Tired Machines Orchestra
The Abandoned Truck Toy:
The idea:
The abandoned devices lie on the ground, perhaps no longer wanted or functional. However, some of their potentials are overlooked. I am searching for a device with the potential to go through a loop, much like a melody sample playing repeatedly—not a swift rotation like a motor, but a slower actuation, just like a clock.
The instrument:
It's a toy truck!
It is controllable so that I can play the sample continuously or adjust it to my pace, or even reverse the loop. Apart from the inner mechanism that uses motors and gears, and needs fixing, there is potential for creating longer samples containing different notes. The notes could be anything attached to the rail belt. To measure the notes, we could use sensors and play music using those numbers!
1.First, let's unscrew it and take a look inside: There are four gears that are not properly attached. We need to add compatible gears in the middle or build a whole other system for the wheels to start rolling.
2.After all the trials and errors, I went for a pre-built module with integrated gears. But how do we connect the motor to the wheel? We need a strong yet thin connection with the right measurements. So we thought Cable binders and cable protectors are a good answer. But will it actually work?
3.The old device has to be cut down and reattached again. Some pieces are crucial to the design, while others must be discarded. Connections matter, and since we already lack strong rotational power, we need to minimize energy waste.
4.As the plastic belt starts rolling, I notice that it's not smooth at all! Next, I sand all the sharp edges and deformations for a smoother rotation. The connections should also be stronger, so the motor module needs a stable body firmly glued to the device body. To further strengthen that, I researched methods for a better glue gun connection online, and the solution was to make holes in everything you're gluing together. Everything!
5. Let's start attaching the notes! I will use a light sensor for this instrument, so we have to pick an element playful enough to interact with light: transparent papers! And different colors, so that we'll have different shades. The prototype gives the sensor not only two but many different values.
6. It's now time to turn numbers into sound. I initially went with a piezo buzzer, which had a retro '80s tone and was interesting for the project but not as exciting. I tried playing with the code to move the notes octaves higher or lower. In the end, I decided to forget about the buzzer and move the values to a more visual interface.
7. Let's detach the prototype elements and build a better rail loop. We have three colors that will be our notes. They need to be long enough to ensure the sensor reads their value. Already, we can anticipate a problem—they will curve down! But I figured a way to sew them to the rail so that they stay straight.
8. Next was to build the entire structure so that the cut-out device can stand at a proper distance from the sensor, as well as provide a place for a light source on top.
9.Now for the exciting part, we finally have all the data and we can visualize it. The different values give a step-shaped wave, which we can hear the sound of in the software. I tried to hear the sound of step waves, triangle waves, cosines, and sine waves to see which one fits better. The next thing I did was to play with different octaves, because the wave shape is the data from the outside world, but the math calculations on the numbers are at our pace. Then I added two more channels based on the waveform that was being generated, but one was reversed, and the other one was 2 octaves higher.
