There are plenty more fascinating historically scientific instruments other than the Aeolian Harp which capture my attention. The maccabre element of some of these inventions really captures my imagination. Consider the Ear Phonautograph, invented by A.G. Bell and C.J. Blake, a device which imparted Bell with the scientific knowledge required to eventually construct the telephone. It is macabre in its utilitarian scientific design that puts the quest for knowledge above all else, using a human inner ear to record vibrations onto a smoked pane of glass. This is a purely visual reproduction of the sound as there is no possible method of playback, but the knowledge that such a light and thin membrane could vibrate such (relatively more) heavy bones such as are in the inner ear, made Bell muse upon the possibility of vibrating magnets with some sort of thin diaphragm, which was what gave the idea for the telephone.

Whilst this particular instrument is not one of sound-making, I admire the grit and determination that it takes to manufacture such a boutique item, and I adore the scrapped-together scientific brilliance of it. It was not made in a lab out of purpose built parts, but more likely cobbled together from bits and pieces of other devices. In an article by Tom Everett for the Science Museum Group Journal (http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-12/writing-sound-with-a-human-ear/), he notes that despite a lack of documentation relating to the design of the insrument it appears that the base was a repurposed microphone stand, and the diagrams suggest that the inner ear might have been connected purely by a tack affixed through its flesh.

I aspire for my creations to have the same archaic mystique and beauty that is exhibited by this device, both visually and functionally. My synthesiser that is on the bench at the moment is a bespoke design both in housing and in its guts, but I feel that my devices are still in their infancy and I want more crazed mad-scientist charm in my instruments. I want my instruments to encourage play and curiosity, but make the learning process as puzzling and maze-like as possible. I want my instruments to continue to cause joy over time through their idiosyncratic peculiarities, and reward those who desire to dig into their complexities. I feel that this can only really be achieved with patch points of some sort; I bought some banana sockets and jacks very recently so as to realise my goals. Light interactivity or proximity interactivity, are also things to investigate. Proximity being the harder of the two to impliment, I reckon I’ll just start with some simple front panel mounted LDRs to modulate CV signals.