Timeline for Are musical floppy drives tone wheel instruments?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 17, 2018 at 16:58 | comment | added | supercat | There was a youtube video of an organ that used stepper motors from floppy drives in a fashion similar to a Hammond organ, and I would regard that as being a tone wheel instrument, but most music projects using floppy drives use them to convert electrical signals into sound, while tone wheels convert motion into electrical waves. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 15:22 | vote | accept | user3684314 | ||
| Apr 17, 2018 at 15:22 | comment | added | user3684314 | @ToddWilcox thank you so much (and Ben Miller as well!). I think I'll ultimately go with electro-acoustic idiophones based on your recommendation (I know it's a little lacking, but for my purposes it's more than enough). Thanks again! | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 15:10 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | @user3684314 Ben Miller's categorization makes sense also. I think the problem is that the categorization system has become a bit dated and needs some work to take into account all modern instruments. The electrophones category is sorely lacking even if it is meant to indicate instruments with purely electrical sources, since a ROMpler is very different from a Theremin, and IMHO they should have separate subcategories. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 14:52 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | @user3684314 Yes. According to Wikipedia, there is a category for electrophones for electrically actuated acoustic instruments, category 5.1, which IMHO applies to floppy drives. The specific acoustic category I would put floppy drives in is 1.3, Friction Idiophones, and I believe 1.3.2, Friction Plaques is probably the closest category. And further breakdown I would go to 1.3.2.2, Sets of Friction Plaques. So it's a complicated instrument. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 14:47 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | @CarlWitthoft I think you're right. Also, to my ear a floppy drive is only semi-pitched. There are a lot of inharmonic noise components of a floppy drive's uhhh... timbre. It's a weird world we live in. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 14:38 | comment | added | user3684314 | Thanks this is a great metaphor! So in your opinion would any Hornbostel-Sachs category fit at all? | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 14:36 | comment | added | Carl Witthoft | IIRC at least some floppy systems change rotation speed depending on where the head is accessing, so tones might come both from head movement and the drive motor itself. | |
| Apr 17, 2018 at 14:23 | history | answered | Todd Wilcox | CC BY-SA 3.0 |