A genuinely new effect I just built. And it's weird and has tubes!

Taylor Livingston · #1 12-06-2007, 08:30 PM

I just put together this effect. Here's how it works: the signal goes into a small power amp, and then into a vacuum tube display, like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_fluorescent_display

Of course, this display was meant to tell you how long you've been watching a VHS tape, but it has another curious property: when an audio signal is plugged into it, the little wires inside which are meant to heat the mesh vibrate in sympathy with the audio signal (but their own resonant frequencies overwhelm whatever you play into the tube). I put a large donut magnet against the VFD to strengthen the vibration.

What does it sound like? Weird, and droning. If the input gets hot, the wires heat up to the point of stretching out, which causes the pitch to drop. You can hear some of that in the following clip. The clip was recorded like so: bass, into power amp, into VFD, which has a condenser mic against it to pickup the sound. The microphone also picked up the bass. The bass is only being heard acoustically, through the microphone, not through an amp or anything, so that's why it sounds like that. At some point I'll box this thing up in a soundproof box with a mic in it. Then it will sound better. I just thought this thing was cool, so I made a quick clip.

http://fsaadd.com/vfd-01compressed.mp3

This isn't something I can see myself using on bass, unless I was making more droney music. But it's a cool idea, I think. I didn't come up with this, by the way, I got the idea from electronicpeasant.com. What do you guys think?

bassbmx · #2 12-06-2007, 08:36 PM

I can't check it out yet cause I'm still at work but it sounds pretty sweet!! Anything really quirky with tubes is cool

Calebmundy · #3 12-06-2007, 08:50 PM

Sounds cool, I would like to check out your clip, but that is the most cumbersome site I have ever tried to download from.

Taylor Livingston · #4 12-06-2007, 09:09 PM

You know, that was actually the least cumbersome of about 10 websites I just tried to upload to. If anyone knows of something less irritating, or if anybody would be willing to host the file for me (it's only like 800kb) please let me know.