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Acoustical & Musical Instruments

  • H4-43: UKELELE

    H4-43
    Music?
    A simple Rogue baritone ukelele, useful as an example of smaller stringed instruments.
    OS5

  • H4-53: MOOG ROGUE SYNTHESIZER

    H4-53
    Illustrates a simple analog music synthesizer
    Various functions typical of standard analog synthesizers can be illustrated, including the keyboard, modulation, filtering, noise, envelope generator, etc.
    OS5, ME3

  • H4-55: YAMAHA DX7S DIGITAL SYNTHESIZER

    H4-55
    Demonstrate features of a modern digital synthesizer.
    This device is a modern digital synthesizer. An enormous number of functions and effects can be illustrated using this instrument. Please see Demonstration Reference File for manuals on its operation and features.
    OS5, ME3

  • H4-56: SYNTHESIZER INTRODUCTION - VOLTAGE CONTROL OF FREQUENCY

    H4-56
    Illustrate a voltage-controlled frequency device.
    The oscillator at the left produces a slowly varying voltage which is input into the VCG (voltage-controlled generator) input of the oscillator on the right. The frequency of the second generator is controlled by the VCG signal. The loudspeaker is driven directly by the output of the second generator. This is one method of control in analog synthesizers.
    ME3

  • H4-91: COMPACT DISC - MULTIMEDIA SOUND

    H4-91
    Demonstration of a number of audio effects and source of a variety of musical instrument and other sounds.
    A large number of sounds and pictures of musical instruments are available on this CD. They can be used simply as illustrative sounds or can be fed into a spectrum analyzer. A complete manual is available with description of available material.

    h4-91a

  • H4-93: COMPACT DISC - SWITCHED-ON BACH

    H4-93
    Musical illustration of seminal electronic music disc.
    This is a CD copy of the original disc of Bach two-part preludes and fugues performed by Walter Carlos on the musical synthesizer. The disc, originally a 33 1/3 RPM LP record, was one of the most important early synthesizer recordings.

  • H4-94: AUDIOTAPE - VOICE OF THE COMPUTER

    H4-94
    First full recording of computer-generated music, including the original Shepard's tones.
    This recording was the first full issue of computer generated music. It includes examples of step-wise rising and falling Shepard's tones, and an electronic music suite using a downward glissando version of Shepard's tones to represent the falling of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

  • H4-95: AUDIOTAPE - NONESUCH GUIDE TO ELECTRONIC MUSIC

    H4-95
    Early recording of various electronic music effects.
    Audiotape with audio system.

  • H4-96: ELECTRONIC MUSIC WITH SPECTROGRAM

    H4-96
    Show spectrograms of electronic music
    Audio CD contains several tracks of electronic music of various styles. A digital spectrogram of the music can be displayed using Windows Media Player version 9, available on all lecture-demo PCs. Alternatively, the CD can be played on the audio cart.

    To run Media Player 9 in full mode, press CTRL+1. To turn on the spectrogram visualization from the menu bar, select View --> Visualizations --> Bars & Waves --> Bars. Don't be shy about asking for assistance from our helpful staff.

    h4-96b

  • H4-97: COMAPCT DISC - CLOCKWORK ORANGE

    H4-97
    Excellent example of early electronic music.
    Walter Carlos's 1972 soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's seminal Clockwork Orange includes many pieces of early computer-synthesized music.

  • H5-22: EFFECT OF ATTACK TRANSIENT ON TONE QUALITY OF CORNET

    H5-22
    Illustrate how attack transients strongly affect the tone quality of a musical instrument.
    Two mpeg videos, linked below, are played in succession. The first is a cornet playing the overtones of the instrument with no valves depressed. The second is the same series of notes, except that the normal attack transients have been removed by editing the source. Note the substantial difference between the apparent tone quality, or timber, of the cornet in the two audios. The wave shape of each note is shown on both oscilloscope screens, and the fundamental frequency is shown on the lower trace for the set without transients.
    H5, OS5, ME2, ME3

  • H5-43: AUDIOTAPE 6 MIN - SHEPARD'S TONES

    H5-43
    Illustrate the audio analog to the "spiral staircase" effect.
    This tape contains stepwise upward and downward Shepard's tones.
    H5, FS1

  • H5-48: COMPACT DISC - SHEPARD'S TONES

    H5-48
    Illustrate the audio analog to the "spiral staircase" effect.
    This CD contains a fine example of downward glissando Shepard's tones. Track 5, Fall, from "Computer Suite from Little Boy," uses downward glissando Shepard's tones to represent the dropping of the atomic bomb.
    H5, FS1

  • H6-03: VOCAL FORMANTS - MODEL

    H6-03
    A model of vocal formants
    This short tube is closed on one end and has a sliding reed inside it, so when it is inverted the reed slides from one end to the other. (The open end is seen in the photograph at the center above, and the closed end is seen in the photograph at the right. As the air passes through the reed it vibrates, producing a fundamental frequency along with a large number of harmonics. When the reed slides toward the closed end "B" (away from the open end "A"), the vibrating air column becomes longer, so the harmonics resonated by the tube become lower in frequency while the fundamental frequency remains nearly the same. As the reed slides toward the open end "A" (away from the closed end "B"), the vibrating air column becomes shorter, so the harmonics resonated by the tube become higher in frequency while the fundamental frequency remains nearly the same.
    H6

    h6-03ah6-03b

  • H6-06: SYNTHESIZER - WOW

    H6-06
    Show how manipulation of formants allows a synthesizer to "talk."

    This demonstration serves to illustrate some of the concepts behind digital speech synthesis. By setting the synthesizer's oscillators and filters according to the included patch sheet, the synthesizer can be made to approximate the word "Wow."

    This is an example of formant synthesis, which creates synthetic speech by simulating individual vocal formants directly, rather than by using human-generated voice clips. This system was used by many early arcade games to generate "computer" voices, and is popularly used today in screen reader programs, as this type of synthesis is effective even at very high speeds.

  • I1-52: TUNING FORK AT LIQUID NITROGEN TEMPERATURE

    I1-52
    Demonstrate the change in frequency of a tuning fork at liquid nitrogen temperature.
    Cool down one of the two identical tuning forks in liquid nitrogen. When it is cooled, beats are observed between identical tuning forks, one of which has been cooled.

  • I1-53: LEAD BELL AT LIQUID NITROGEN TEMPERATURE

    I1-53
    Demonstrate the effect of temperature on vibrations in a lead bell.
    The bell can be sounded at room temperature. It is then cooled by placing it in a bath of liquid nitrogen, after which it is sounded at LN temperature. The difference in the tone can be ascribed to the increased crystalline structure when the bell is cooled.

  • J1-23: ELECTRIC CHIMES

    J1-23
    Demonstrate electrostatic forces.
    A small ball is suspended between two bells, which are in turn electrically connected to the two sides of a Leyden jar capacitor. When the capacitor is charged, the ball oscillates between the two bells.

    This demonstration can build up significant charge; please handle carefully.
    J1a

  • J4-51: THEREMIN

    J4-51
    Demonstrate the theremin
    A theremin is a musical instrument, invented in the early twentieth century by Russian scientist Dr. Theremin, which uses capacitance to change the pitch and the loudness of the sound. It was popular in dance bands in the first half of the twentieth century, and even used by The Beach Boys in the 1960s. By moving your hands up and down over the triangular capacitor plates on the top of the box, the frequency and loudness of the sound can be varied to produce a musical tune. Perhaps one of the most elegant examples of theremin music is the Rachmaninoff "Vocalise" performed by Clara Rockmore, the most well-known theremin artist ever, with Nadia Reisenberg on the piano. This music is on a CD, The Art of the Theremin, which will be found in our library of CDs in the "MUSIC" section of the demonstration storage.
    J4, ME3

  • K4-03: MAGNETOELECTRIC GENERATOR WITH BELL

    K4-03
    Demonstrate a simple hand-cranked generator.
    A simple generator is made up of a rotating coil arrangement inside a set of horseshoe magnets. This is connected to a traditional electromechanical alarm bell. Turn the crank to ring the bell.
    K4