at Austin MAker faire and at the local Dorkbot event. Its UNREAL when you see and experience this in real life.
-raj
Posted by: Raj | November 6, 2007 4:56 PM
And just to cover the bases, the hing's been dubbed a "zeusaphone", after the greek thunder-god Zeus.
Posted by: David Harmon | November 6, 2007 5:34 PM
Wow... Pretty fantastic. Takes both music and science nerds to a whole new level. I like that they played the Mario theme.
Posted by: Amber | November 6, 2007 6:18 PM
LOL! Hilarious!
That has got to be the silliest thing I have ever seen in my life. It's really fun to watch.
Except I'm partial to the Mario Brother' theme. They really did an awesome job with that.
Posted by: Leni | November 6, 2007 7:34 PM
First the Theremin, then the Moog synthesizer, now the Zeusaphone. What's next?
Posted by: Fred | November 6, 2007 7:55 PM
It's the modulation that produces the tones, so changes in that means changes in pitch.
Hmm, last time I saw it they had only one coil if memory serves. Maybe they are going for an orchestra?
Posted by: Torbjörn Larsson, OM | November 6, 2007 8:24 PM
ELO Forever!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Light_Orchestra
Posted by: Mark Whybird | November 7, 2007 1:59 AM
Arn't we suposed to be Conserving energy...? Everyone involved with this project is a Dork. But like in a good way.
Posted by: JJ Waker | November 8, 2007 2:24 PM
Euckin' brilliant. Thanks for sharing. blu
Posted by: bluthetan | November 8, 2007 6:37 PM
Ben Franklin would have loved it.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 13, 2007 7:33 PM
*pukes* (ok, not really) I feel fairly sure that the same note doesn't always look the same on these things. I wish I had a few snapshots of the same note(s) played at different times in "the piece" (if it deserves that name). Irregardless of that, I would hardly call the sounds these things make "music", nor the patterns they make aesthetically pleasing. Techically speaking there exists art in the proper sense, but that's about all here I see. I don't mean to say these things can't get used aesthetically in another way or my opinion comes as authortative, but I certianly don't see art here.
Posted by: Doug | November 13, 2007 11:15 PM
Doug: Why the scare quotes? It is clearly playing music, a "piece" of music. No sarcasm necessary there, it's clear for all to see (or hear). You may not think it's *good* music, and that's your right as a (presumably amateur like the rest of us) critic. But you can't dispute that it is music, any more than I can dispute that those horrid dancing dolls that pop up every Christmas are playing music.
I'm sorry you don't like the look of Tesla coils. Most of us geeks find them beautiful. ^_^ The appearance of lightning inspires in me a sense of wonder, and controlling that lightning even more.
Oh, and different notes certainly look different. The sound has nothing to do with the shape or direction of the discharge. No need for screenshots. ^_^
Posted by: Xanthir, FCD | November 14, 2007 9:14 AM
I bet Eno & Fripp would have a ball with those things.
Posted by: Thony C. | November 14, 2007 12:03 PM
I put the scare quotes up, because I don't think it deserves the appelation music. In terms of a denotative definition of 'music', it clearly does play music. But, in terms of connotative definition, which implies music as something aesthetical, or as something beautiful, I wouldn't call such music. Although, of course, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder (or ears in this case).
[I'm sorry you don't like the look of Tesla coils. Most of us geeks find them beautiful.]
I don't know how I feel about the look of the Tesla coils, and that wasn't my point. My point about the looks of them comes as that the same notes don't look identical, at least so far as I could see. I played in marching bands and a drum and bulge corps, and one of the effects on wants on a drumline comes as that all the snare players, for instance, look like they make the same movements. Of course, this doesn't happen completely in reality if you get a video tape and play it in very slow motion and zoom the picture in farther and farther, but it looks like it does from our normal view. With the view of the tesla coils, this sort of effect gets lost.
[The appearance of lightning inspires in me a sense of wonder, and controlling that lightning even more.]
The lightning itself I find very cool.
Posted by: Doug | November 14, 2007 3:18 PM
Wow doug, congrats for completely missing the point. Complaining that they don't look exactly the same is just retarded. The frequencies and voltages here are astounding, and requiring the display be defined via ABCDEFG is the height of ignorance. Your analogy to a drum core is especially ill-chosen.
I'm sure if they wanted to, they could pipe some Fennesz through the coils. Would that make you happy?
Posted by: Chi | November 22, 2007 11:10 AM
"drum core" = two antique modalities of computer memory.
The relationships between Music, Mathematics, and Physics are wondeful, and the literature on the various intersections is too voluminous to bibiographize here, including recent work on orbifolds in chord sequences. I agree with Chi that it does not meaningfully project dowen to the lower-dimensionality plane of military music as adapted for sports events.
And now the Tesla Titans and the Edison Bulbs are taking the field, and the fans go wild. The Tesla marching band has huge lightning bolts all around them...
Posted by: Jonathan Vos Post | November 22, 2007 12:35 PM
[Complaining that they don't look exactly the same is just retarded.]
It differs in taste from yours sure, but I don't see any sort of mental handicap by having a different taste.
[The frequencies and voltages here are astounding, and requiring the display be defined via ABCDEFG is the height of ignorance.]
Ignorance??? I have such an aesthetical requirement, and I think I even previously openly acknowledged such as aesthetical. Yet, you call such ignorance???
[I'm sure if they wanted to, they could pipe some Fennesz through the coils. Would that make you happy?]
Haven't heard him, it might.
[The relationships between Music, Mathematics, and Physics are wondeful, and the literature on the various intersections is too voluminous to bibiographize here, including recent work on orbifolds in chord sequences. I agree with Chi that it does not meaningfully project dowen to the lower-dimensionality plane of military music as adapted for sports events.]
Drum corps does NOT come as music adapted for sporting events. Drum corps *originally* arose as a way to promote Patriotism in the US. It hasn't functioned in such a way since it dissaociated itself from the VFW posts. Currently, it functions as a musical undertaking all of its own, which many people regard as a sport itself due to the physical demands involved (the movement involved comes MUCH more like running than military marching). The music doesn't come as military music... at one point Santa Clara Vanguard was known for doing Broadway numbers (Phantom of The Opera, Fiddler on the Roof), Blue Devils are known for playing jazz music such as Duke Ellington, Phantom Regiment is known for playing classical music including Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovitch, etc. I don't even want to know how many times Crusaders and Cadets have played Aaron Copeland or how many corps have played West Side Story, or how many times Bluecoats have played Chick Corea or Autumn Leaves. Not to mention how many *original* shows have gotten done by corps including the Cavaliers who have won three championships using *original* music (Machine, Frameworks, and Four Corners). Drum corps shows don't involve any other primary event than drum corps doing what they do.
And for goodness sake, it's CORPS, not "core" like an apple. Yet, you call me "ignornant", just because I dare to disagree with your taste and state it... seriously people, seriously.
Posted by: Doug | November 22, 2007 6:04 PM
Musical!!!??
Posted by: Thony C. | November 23, 2007 2:08 AM
Sure, you can think drum corps unmusicial Thony. But, Drum Corps International still functions independently of any military organization.
Posted by: Doug | November 23, 2007 1:50 PM