Coast to Coast

Posted by magnetovore on April 13, 2013
Posted in: Blog. Leave a Comment

Satellite Imagery from Google Earth

The instrument is finally out there. Shane from Florida is now the first owner of a v.7.1 Magnetic Cello. The instrument is out of my hands, and in use by a musician. I’m looking forward to seeing what Shane does with the instrument.

It took a few dozen feet of bubble wrap to ship the instrument to the other coast, and it took me a few years to develop the project this far. I have a solid, reliable design and I really want to see what becomes of the instrument once musicians start using it. I’ll be building more, although it is too soon to say when.

I’d like to thank:

  • Larry Lee for designing the coil housing, bow, and body and neck of the Magnetic Cello. You designed some great parts. I learned so much about CAD and laser cutters from you. I’ll be modifying the files you created as I build more, but the choices you made will propagate for many iterations. Good luck in the world of professional architecture!
  • Michael and Tristan for the awesome demos. I can only play Twinkle Twinkle on the instrument so many times. It was you two who showed the world (or, at least, internet) the possibilities the instrument holds. Let’s make more videos sometime.
  • Michael and Tristan and Tricia et al. for the feedback on the prototypes.  You braved the instrument back when it still had rough edges, kluged connectors, and weird noise, and showed me what needed to change. Without you, the instrument wouldn’t have a tapered neck or enough magnets in the bow.
  • Hank for helping me figure out how to actually sell a product.
  • Sara for fetching me a bunch of bubble wrap.

I’d also like to thank:

  • The Cal Poly Entrepreneurship Club for showing me that what was just a hobby in high school had potential.
  • The Cal Poly Engineering college for giving me and Larry full access to lab space over the summer.
  • The Cal Poly EE department for teaching me some theory behind all my hands-on knowledge. Also, thanks for lending me an oscope last summer Dr. D!
  • The Cal Poly Mustang ’60 shop for letting me and Larry use the laser cutter all the time last summer.
  • James Clerk Maxwell for doing the math.

…Now, to sell.

Posted by magnetovore on March 9, 2013
Posted in: Blog, Instruments. Leave a Comment

If you haven’t seen it yet, you should check out out the video we made:

Now that the instrument is done, and we have a video up that really shows it off, it’s time to actually sell the instrument.

I have a few musicians already in line waiting to buy the instrument, and will begin contacting them later today. However, I don’t want to miss out on any musicians that have just now heard about the instrument. If you’re a musician who hasn’t yet introduced yourself to me, feel free to fill out this Magnetic Cello Interest Form, so that you can get on the list.

For these first few instruments, I am working out pricing of the instrument case by case. I will be including a return and repair policy to make your decision to buy the instrument a little easier.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at levi@magnetovore.com. I’m very excited to actually be selling these instruments!

Done!

Posted by magnetovore on February 18, 2013
Posted in: Blog, Instruments. 1 comment

That’s it. It took almost 4 years, but the Magnetic Cello is finally something that could perform music in front of a crowd, and is finally something I’d be proud to sell:

FINALLLYYYYYYY

The three magnetic bows I built today, along with two of the three V.7 Magnetic Cellos

The Magnetic Cellos themselves have been in their completed state for about a month, but I needed some time to rebuild the magnetic bows with bigger magnets. It’s been a little frustrating, waiting two weeks for the laser cut wooden parts to come in, and then realizing I had made a mistake and needing another two weeks to receive more custom parts, but today I finally had all the parts (and time) I needed to finish the whole instrument.

Wiring the inside of the magnetic bow. Magnet is covered by black electrical take to prevent shorting between switch terminals.

The instrument is, of course, still experimental, and there are around 5 or 6 thousand little things I would change in how I built these instruments. But it is no longer a “prototype”. I’m finally confident that this is an instrument an adventurous musician could pick up and play. And I’m confident that he could play both old classical pieces (in a somewhat different way) and wacky new sounds not possible on other instruments.

The next step, of course, is to actually sell these instruments. After I finish this post (and microwave myself some pasta), I’ll be contacting those musicians who expressed interest in the instrument last summer. It’s taken more time and more money than I had promised, but I think it’s also better quality. My old cello teacher’s music store is also always an option.

I’m not ready to go viral again, like I did two autumns ago when I was just on version 5. But if I am able to sell a few Magnetic Cellos now, and figure out a few ways to build them better and easier for the future, this whole “making music by waving magnets around” thing might just catch on.

Now for some pasta.

Almost There (Now with Bigger Magnets)

Posted by magnetovore on January 14, 2013
Posted in: Blog, Instruments, Music Theory, Papercraft Computer. 1 comment

This winter break, I soldered together version 7.1 Magnetic Cello circuits, fixing that darn short and cleaning up wiring a bit. I’ve switched out the circuit on Magnetic Cellos #1 and #2, and #3 is patiently waiting for its turn. Once I get enough of a reprieve from class and homework, I’ll disassemble the instrument and install and tune the new circuit. And once I screw together #3, that will be it. It’s tough to keep my perfectionism in check, but there will be no more improvements worth making… on the instrument itself.

V.7.1 Circuit (Below) next to the V.7.0 Circuit

The bow, however, is a different story. I got some good feedback from my cellists over winter break, and it turned out the magnets in the instrument’s magnetic bow were too wimpy. Because of the way we were manufacturing the bow, we had a limited amount of space for the magnets. I was aware of a slight decrease in bowing power and length, but, thanks to some feedback, I realized that I had made a mistake. The instrument was almost unplayable on longer notes.

After playing around with this magnet calculator, I realized that adding magnets along the length of the bow did very little to increase pulling strength (and thus induced current in the coil). We needed wider, not longer, magnets. I ordered some magnets that were twice as wide and, not surprisingly, the Magnetic Cello sounded louder at the same volume setting, could detect bowing further from the coil, and could play notes about twice as long.

Laser Toolpath for cutting out new magnetic bows

It took a little bit of kanoidering, as it always does, and a small increase in bow size, but the bigger magnets fits snuggly into the new design. We sent the files over to Ponoko yesterday. In a few weeks we’ll have new, stronger magnetic bows, made out of this nice walnut MDF. Redoing the bows gave us a chance to round off the corners, add a logo to the bottom layer, and add better cable strain relief–but that might just be my perfectionism popping up again.

Once we get the new bows come in, it should be a simple operation to solder in the switch and glue everything together. And then the Magnetic Cello will be done, and will be something I would be proud to sell.

Guitar Chord Card

I also spend winter break designing the Guitar Chord Card. I ordered some cards from MorningPrint. They look great, but there a few problems to work out. I’m not quite ready to put up more details, but let me know if you want to try the current iteration (the minimum order was 200, so I have more than enough to go around). Mom: ask Grandma for a few, I gave her a bunch before going back to school.

So, the Magnetic Cello is coming together, and the Guitar Chord Card is progressing quickly. Once the cellists have a chance to try out the new bows, we’ll be ready to sell. Almost there.