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Title	Relay Rhythms
Description	Interactive Sculptural Polyrhythmic Metronome
Keywords	cooper, baker, cooperbaker, art, artwork, sound, electronic, sculpture, rhythm, metronome, poly, polyrhythm, wood, phenolic, coil, knob, knobs, lights, click, sound-art, arduino, interactive, object, relay, relays, rhythms, amazing
Content	<?php photo( 'relay rhythms.jpg' ); ?> <br> <br> <?php ruler( 'About' ); ?> Relay Rhythms is an interactive sound sculpture that uses salvaged industrial relays and custom circuitry to create polyrhythmic clicks. Clicking is controlled by the black knobs, and corresponding lights illuminate when each click occurs. The device subdivides a master tempo into integer divisions between a whole note and sixteenth note (i.e. 1:1 through 1:16) and consequently maintains locked rhythmic relationships between the clicks. Since there are three relays, polyrhythms like 1:2:3 or 13:14:15 are available, and master tempo is controlled by the black knob on the front of the box. The circuitry also has three audio jacks which output signals that toggle between zero and five volts in synchronization with corresponding relays. Relay timing and control is managed by an arduino which sends signals to transistors that energize the relays. <br> <br> A video of Relay Rhythms being used to make music is available <?php href( '../../music/relay rhythms', 'here' ); ?> . <br> <br> Relay Rhythms was used in performances during the 2013 California Electronic Music Exchange Concerts at UCSB, Mills, and CalArts, and was also used at a 2013 graduate computer music concert at UCSD. <br> <br> <?php ruler( 'Photos' ); ?> <?php gallery(); ?> <?php ruler( 'Circuitry' ); ?> <?php gallery( 'circuitry' ); ?> <?php ruler( 'Relay Rhythms Code' ); ?> <?php code( 'relay rhythms.ino', 'cpp' ); ?> <br> <br> <?php ruler( 'Coil Winder' ); ?> The relays used in this piece were purchased from a salvage store, and were originally wound with about fifty turns of very thick wire, requiring high voltage and high current to make them actuate. Apparently they were intended for use in power transmission facilities and designed to run directly from mains power. Energizing the relays with ten amps of mains power seemed quite foolish, so I decided to re-wind the coils and make the relays stay open with about nine volts and a fifth of an amp of current. This meant approximately 1000 turns of thinner magnet wire, and since I wanted them to look nice I decided to build a coil winding machine that could turn the spools while I guided the wire by hand. It has a foot pedal and knob to control speed, a small display to count turns, and can run forwards or backwards. <br> <br> <?php ruler( 'Coil Winder Videos' ); ?> <?php video( 'coil winder.mov' ); ?> <center> Coil Winder </center> <br> <br> <?php video( 'coil winding timelapse.mov' ); ?> <center> Coil Winding Timelapse </center> <br> <br> <?php ruler( 'Coil Winder Code' ); ?> <?php code( 'coil winder.ino', 'cpp' ); ?>
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