Cappuccino Synth from Gijs on Vimeo.
An oscillator is, after all, just something that oscillates. So it is that a handful of hand mixers can become sound sources, in Gijs Gieskes’ new “Cappuccino Synths.” The sound isn’t much raw, though with some processing it could go in any direction you might imagine, and there’s something sculptural and inspiring about watching metal spin. The basic technique is really as much about the pickup, the amplification of the source, as anything. And that means any number of household items could take on new meaning.
As it happens, Gijs has shared a tutorial on how he makes his pickups, among other electronics how-to notes. Or make that a “puckup” (I’ve made a few of those, on CDM and elsewhere):
inductor-puckup
Correction: “Puckup” was just a typo. I stand by my assertion: “puckup” makes a great product name, if an unintentionally-conceived one.
It’s simple enough that I can reproduce the entire how-to here.
Get a small rare earth magnet, glue it to the top of a 33mH inductor, and your done.
(there is no need to remove the plastic around the inductor, it also works without it removed).
Here, here for the simple hack. I’ll have to make some of these myself.
More on the Cappuccino Synth (not to be confused with what happens to some of us when we’re hopped up on caffeine using Circle):
http://gieskes.nl/instruments/?file=cappuccino-synth