The Magnetophone is the current electro-acoustic instrument from [Aaron Sherwood]. This tower consists of 14 strings, and 14 hand-wound electromagnets. By energizing each electromagnet with a square wave, the strings can be vibrated to produce music.
The brains of the gadget consist of an Arduino Mega connected to the top of the tower. The microcontroller has 6 timers, which enables for 6 notes to play at the exact same time. An open source tone library was utilized to produce square waves at the right frequencies. These square waves are amplified by LM386 based circuits, which supply sufficient power to the coil to oscillate the string. By utilizing square waves at certain frequencies, overtones of strings can be created.
This isn’t the very first time we’ve seen [Aaron] integrate strings and electronics. His Glockentar used solenoids to strike strings. However, this job supplies new possibilities by enabling the rate of oscillation to be managed precisely. You can see the instrument in action after the break.