3D waveform speakers

[steinbruchel]

http://lovecoolest.com/music-can-be-touched.html

[Guy Birkin]

Interesting idea - but is it real? I notice that four of the images show what looks like the same waveform, and none of them appear to be plugged in. Also, the heads of the pins seem to line up with the contours of the waveform (instead of all being 'square' on top).

[billygomberg]

Interesting idea - but is it real? I notice that four of the images show what looks like the same waveform, and none of them appear to be plugged in. Also, the heads of the pins seem to line up with the contours of the waveform (instead of all being 'square' on top).

yeah these look like renderings.  what would be the best is if something like this also had a user-input aspect...make it a controller as well, and you can pretty literally "shape" your music.  i'm sure there is a feedback-loop problem in there but hey it would be so cool

[Guy Birkin]

...make it a controller as well, and you can pretty literally "shape" your music.

Now that's a cool idea, much more interesting than the original concept.

[moodchannel]

if it were real it would have to be moving incredibly fast... plus the issue of phase... as it would essentially be an oscilloscope...  also... how does the third dimension come into it? 

but of course the idea of using it as a controller is excellent!  like the waveform design features in absynth.  if the waveform had a home position (sine wave, or example)... and you could temporarily distort the shape of the wave having it return to the original position.  of course it would be difficult to raise a pin to a higher position.

still... could be a lot of fun!

[Guy Birkin]

if it were real it would have to be moving incredibly fast... plus the issue of phase... as it would essentially be an oscilloscope...  also... how does the third dimension come into it?

Yes, those were my thoughts too. Even if you could build the mechanism to do it, who'd want to touch something with metal pins moving up and down at between 20 to 20,000 times a second?! It could be interesting if the device was much larger, such that the waves could be represented at their physical size, e.g. the note middle A (440Hz) has a wavelength of ~0.78metres (info from this useful little site: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-wavelength.htm).

  of course it would be difficult to raise a pin to a higher position.

Have the pins protruding from the bottom as well, so you can push them up.