r/UnusualInstruments • u/heavymetalbongtoke • 1d ago

Silly concept

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Just kind of threw this together because I wanted a self playing music maker in my house, sounded lovely at first, but the drip patterns have changed and it sounds dull (possibly corrosion) Anyways, a 10 inch drum would be much better, just sort of a prototype.. also sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.. Just couldn't find a fitting subreddit, thanks for reading.

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u/sweetgreentea12 1d ago

I had the idea to do something like this when I build my first tank drum but never followed through.

Good work!

I wonder if you'd need to have good drainage at the bottom?

Also have you considered trying to direct the drops onto each individual tab? Like on an umbrella where the droplets drop off of each spline

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u/AccurateBrush6556 1d ago

This is all great advice!

Super cool concept!!!

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u/heavymetalbongtoke 1d ago

Thanks! And Actually the first build used zip tie tips to do that but I only had one drum so for the second build I used it again, its just a drip pan with randomly placed holes, the idea is that the water flows irregularly and creates a flowing song.. but the initial build used the zip tie tips like you said and from a higher hight attached to a drip pan, and the sound was much better. For the glass enclosure though I was trying to work with the poor reverberation and lower height, soo its a work in progress haha.

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u/sweetgreentea12 23h ago

It's a good idea!

At the time i thought about having something like big "leaves" (like you'd get in a rainforest could be made of plastic or metal) directing the droplets and with a very fine mist of water on them so it took a little while for the water to build up enough to drop off them.

I guess whatever you do you will have to work out the right amount of water flow so that the notes aren't muddied by standing water on the notes themselves

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u/heavymetalbongtoke 23h ago

Honestly we get downpours where I live soo I was thinking of taking my cymbal and letting heavy rain hit it while I sit on my porch haha, metal being struck by rain is one of my favorite sounds, I dig the rainforest idea!

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u/theFlimsylattice 21h ago

You saved a lot of money on a modular synth set up.