I have to say that I agree. Other than more common people see sparks & think music so the wrong way of thinking starts. My horn blows now. I saw a tesla coil, Boy have many people seen it now.
The coil housed inthe Griffith park Observatory in Los Angeles California not the biggest butwhen I saw it in the late 50s as a kid. I was very impressed so much so that Ihave been in the electrical field my whole life & working life 65 now. Anew coil is currently under construction a small one. Will post a picture whenit is done.
On Monday, February 4, 2019, 05:14:24 PM PST, Greg Leyh <lod@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: jimlux<jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> On 2/4/19 9:14 AM, Steve White wrote:
> I will probably get a lot of responses telling me that I am stepping on
> their main interest and to each his own but here goes anyway.
> Are there others besides myself that think that musical tesla coils
> are a gimmick?It seems that Youtube is just flooded with these things.
> I have got to thepoint where I skip over them.
>
>> Yes, indeed, I agree
>
> I will admit that it was interesting to hear music played on a TC for a
> few times, but after that it got old very quickly. In my opinion, using
> these coils to play music subtracts from the inherent majesty of high
> voltage generation and discharge. The observers are too busy listening
> to the music instead of admiring the high voltage fury.
>
> Well, I'm not quite of that opinion, but I also think that folks aren't
> really exercising the flexibility or potential of the medium - after
> all, how many times do we need to hear some single melody line played by
> a pulse generator. It's kind of like when you play with an audio
> oscillator/function generator and a speaker - you spin the dials and
> make cool sounds, and then, ok, what's next.
>
> They might as well go home and listen to their stereo. Some might say
> that the only practical use for tesla coils is entertainment, and I
> would agree, so why not add music as another dimension of the
> entertainment? I hear this argument but I just don't agree because music
> is too distracting. When I have observers stop by during Halloween,
> some of them ask if my coil can play music. I happily say no because
> it is a spark gap coil even though they probably don't know
> what I am talking about.
>
>> Ah, but if you make your spark gap coil play music, what about that?
>> That's a technology achievement - anybody can pulse modulate a high
>> power H-bridge or VTTC - but getting a variable speed spark gap is a
>> completely different story.
>
Paul Butterfield, who I don't think is on this list, did develop an
ultra-low inertia rotary gap for playing music. The thing was eerie to
watch: The armature could change direction at 1500RPM and you would
scarcely notice it. He called the setup the 'Thundermonica.'
Musical coils really are a completely separate pursuit. The coil itself
is largely considered a component, and often purchased turnkey. The
focus is on the composition, not on the machine physics.
Not being a musician myself, I agree that the actual machine physics
[and the applied physics possibilities] are a lot more interesting.
It's true that most 'compositions' out there are just simple full-mod
playbacks of MIDI, but there are a few composers who coax some very
subtle effects out of a single resonator with custom gear. -Greg
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