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The Completed Hexachord (and Future Plans)

A project log for The Hexachord

A six-chambered, motorized, mechanized, rotary musical string instrument.

barbbarb 08/22/2016 at 20:050 Comments

I first showed my Hexachord at the Bay Area Maker Faire in 2014, and again in 2015, and won editor's choice ribbons at both events. I was fortunate enough to give a couple talks about making the instrument at Two-Bit Circus' STEAM Carnival in the fall of 2014.

I wrote an article for Make about the tinkering process for this instrument and how it relates to my work in maker education.

A year after making this first Hexachord, I made a new version that was quite a bit smaller, and featured only a single chamber with the same number of strings. This second Hexachord was controlled by an Arduino Uno and six servos.

Designing and building new musical instruments is very rewarding for me, and I hope to make a series of different instruments that are able to interact with each other and effect each others' performances. Stay tuned for more about that upcoming project.

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