Hydrocrystallophone

[gfish]

The project I was working on -- and mostly finished -- for Steamcon last weekend. I'm really quite proud of it. :)

So far the response has been very positive. I'm curious to see how far this one gets shared...

Comments

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about that. I need to try it with a tall, thin champagne flute maybe. The pipe isn't adjusted to be as close to the bottom of the glass as possible (since I broke a few and they're just random selections from goodwill), so I could get a bit more on the high end. A thin flute would also help there, since an unexpected problem with the water being centrifugally thrown outwards as the glass spun, lowering the level where the pipe inlet it.

The really big problem I see is that it can't change tones faster. I need to replace the pipe with 1/4", though I'm not looking forward to how that looks. Also maybe add a secondary lever for operating the pump cylinder, to give you more force. I just couldn't figure out a way to make that collapsing and portable in time.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

The other idea is to use multiple glasses. You wouldn't need multiple turntables, I don't think -- you could just belt-drive a second glass off of the first one, it's not like you don't have torque to spare. With a second glass, you could probably jump the range to over an octave, which is enough for most melodies. Or you could do a simpler melody over a drone note.

[maribou]

As I listened to it, I couldn't help picturing the hydrocrystallophone equivalent of a gamelan orchestra. 30 or 40 folks all with their own particular glasses... some doing melodies, but most acting percussively.

[maribou]

Dronily, would I suppose be the right analogy. Cause, you know, percussion on moving wine glasses doesn't seem like the best plan ever.

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

Use mercury instead of water...