Bow an instrument, or push a surface

dadamachines
1

Hi, hello everyone, first time poster.
I’m looking at ‘bowing’ an instrument, and pushing against a surface.
Is there a way to do that with the solenoid?
For example gradually push out and pull back for set times and solenoid ‘lengths’?

2

Interesting question! I hope you will get an answer from someone.

Best,
Tom ( Huge DADA fan:)

1 Like
3

Thanks, there must be a way to do this sort of thing :slight_smile:

4

A robotic bowed instrument would be awesome. I feel like the solenoids move too fast for a good bowed note. Have you considered re-purposing an oscillating fan or something like that? Not the actual fan, but the part that goes back and forth.

5

I think that solenoids are just ‘on or off’ (1 or 0). So I think that there would have to be something that could be controlled in increments. Some sort of motor setup might work, but can you do this with the Automat toolkit?

6

I’m pretty sure you can send power to anything you want from the automat. There’s a bunch of info on this forum regarding alternative solenoids. From those posts I gathered that the automat supports 6A total, and the 12 solenoids each pull 0.5A. However you can also have 6 stronger solenoids pulling 1A each. Or one motor taking up the full 6A.

7

Thanks I wonder f it’s possible to specify the speed and distance that a motor runs?
Basically I have a drum membrane and I want to tighten it by pushing against it to adjust the pitch of the ‘skin’. So distance that it’s pushed will have an impact and the speed of the push will have an impact on the sound too

8

There’s probably a few ways to go about that. Sounds like you have some mechanical engineering ahead of you. I don’t know the terms, but when you get a motor involved, you can do stuff like this:

Then the signals sent via automat can be timed to push against the skin.

9

Looks interesting!
Is there a link to the discussion on solenoids? I was wondering if there was pre-built unit that could somehow send out a rod.

10

There are a few other neat posts for DIYers such as yourself - comb through the forum posts. I don’t think Dadamachines have pre-made a device that you’re looking for but I’d love to see you experiment : )

11

Me too. I am also looking for the best instrument for my music.