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The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica.
Electromechanical Modular
Gjis Gieskes
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The idea for this project comes from one of the first things I made with electronics, a mechanical sequencer. When I made the *Seq1* and *5-volt sequencer* I hardly knew anything about electronics, I made it mechanical because it was the only way I knew how to build it. And I also liked the idea that the sounds would never be the same: every time a sound is played back it will be a little different, just like an acoustic instrument. I based the sequencer on the TR-808, because that was the drum computer I had.
So after learning a lot about electronics over the last ten years (learning from the internet and tinkering) I decided to go back to the start and make an improved version with the knowledge I had gained—resulting in the *electromechanical modular* (in Eurorack specifications). All modules are made as small as possible, just like in electronics where everything is made as small as possible to fit as much functionality as possible into a small space. This should also result in the most elegant and aesthetic solution.
The *modular* will produce sound mainly by mechanical movements, for instance parts hitting things, and by measuring movements with different types of sensor. For instance, the sensors used are piezo elements, which transform small movements into sounds.
The *modular* uses the Eurorack standard, which influences the size of the modules, the voltage levels, the connectors and the power consumption. Motors usually use more power than modules without moving parts. So sometimes an external power supply is used for an individual module.
Links: http://gieskes.nl/undefined/eurorack/, http://gieskes.nl/eurorack/?file=vu-perc, http://gieskes.nl/eurorack/?file=vco-fan
So after learning a lot about electronics over the last ten years (learning from the internet and tinkering) I decided to go back to the start and make an improved version with the knowledge I had gained—resulting in the *electromechanical modular* (in Eurorack specifications). All modules are made as small as possible, just like in electronics where everything is made as small as possible to fit as much functionality as possible into a small space. This should also result in the most elegant and aesthetic solution.
The *modular* will produce sound mainly by mechanical movements, for instance parts hitting things, and by measuring movements with different types of sensor. For instance, the sensors used are piezo elements, which transform small movements into sounds.
The *modular* uses the Eurorack standard, which influences the size of the modules, the voltage levels, the connectors and the power consumption. Motors usually use more power than modules without moving parts. So sometimes an external power supply is used for an individual module.
Links: http://gieskes.nl/undefined/eurorack/, http://gieskes.nl/eurorack/?file=vu-perc, http://gieskes.nl/eurorack/?file=vco-fan
Gijs Gieskes (NL), my education was as an industrial designer and artist at the Design Academy Eindhoven and the Icelandic Art Academy. I started making instruments around 1998, for audio or visual use but mostly for audio. When I needed an instrument I found out how to build it and then built it myself. Usually I used the instruments for a few performances and then I built a new device. After a while I started making more instruments for other people, leaving me less and less time to use my own instruments.