Electric Eels - Electronic music instruments in traditional acoustic forms.
Electric power for every note comes from the player.
Oscillators and filters are done electronically.
Instruments Built by Participants of the TEI Workshop in the MIT Media Lab
These two instruments, constructed in an afternoon by workshop participants, one the reference designs for Electric Eels, which are hybrid electronic-acoustic instruments using built-in electrical generators. They synthesize instrument music, driving built-in speakers as hard as the bowing motion between the two Lego wheels will allow.
Famous Hardrock Bassline
This video shows Noah Vawter and Kelly Snook breathing life into a classic Finnish folksong, while Ryan O'Toole does a leekspin. More videos are at our youtube page.
Bass Electric Eel Unveiled on Beach in Cape Cod:
This new instrument, on the left, is called the Bass Eel. It is produces the loudest bass
of all Exertion Instruments so far. In this video, Rob Gwin (formerly of The May Fire, currently of
Ettie St. Project and Planet Booty) plays the bass part to "Tequila" as recorded by
The Champs in 1957, while Noah plays chords on the Red Eel.
Sounds of Several Different Synthesizer Algorithms
A demo of some of the synthesizer algorithms possible on the Electric Eel, including brief technical discussion.
How to change the software in your Electric Eel
Exertion Guitar #2 - An Electric Eel Built Into the General Form of a Guitar.
To play, press a chord button, and backdrive the motor in the printer carriage.
It generates enough power to run a synthesizer and amplify the sound. The harder you pump, the louder the sound. I'm in the process of developing the synthesizer algorithm now. It's going to be played more like a guitar, but will retain as much of the electronic sound as possible. There's more
8/2/2010 - Michael and Noah share some research into acoustics which can increase the efficiency of selectively-chosen, yet reasonably-priced woofers. Yes, for those who love to get down and to the source, I can heartily recommend Keele's paper and especially On the Specification of Moving-Coil Drivers for Low-Frequency Horn-Loaded Loudspeakers, from W. Marshall Leach, Jr. Or, if you would like to skip to the chase, and actually build an instrument making use of this technology :) then please check out the most recent update to our Speakers Wiki . We go as far as to list 5 part numbers from PartsExpress.com. These are the ones you should use to produce the most sinister possible bass technology known to man.
7/29/2010 - A massive update to the software archive has been made! Take a browse through it. This release includes all of the synthesizer code that has been written so far! Go download it!
This summer (2010), we have a special addition to the Exertion Music team! We are lucky enough to be loaned the brain power of Michael Harradon, undergraduate researcher from MIT. Michael will be helping publish the design files for Exertion Instruments, help maintain the fleet of instruments for the instrument library, and is also conducting some new research into generator-powered soundfield generators! Welcome Michael! Here's some early work by Michael, a video with related information on making a multi-channel sound field.
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