Music Thing Electrophone: FAQ - TomWhitwell/Electrophone GitHub Wiki

#FAQ

##What does this module do?
This module is a sister to the Mikrophonie Contact Mic Module. The Mikrophonie picks up physical vibrations, while Pickup can hear electromagnetic vibrations. Guitar pickups are designed to convert vibrating metal (strings) into audio, but single coil pickups are also notoriously susceptible to interference of all kinds; hum from transformers, fluorescent lights or even radio signals.

This is a module for experimentation; some of the things you might like to try (I haven't tried all of these yet):

  • A mobile phone held near the pickup creates wild buzzing. On an iPhone you can hear the capacitive screen reading your finger's position, and different apps sound different. I wonder if old analog or GSM phones sound different.
  • Cheap digital electronics usually sound interesting; I have a cheap bluetooth mouse with flashing multicolour LEDs that sounds incredible. Analog electronics are usually less interesting - it's the audio-rate modulation from microcontrollers that is audible. Try modern LED bike lights with different flashing programs.
  • Tuning Forks should stimulate the pickup nicely. The RCA Mark 1 Synthesiser had fixed oscillators built around a tuning fork in a feedback loop. You can buy sets of chromatic tuning forks on Amazon for widely differing prices - some are used in some kind of alternative therapy, and cost a fortune. Many are aluminium, which will probably not work with a pickup.
  • Springs British composer Hugh Davies wrote a chapter for Electronic Music for Schools called 'Making and performing simple electroacoustic instruments' which talks in great detail about uses for contact mics and magnetic pickups. He talks about springs, metal rods and old-fashioned egg-slicers. Here's the full text.
  • Motors
  • Music Boxes
  • Nails The Clean output is DC-coupled, so can be used for slow LFO-type movements, not just audio. Connect the output to an oscillator's CV input, then wave an iron nail over the pickup to get mini-Theremin effects. Remember, the pickup can only pickup movement, not static positions. The Fuzz output is AC coupled.
  • Ballbearings I haven't tried this, but I wonder if a petri dish of small ballbearings would sound interesting
  • Watches The ticking of a watch is clearly audible. The pickup is a big magnet, so don't try it with a vintage gold watch. Read this first: Watches and magnetism.
  • Piano Strings You'll need an external pickup for this, but David Behrman's Wave Train uses guitar pickups to amplify strings in a grand piano, feeding speakers in a huge feedback loop.

##What pickups do I want?
The module should fit standard Stratocaster-style single coil pickups. The cheapest pickups seem to have big magnets on the back, and the module is designed to be deep enough to fit these. Nicer pickups will fit even better.

##Where do I get guitar pickups?
Many people buy cheap Squier / Made in Mexico Fender guitars, and swap out the pickups. If you search eBay for "squier pickups" there are usually some for sale for £5-£15. They normally come in packs of three - the normal Strat setup.