The Masters of Lightning Play Popcorn on Zeusaphones @ Penguicon 2008 (9a3)

[weaponnerd]

This sounds like really old techno^^

[weaponnerd]

AXEL F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



[smeghead0]

Save the planet, press the replay button!!

[MrPirateSir1]

dear santa

[MrKtaniguchi]

this good like sugar plum bu this one 10+ light shape each side in 1 second bout 10 seconds rranking over 100 shapes or so both side makes 200+ shapes in each 10 seconds it feel healing wit melody o i guess it sound like popcorn so intense

[ufoengines]

Ever hooked up a Theremin to your coils?

[awesomelightning]

I love the very last low note LOL.

[AugustKrueger]

I live near Troy. Where and when does this Penguicon go on?

[Hammerichinfo]

are these coils pwm or fm modulated? Because I have a SSTC too but I don´t now how to mudulate this teslacoil and how does it works :)

[wuxy12]

This is proof that God created techno!

[topgunner16]

playing with power.. conclusion.... good idea.

[Sigma5656]

oh s*** my popcorn get burned by the lighting !!!!!!

[kthfox]

i thought amps are what kill you. you can zap someone in the face with a high voltage Tazer (500k - 1.2m or more) and theyll be stunned but alive. in fact i think the basic way tesla coils work is transforming amps to volts. im pretty sure it would cause a nasty burn though. that is indeed air being heated by a vast flow of electrons coursing through it. i believe thats called plasma.

oh awesome music by the way.

[jinngaru]

@kthfox It might still kill you anyways, since amp shocks can cause internal burns.

[putthenameon]

@kthfox The problem is you can not direct define how many volts and/or ampere you need to kill a human.

In germany the elektricans got as rule 50-60V AC/100-120V DC can kill you depending on many faktores like impedance of skin, health status and other( for worst case 1kOhm as minimal bodyimpedanz).

To all others erare humanum est and nobody is perfect.

[awesomelightning]

@kthfox amps do kill, not volts.

[setzer808]

They should put a Jiffypop between them and see what happens...

[ScorpionHunter01]

It the amps that kill you not volts or else no one wold be able to survive direct lightning strikes, one guy has been struck 2+ times by lightning and survived. aren't Lightning bolts 25 million volts?

[UnrealGalaxy]

@ScorpionHunter01 Lightning bolts are very fast, a Tesla bolt continously zaps you till your dead...

[domlinify]

I want 2 of these so badly

[phillip1500]

anyone know where i can find the original song cause i know the tune and everything but i cant find the song

[BecauseICannibal]

@phillip1500 The song is called "Popcorn" by Hot Butter. You can find the original song on Youtube, but you have to clearly define it as the song, not the food. I'm not sure where you would find the CD.

[devo46310]

@BecauseICannibal "Popcorn" was originally written and performed by Gershon Kingsley in 1969 on a Moog. Hot Butter covered it in 1972.

[michaelmcknotty]

@BecauseICannibal CD, it was on The Greatest 70's Party Ever, however I found it in a charity shop on vinyl which I found better :D

[semjgandel]

@phillip1500 crazyfrog

[Imotepchief]

Everything sounds better throught the medium of lightning.

[SophosScorpio]

That's bloody cool.

[burngadget]

perfect!

[awsomeownies]

just wondering,but what's the difference between zuesaphones and tesla coils?



[hylianarmy0]

@awsomeownies: Very little, actually. The only difference between them is that the zeusaphone is connected to a computer that regulates the amount of energy, thus changing the pitch of the lightning. It's not the best of explanations, but I hope it will do.

[EpicureMammon]

A little different than a Moog :)

[awesomelightning]

The low note at the end is hilarious XDDD

[awesomelightning]

DX no vid works today!!!! WTF???? oh. it loads and freezes thsi one but most dont work DXX

[sjwimmel]

"Electrify the boys and girl's if you'd be so kind!"

[sjwimmel]

Never thought I'd dig this style but I must say: I like Electro!

[byt4byt]

Huh, once the front man on the mic got toasted the rest of the band cleared the stage pretty quick. Yep those old Shure phantom powered mics can bite back sometimes. RE; Keith Relf of the Yardbirds RIP.

[moldy904]

Why has Daft Punk not utilized this yet?

[nerdcorrupt]

so.... how do they control the notes on those things? are they like predone? or is it an extremely clever set up to make it actually playable?

[Exarian]

why are they called zeusapho- OH I GET IT!

[awesomelightning]

EPIC

[louswire]

i WANNA SEE THAT FROG STANDING BETWEEN THE COILS...

[awesomelightning]

How long can these things run for? O.O

[inuyasha9876]

taking electronica to a whole new level

[awesomelightning]

I tried not to think abt tesla coils. Theyy're too awesome (and i had nothing to do in that airplane-- i just landed and in a hotel-- but watch the Sorcerors appenntice over and over again which like constantly depicted tesla coils)

[figaro589]

they sound like atari 2600 synths

[TinBryn]

is there a fundamental reason they can only play monotonic sounds on each coil?

[zulawoo]

@TinBryn Because they send out a single electric resonance, they make the air vibrate at a single frequency, therefore they can only make a single-tone sound, which sounds cracking because of the fact that it actually is :P

[PowerQube1234]

@TinBryn if i'm to be mistaken... you can take a neon light and hold it closer to the tesla coil to shorten the electricity which will make them quieter. all you have to do is ground yourself out so you don't electricute yourself.

[Eo1spy]

@TinBryn The waves they produce are square, not sinusoidal.

[4trw]

@TinBryn Yeah, the coil produces a square wave instead of a sinusoidal wave, so at best you get are super simple chords.

[hobbified]

@TinBryn it sounds a lot better. Consider the way they work -- they have pretty good frequency response (apparently up to 40kHz for these ones!) but only one bit of amplitude (they're either throwing a spark or not). So if you want to play something without the distortion from quantizing to one bit muddying it all to hell, you're best sticking with some simple square waves.

[Kodak900000]

the 6 people who disliked this were electrocuted to death playing this song

[Zeesarh]

@Kodak900000 and they came back from dead to click the Dislike buttom? :D

[brandonjpb]

6 people don't know what happiness is. :(

[awesomelightning]

Staccato popcorn meets staccato lightning.

[TheTrueShinobi]

My. FUCKING. GOD.

This makes my Theramin look like a kid's toy in comparison!

[PanzerNils]

are they seriously playing music on lightning?

[awesomelightning]

@PanzerNils real lightning will be too low to hear, sop TECHNICALLY no. They are however using electricity.

[awesomelightning]

@PanzerNils not exactly. Lightning would be too low to hear. THey are using smaller sparks.

[all4atlantis]

@PanzerNils yes, yes they are.

[spudd86]

@PanzerNils yes

[battousaicrescent]

@PanzerNils No they're just playing with plasma XD

[fredrickpendragon]

the loudest, most technological, insane, costly, and dangerous way to play music short of musical carpet bombing...

yet somehow I think this is the way Popcorn was meant to be played, in the creator's mind--at least somewhere in their subconscious.

[Phantomsbreath]

@fredrickpendragon Now for some reason, I want someone to create musical carpet bombing. The salt flats of nevada would be perfect.

[MrTurboparker]

You're hearing a modulated Tesla coil. The RF carrier is usually in the 100s of kHz. The coil's RF output is amplitude-modulated at the audio rate. The modulated plasma column then displaces air at the audio rate. Tesla coils are not simply step-up transformers - they're resonant circuits. A friend of mine & I built a 1200W coil that produces 6' arcs. When I taught RF, we set it up in the Faraday cage in my lab. I used it as a teaching tool to demonstrate the of the power of resonance. Was fun!

[Fishyninjabreadman]

how can 6 people dislike this?

[sensangsun]

you guys should've tried to pop popcorn while playing popcorn

[awesomelightning]

@sensangsun :O no! play popcorn with different recordings and pitches of popcorn popping! :O

[700Fantomas007]

How can somebody NOT like this? O_o

[AgentTasmania]

@700Fantomas007

awesome impared

[AgentTasmania]

1:00-1:30 is extra win

[brianmiami]

We should install these around our borders.

[AgentTasmania]

i MUST construct a set of zeusaphones in my lifetime. that is articals one though ten on the bucket list

[AlphaAGENT144]

Nostalgia

[estlib]

i think this has something to do with zapping different amounts of electricity throuch them coils and the time the amount is used... for lower notes, less. for higher, more. AM i right? correct me if im wrong

[zarwalski1]

@estlib its not exactly how much electricity its to do with the frequencey of the wave. the higher the frequency the higher the tone.and the shorter the wave lengh. the amount you put in would alter the volume but not the pitch

[AgentTasmania]

@estlib

close. voltage, ampage and frequency are manipulated to create changes in pitch and volume

[NotYour94Ranger]

@estlib These coils produce their sound by altering frequency. They produce a click every time the wave passes the zero point, and from then it's just a matter of selecting frequency, higher frequency, more clicks, higher pitched sound, and vice-versa.

[awesomelightning]

@NotYour94Ranger :O thank you. I wanted to know this. One question (I feel stupid; I love electriciy, but dont kno this) whats the zero point? Ive heard of it, but I don't knowwhat it means. Im only 13.

[megalusse]

pussa alla goa kärnkraftverk bakom d här gobitarna :p

[darkenevil]

love it..

[westernbiological]

the most erotic thing i've ever seen.

[trkka]

This has got to be one of the greatest things ever.

[Kitfoxdragon]

Sooooo... If they put popcorn in that... it would probably pop, wouldn't it? :)

[Malmern]

It kinda reminds of Kraftwerk's cover/version of this,

how approriate! (Kraftwerk is German for powerplant)

[Alfacuria]

Why is the tesla coil so awesome?

[Dragonquester01]

@Alfacuria cuz'its awesomness OVERKILL, like killing an ant with a nuclear bomb

[AgentTasmania]

@Dragonquester01

i'll second that!

[sergnewman]

AWESOME!!!!!!! GREAT!!! Wont more!!

[yourmomdidsayyourean]

science FTW!

[CrazyxxxUkraine]

u need to play some grindcore with those things imagine a breakdown with those things!

[Waaop]

the sparks are like GO GRAB THE CAGE QUICK!!! :D amazing

[Tbozed]

Teslaphones!!!

[MegatronSmurf]

holy fucking shit

[bedecoy]

TESLA COIL FROM RED ALERT OMG!!!1

[Frosty525]

@bedecoy ZAP PEOPLES COMING IN TO MY BASE!

[ebbe1234]

It's also used in a game called digger.

[liqwiz]

It's the popcorn theme,

however it Was used for the game Digger, so it is false to say that it's not digger's theme (it's just incomplete information).

[fulkinghell]

Zeusaphone = most epic instrument name ever

[Matto146]

only one problem one big electricity bill

[gevar234]

They are large tesla coils that have circuitry that allow a person to change the frequency, allowing someone in theory, to use it as a musical instrument or speaker as shown here, look for arcattack, and I used to think that electric motor speakers were cool!

[GHisraelSongs]

isn't that Digger's theme song? no Popcorn

[kattenmusen10k]

nope, this is Popcorn by Hot Butter

[realar]

Kinda funny they're named Hot Butter.

[dvmagic]

@GHisraelSongs I don't know who Digger is, but this definitely the song "Popcorn" made popular by a group called "Hot Butter" in 1972

[conoba]

Original artist of that theme is Gershon Kingsley (1969).

[DutchJuggernaut]

@dvmagic It is, but there have been several remakes since. This is one of those modernized versions.

[michaeljulia123]

Ok, how does this work ?

[djdrew11]

@michaeljulia123 The different frequencies of the elevtricity crackling though the air change pitch as the Freq changes from low to high, sending the range, respectively up or down. Then all it takes is a micro-controller, or a really skilled person, to control the different pitches.

[conoba]

The plasma spark displaces air. The bigger the spark, the more air is displaced by hot plasma. The size of the spark is controlled by a piece of electronics, depending on the amplitude of the input audio signal. A changing volume of plasma will cause the air around it to move back and forth, creating the soundwave.

[LordMagorVonPrase]

very nice

[nbiok]

do jajja

[KittyRokher]

i...dont know why... but i must touch it!

[C0mmrade5niper]

@KittyRokher i know how you feel....oooooooo shiney....im like a magpie

[schneggedigger]

@KittyRokher me too^^

[Thedeoradude]

@KittyRokher i was just thinking that :P

[MMMNUMNUMS]

@KittyRokher Same idea as a buglight, you just can't help but touching it even though it will kill you it's sooo.. prettyyyyyy... BZZZZZZTT

[AgentTasmania]

@KittyRokher

I'll reserve you a morgue drawer

[AtomicDoorknob]

PARAGON X9!!!! :D

[Ladiko15]

WTF NICE DUDE!!!

[nightmathzombieethan]

@Leetpwnedsrs

My BAD!!! Pengo was the game, but yeah, it does go further back

[nightmathzombieethan]

@Leetpwnedsrs

Look up "Dig Dug"

Atari 2600....

Pretty sure it goes even further back than that....

[UTF2005]

...You can't possibly be serious.

[microstorm]

crazy frog (or as he was created, the anoying thing) was a rip off, a money machine.... sadly Turboforce3D gave away the charecter to some idiot who started copying songs like hell, giving them a very bad sound.... sadly... so no, its not crazy frog, though "he" has made a version of this great song Popcorn. Oldschool electronic music.

[NoPegs]

I wonder where I can find the places and dates these brilliant guys and their coils are planning to perform at. I've Googled it but no dice.

[DeterminedGoat]

If you find out please let me know I would love to see this.

[superpoop899]

wow...i never saw this before...awesome...

[CR4TES]

If someone mounted a miniature edition of these on the old-school NES for use as the sound synthesizer, I would literally pay $300 for one all over again, and play every game from "A Boy and his Blob" to "Zelda 2"-- A to Z-- all over again.

Seriously.

XcD

[Leetpwnedsrs]

@CR4TES Yeah right dude

[nightmathzombieethan]

@CR4TES

Right On!!!!

Although it sounds more suitable for an Atari.....

Your neighbors would burn your house down!!!

[myztic123]

that music has a lot of power, literally

[noneofyourbusiness06]

Yes indeed it does

[realisticHomeboy]

A couple of tesla coils like that would be perfect in a jean michelle jare show

[redsamuraidragon]

Speaking of popcorn........ Someone should get out there with a pan and some popcorn in a Faraday suit.. :D I would.........

[Watcher3223]

@redsamuraidragon

It probably wouldn't pop the corn.

[gadgetmanlol]

it would pop the popcorn if it was in a pan and the pan attracted the lightening it would get hot and therefore pop the popcorn

[CR4TES]

@redsamuraidragon:

W00t at the Faraday suit! FTW!

XcD

[Jourei91]

I wonder how loud that is?

[18alec]

110dB and above.

[dodgyville]

beyond awesome

[boringtree]

I'm so building this =D maybe a smaller / safer version. Maybe.

[LynnetLennMnemeni]

It almost sounds like guitars when they're both going fast at 1:00 and on. This is AWESOME.

[jorgendavidsson]

haha, that´s sick!

[Necrobulldozer]

cool!

[LittleQube]

1 touch of this and you'r toasted

crazy idea ... but it work

not perfect but hey its pure fuking electricity ^^

[apro9rammer]

Not sure how many actual amps they are pushing, but I know they are running at 500,000 volts, this is coming off of a 240 W power supply. If this is the case and everything is held in a perfect system, P=IV, so I = .00048, or .48 mA, which is hardly enough to do much to you. Also, the shock perception reduces as the frequency increases, since the frequency is run at approximately 40kHz, you would feel almost nothing. HOWEVER you would get severely burned as this mug runs 3000+ degrees.

[soulextracter]

Didn't Nicola Tesla put 2 peeps in a room with one of these and proved them would survive it, just to prove his electricity was more safe then eddisons or something like that, i think i hoocked up an elephant to eddisons electricity and turned on the light if you eill ^^ Elephant roast for dinner it was

[20040528]

It was the other way around, Edison hoocked up the elepahnt

[JigenD]

Edison killed the elephant just to watch it die.

[Freewarplayer]

This are not only 500kV. I think, maybe 1MV til 3MV is more realistic than 500kV.

[Piro42]

Freewarplayer, do you know what you're talking about?

[monkeyape12]

@apro9rammer

Yeah and not just normal electrical burns but nasty full depth, to the bone, RF burns.

[MrCauthon2]

old but still awsome.

[vermouthfisk]

whyz=noob

[evilbritta]

if i stand in between those, will i look like the guys in Red alert?

[bloggingchick]

Sure, sure. And unless you're wearing the same kind of suit Dr. Zeus wears, afterwards you'd look a lot like anyone in a morgue.

[malawoot]

@bloggingchick

It depends on how the voltage is configured. If you run the tesla coil on a low enough voltage, you can safely walk through the lightning and even touch it, perhaps feeling only a tingling sensation.

[bloggingchick]

@malawoot

Each of these coils is up to 7 hundred thousand volts. Both together is up to 1.4 million volts. Try touching the sparks without a Faraday suit and you would be killed. 

[unknownwolfperson]

@bloggingchick

Agreed. Any time you play with electricity, it's dangerous. Although there has been a man struck by lightning six times and lived doesn't mean anyone can have the same luck. My uncle nearly died just by working on his truck a few weeks ago. An almost dead battery almost took his life.

[kryp10yt]

@bloggingchick That's what the guys on Red Alert look like...just slightly more animated...and they usually just disintegrate.

[khosrok]

hahaha!

[Timmyyy0001]

OOO jeah

i really like this.

tesla for the win

i god only a few little coils ):

[ZXRulezzz]

Wow... thats just... incredible 8-)

[tocool474]

its quite loud actuly.

[sandaphalon]

This is the only thing that completely blows chiptunes out of the water in terms of awesomeness.

[BigusGeekus]

From your mouth to Tesla's ears :).

[Leadhead51]

Get high powered telsa, put on wall, and when people attack the wall play mucis while zaping then with 12kw+. defeat by music

[rugbytlse]

Not kW, kV.

[kayschaefer]

How tall is one of these coils? How much was one? Or how much were the parts needed for building one?

[PsyMcDeath]

Acording to the fluorescent tube in the middle i would say the coils are about 3-4 meters high.

[BigusGeekus]

The tubes there were just barely taller than a person...maybe two meters (the tubes between them are tiny little things, not full fluorescents).

[GoblinJareth]

I love Zeusaphones. Despite being 40 years old, this song seems made for play on them.

[Keimori12]

wow. it seeems too few people actualy know this thing's acualy called a zeusaphone! XD

[tebopresidential]

i want one :D

[DavidAndrewSingleton]

Happy Birthday Tesla!

[Moarb1d]

now that's what I call electronic music!

[LinweTinuviel11]

I am such a nerd, but that is on the list of most awesome things ever.

[teamadvan]

Awesome!!!

[kerbal666]

i wanna stand in the middle