thanks for reviving my question - I still think about it a lot. there’s many things around me that I wish I had a recorder/video to capture. yesterday I heard these really cool periodicity from a train letting off steam that I wish I recorded. some other ideas of periodicity:
- leafing through pages of a book
- footsteps
- bike tire spinning (inspired synth)
- faucet (pretty easy to control and record!)
ooh I love this idea! using photoresistors can go a long way as cv modulators.
there is great periodicity in cooking of food. also chewing food is a good periodic motion. speaking of food and motion, my roommate used to make these amazing okonomiyaki pancakes that have dancing bonito flakes. some naive motion capture might be able to capture some of the periodicity in these things.
that bubbling oatmeal seems to be unreasonably cool sound source (speed up 10x and then paulstretched, no other fx):
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all kettles are different, of course, but the one we have now has self selected over lesser aspirants, and as part of its appeal has a great round of startup noises. crackles and groans, it also has that satisfying white noise, and this is all before the bubbles. seems like a few well selected kettles heating up could be some part of a musical act.
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Been a long time, but I saw a clip yesterday that reminded me of this thread----here’s a Danny Gatton guitar solo where he uses his cigarette as a natural timer!
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timp
48
I managed to get a Ladik Bounce B160 module - simulating bouncing ball… a few examples using SSF Bass drum & Perc modules
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Tyler
49
My dishwasher has a steady lilting groove. It gives different tonalities and rhythms depending on what pans go where and how they’re positioned. The different wash stages are almost like a song cycle. Sometimes I sing along.
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I can’t find the album right now unfortunately, but someone released recordings of air slowly escaping a plastic bottle of carbonated water, opening it so slightly as to only allow a very small amount of air to escape. She super-close stereo mic’d it and it has all of these incredible pitch envelopes, overlapping periodicities, and dynamic shifts. I wonder how long the recording would be if she waited until the sounds stopped (the soda went flat)…
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Trying to find the name, but about 8 years ago, likely part of NMASS festival… anyhow, there was this electro-acoustic show that was a combination of dripping water, little mechanical devices both in and out of bowls of water, and tall cans of rice being slowly cooked. It was fantastic.
By controlling the height of the cans, the amount of water and rice, the artist could influence the timing as well as pitch and timbre but at the same time was beholden to the physical properties and reactions over time.
I’ve also seen tidal data used for periodic influence but using the source is hardly portable to a studio or performance venue.
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timp
54
I saw a similar but simpler idea in a Sound Art book ages ago (like decades) where the Artist had collected up lots of very small stones & pebbles, and filled a container with them. Then added water & froze it solid. They then suspended the frozen block, hanging it above a resonant object/sheet of steel or something (sorry, a bit vague)
Anyway as the block of ice melted, single stones would slowly break free & drop… I guess speed of melting would depend on ambient temperature…
Did a search & found the artist:
Mineko Grimmer
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Light an incense stick, and when it goes out, sets over. I find the Nippon Kodo Morning Star brand joss sticks burn for ~25 minutes. (Useful as a meditation timer as well.) You could maybe spotlight it so the shadow is projected onto a wall so everyone can see it.
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this the one you mean? such a good album!
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Yes! Thank you, buying it now so I can’t ever lose it again.
Or the Our Modern Times version: 50p in the ’leccy meter and the fun is over when the lights go out.
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timp
59
Bart Hopkin - Wood and Butter
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I am reminded of Matmos’ “Ultimate Care II” tour, with their washing machine as the only instrument. The length of the wash cycle was the performance. Logistical nightmare but what an idea. Great album, too.
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glia
61
this is simply fantastic!
does anybody have an idea if that’s a matrix mixer or something off the shelf?
robbie
62
Looks suspiciously like a generic 8-channel mixer, specifically an N-Audio MIX800 (aka Karma MX 2008, &c.) judging by the design of the back panel.
And For Bonus Points! in front of that a pair of 6-band EQ pedals – which I’m going to say are JOYO JF-11.
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Bart Hopkin is my spirit animal. Have his book, such a brilliant guy.
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xmacex
64
The topic of this old thread is very evocative.
Sometimes when I am not doing anything particular, my brain starts chatting to me about nature timers and periodicity, apparently recalling and associating the thread above. A brain timer, memory periodicity… meta 
Just saying, have a nice day.
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