opto organ

a musical instrument inspired by the optigan (a light-tone instrument and a kind of predecessor of the sampler).
my instrument generates the tone with an light depended resistor which kann be controlled by an LED. the speed and patterns on the disc determine the frequency and shape of the resulting wave form.
currently it has 8 keys (8 different pitches) and a manual pitch bend.
the instrument was made from an old cd-walkman 8 LDRs & 8 LEDs plus some passive components, 8 switches and voltage regulator.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• diy
• electronic
• LDR
• light
• music
• optical
• optigan
• oscillator
• sound

[untune]

I really like this... so technically could you just make a bunch of these and have them all lined up, going from low to higher octaves? So one disc could be half an octave, then the next could be the other half, an on and on... Have you experimented with any complex waveforms, like an Optigan?

[ffoitl]

@untune yes you could do that.

i didn't try out other waveforms but could be worth it...

[BrianWilliamGreen]

really nice work i would love to get one of your pieces.

[ffoitl]

i am working on it... just etched my first circuit board.

[untune]

@ffoitl That's great... I have an old keyboard that's broken and i've been thinking of making a 5-disc optical organ out of it (5 discs of 64mm diameter each with 5 notes = 25 notes/2 octaves), and then experiment with different sounds. Would probably sound very simple but would be fun to make! Have you made anything else based on optical synthesis since this little organ? I think it'd be great to see it developed further :)

[coloneleyeball]

WOW! I can't believe the sounds you have created! You took a strange thing to bend, and bent it into a musical instrument with functional tonality! You essentially did the OPPOSITE of what most of us benders do! Color me super impressed! Really really really like this piece!

[TheMechanicalApe]

too cool!

[Fr0z3nFr0g]

so you used the cds natural tendency and the farther out it is, the higher the pitch. next you should hook up a modulator to a laser. the modulator is then hooked up to a cd player or something. align the laser up and across the room have a photo resistor that receives the signal. then have a demodulator to hook up to the amplifier. and you have an indoor visible light "wireless" system.

[spongah]

neat

[russellINtheBUSHES]

that sounds really nice, i love the way you can hear the thing whirling round