Re: [TCML] tcs as musical instruments...

[Steve Ward <steve.ward@xxxxxxxxx>]

We (ArcAttack) currently have a home-made MIDI guitar that is
tesla-coil proof.  The fret board acts as a bunch of string to fret
contacts.  The signal from the fret board is optically coupled to a
micro controller located in the body of the guitar.  The right hand
strumming is picked up by another set of contacts that just looks for
enough string deflection.  Since its all MIDI, the guitar can be set
for various modes of control, keeping in mind its now a "digital"
instrument.  I should say that the thing doesnt really play like a
normal guitar, its kind of like playing a keyboard in a guitar format.

The right hand (strumming) is safe inside a faraday cage thats built
on top of the guitar body.  The left hand currently requires a chain
mail glove, which makes playing kind of clumsy, so it is pretty
restrictive.  You could of course play the guitar outside the field of
the tesla coils where you are then only limited by your skill, and not
a metal glove.

The output from the guitar is MIDI over fiber optic... we do LOTs of
our stage equipment with midi over fiber optic, and in fact we have
very few problems running our 14kW tesla coil systems in theater after
theater due to the use of fiber optic isolation between systems.  We
aim to keep tesla coils in show-business by going through great
lengths to make our systems work peacefully with the lighting and
sound systems common to all theaters, and so far we have been quite
successful.

 Also, i had very little to do with the guitars construction, that
credit goes to Joe DiPrima and Sam Mcfadden, im not sure if they are
list members or not.

Here's a video of the guitar's initial testing, it doesnt show the
current configuration with the added faraday cage on top of the guitar
body allowing the right hand to be gloveless, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JGiwGx6aQw

I do have ideas floating around about how i will convert my bass
guitar to control the tesla coils while maintaining the normal
functionality of the instrument, but its too early to say a whole lot
about that since its just speculation about how I think it might work.
 Since I don't really like doing the faraday suit bit, it probably
wont be spark-proof ;-).  Of course i still have much work to do on
the quasi-continuous-wave coils which actually produce *real* bass
frequencies.  Luckily, most theaters can provide us with over 100A 3
phase power for such a beast ;-).

Steve

On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 4/1/12 4:35 PM, Henry wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, Bart
>>
>> I'm not sure what Arc Attack does, but it seems crazy that playing a real
>> guitar through a chain mail suit would be nothing short of impossible
>> and/or
>> deadly. You would certainly be electrocuted if your skin were to come into
>> contact with the frets while being blasted by a bolt of lightning.
>
>
>
> Maybe the Arc Attack guys (or their designers) can chip in here..
>
> But if you had a wireless pickup, the guitar can be at the same potential as
> you.  I do think there is some trick to how you deal with your fingers on
> the fretboard.  I'm not a guitar player, but somehow, it seems that even
> thin conductive gloves would get in the way.  Maybe not..
> Making the guitar itself conductive is straightforward (copper foil tape if
> nothing else).
>
>
>
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