Uploaded May 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
AWE Lights!
Full Details : dscript.org/aqua-wave-effect-awe-lights
The last week I have been playing with a new way of visualizing audio, and without any computer or digital computing. Purely analog.
I got a beta working and brought it to the office. There seems to be quite a bit of interest, one of my desk mates, Valentine, even saw enough potential to jump on board and see if we can build something bigger and cooler with it. With Valentines help hopefully this can turn into a full system and taken to the next level with more features and better design.
The concept is quite simple, put the sound waves into a pool of water (via a "thumper".. in my example the thumper is just attached to a speaker).
Then read the wave of the pool by attaching an anode to the pool and hanging cathodes so they are just above(or below) the normal water level.
Waves will make and brake connections to the contacts as the high and low points of the wave pass by.
Simple!
The effect is synchronized to the music but without any digital components, the signals is pure analog.
The pattern produced by any one contact will contain quite a bit of what looks like "noise", but this noise is not really noise, it is the result of the full waveform passing through the water, plus a bunch of physics and chemistry laws (surface tension, oxidization/corrosion, ionic conduction, etc..)
The result is a "pattern" that clearly "goes to the music" but you brain never really "finds the pattern" or "learns to predict the effect".
We am now building versions with more contacts, we want to catch the wave form more thoroughly and accurately. Also get some better realys to pass a wave instead of an "on/off" as is.
Possibilities:
TONS.
A long line of contacts to produce a long line of lights that catch a long wave effect.
A grid of contact to catch a 2D wave form
Other liquids, metals, container, etc...
if taken to the extreme.. it can even be interesting.. i have had a few people say "yeah, but i could do the exact same thing with a computer", I thought about it, and it is not really true. The waveform produced is a combination of the sound wave and the full chemical and physical properties of the water and system. to calculate the EXACT same effect would not be possible, at least not in real time, in this scenario, every particle of the system (water atoms, ions, metals, etc..) is a "processor" and the laws of physics are the "software". similar effects could be produced, but not entirely the same, just similar.
which got me wondering...
perhaps these wave are "the solution" to other problems. maybe the environment strictly controlled, this physical analog computer could have application. perhaps the signal produced can answer some problems faster than a digital computer.....
Anyways.. toys... I love toys :)
AWE lights are Creative commons, so fell free to use it however you like, but the licence is non-commercial, so if you want to sell it, profit from it, or monetise, please come speak with me first.
AWE Lights!
Full Details : dscript.org/aqua-wave-effect-awe-lights
The last week I have been playing with a new way of visualizing audio, and without any computer or digital computing. Purely analog.
I got a beta working and brought it to the office. There seems to be quite a bit of interest, one of my desk mates, Valentine, even saw enough potential to jump on board and see if we can build something bigger and cooler with it. With Valentines help hopefully this can turn into a full system and taken to the next level with more features and better design.
The concept is quite simple, put the sound waves into a pool of water (via a "thumper".. in my example the thumper is just attached to a speaker).
Then read the wave of the pool by attaching an anode to the pool and hanging cathodes so they are just above(or below) the normal water level.
Waves will make and brake connections to the contacts as the high and low points of the wave pass by.
Simple!
The effect is synchronized to the music but without any digital components, the signals is pure analog.
The pattern produced by any one contact will contain quite a bit of what looks like "noise", but this noise is not really noise, it is the result of the full waveform passing through the water, plus a bunch of physics and chemistry laws (surface tension, oxidization/corrosion, ionic conduction, etc..)
The result is a "pattern" that clearly "goes to the music" but you brain never really "finds the pattern" or "learns to predict the effect".
We am now building versions with more contacts, we want to catch the wave form more thoroughly and accurately. Also get some better realys to pass a wave instead of an "on/off" as is.
Possibilities:
TONS.
A long line of contacts to produce a long line of lights that catch a long wave effect.
A grid of contact to catch a 2D wave form
Other liquids, metals, container, etc...
if taken to the extreme.. it can even be interesting.. i have had a few people say "yeah, but i could do the exact same thing with a computer", I thought about it, and it is not really true. The waveform produced is a combination of the sound wave and the full chemical and physical properties of the water and system. to calculate the EXACT same effect would not be possible, at least not in real time, in this scenario, every particle of the system (water atoms, ions, metals, etc..) is a "processor" and the laws of physics are the "software". similar effects could be produced, but not entirely the same, just similar.
which got me wondering...
perhaps these wave are "the solution" to other problems. maybe the environment strictly controlled, this physical analog computer could have application. perhaps the signal produced can answer some problems faster than a digital computer.....
Anyways.. toys... I love toys :)
AWE lights are Creative commons, so fell free to use it however you like, but the licence is non-commercial, so if you want to sell it, profit from it, or monetise, please come speak with me first.
