DIY Instruments
Analog Circuits
Custom Guitar Pedals (2019-2020) ST-TS: Tube Screamer with silicon and germanium switch, extended bass and focused gain range // BELL BIRD: Micro Amp clone // BOG MOSS: Big Muff Pi Civil War with silicon, germanium and LED switches (2 gain stages), center frequency switch and bass extension control // MACAQUE: Rat with silicon, germanium and LED switches (2 gain stages) // AMALGAMATOR: Scrambler with squeeze and volume controls and hi-pass switch // BLACK FUZZ: Super Fuzz clone // GLASS EYE: 280 opto compressor with fast and slow attack and release switches // MONOLITH: Orange Squeezer with attack and release knobs and volume control // WORMHOLE: Pulsar clone
Carnhill DI (2017) DI color box with switchable 1 or 4 input passive summing and ground lift
Waveshaper (2016) 3-bit waveshaper based on the LM3915 LED driver with 8 sliders providing dynamic control over 8 amplitude divisions of the audio input
ST-01 Drum Machine (2015) Early prototype. Analog drum machine with logic gate network brain
Sound Sculpture
Construction/Destruction (2016, 2017) Live sound sculpture build/performance with scrap metal, wire, springs, morphing feedback using contact mics, a poweramp, a surface transducer and guitar pedals
6-String Trompette Marine (2016) Crank-driven stringed instrument with 3 cello strings, 3 piano strings, trompette marine-inspired steel bridges, custom tuners and an adjustable metal plate “body” with shock absorber
Suspended Rod Sculpture (2015) Rod sculpture with motorized, articulated beaters and interference rods
Spring Guitar (2015) Spring guitar with asymmetrical detuning mechanism and interference cams
Le Corbusier Plates (2010) Suspended steel plate sculpture performed with contact mics, inspired by the late architectural structures of Le Corbusier
Spectral Feedback Harp (2009) 9 strings strung through a wood structure, each with a dedicated feedback circuit, consisting of a hacked relay electromagnetic pickup, a power amp circuit and a small speaker, inspired by Horaţiu Rădulescu’s 4th String Quartet for nine string quartets
Rod Sculpture (2009) Rods welded to a suspended metal plate with a hidden reverberating spring, to be performed with contact mics
Spring Reverb Steel Cello (2009) Steel plate with a spring reverb-inspired module suspended by music wire, to be performed with contact mics, deemed “steel cello” as a nod to Robert Rutman’s original design
Record Player (2008) Record player made with steel rods and washers, springs, a speaker, a dressmakers pin, 2 motors, a wheel, a French pump (the turntable), doll heads, a water siphon (red cylinders under doll heads), 2 microswitches and a DIY poweramp
Stringed Instrument (2008) 5-stringed instrument with cello strings, crank shaft, motorized, wooden, wheel “bows,” and guitar tuners and pickups (shown here in various stages of development)
FM Toy (2008) 3-player FM toy with 3 squarewave oscillators, with copper body contacts and plastic funnels
ST-303 (2007) Synthesizer sequencer with 16 square-wave oscillators and an envelope filter/lowpass filter
Cymbal Sculpture (2007) Hand-made cymbals resonated with motorized rods, miced and amplified by preamps and poweramps, which resonate smaller cymbals via piezo disks
