Relay Sequencer (no electronics) - Testing This Noisy Music Machine

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Which part of the beatstep pro style relay serquencer are you looking forward to? there are actually quite a lot of things in it, including memory for the notes to be playedd in. keyboard matrix's, digital to analog converters etc. all to be done on relays!

[@aurora3655]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZofOo4h9aLSlhsU

[@davidrobinson4291]

The sequencer sounds amazing! All those relays add a kind of squelch....omg sounds so good!

[@cnt_vcious]

Wow, memory circuit with relays?! I need to see this. Man, your ideas are literally mind-blowing. Keep up the great work! :)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

@@cnt_vcious surprisingly simple in concepts but a right old faff to implement ha

[@waynesilverman3048]

Is Trance music made by sequencers? Or some

[@Maxxarcade]

I wouldn't be surprised if movie studios started contacting you for props and effects, with all this cool stuff you come up with.

[@Storm_.]

Movie studios aren't that smart :D

[@cod5x]

I mean Lego has contacted him twice now for videos I think.

[@rovingenglishman]

Dr. Who

[@TheGoddamnBareBear666]

He and Yuri Wong should get together and approach movie producers with some kinda pitch. They could make some AMAZING scores!!!!!!!!!

[@BeTheAeroplane]

This is 100% the coolest sequencer I've ever seen. That crossfade function is like the heart of what modular synthesis is for. The idea of being able to plug anything into there and add and subtract them from each other feels like a black hole full of possibilities to get lost in. My first thought is how cool it would be to put 2 sequencers with different sequence lengths in each one. I definitely need to make a sequencer with that function.

[@BeTheAeroplane]

After a lot of brainstorming, I think this can be done with 2 4016s and a 4017. In super simple terms a 4016 is 4 non-mechanical relays. In theory, you should be able to set the 2 4016s and 4017 up as an 8-step sequential switch with each 4016 input receiving the center pin of each pot. All outputs of the 4016s would then be chained together. Probably with diodes. I'll update with my findings.

[@BeTheAeroplane]

I have posted an untested diagram on r/lookmumnocomputer if anybody is interested.

[@williamt4749]

Really amazing work! 3 things kill relays. To maximize life address all 3 and they will live for a very very long time. 1) Contact current. This is easy for many of your applications because you are mostly only conducting signals with low current. Relays that must close on high inrush (incandescent lamps or large capacitors like those found on power supply inputs) will slowly erode the contacts. Since you are driving lamps, there are a couple things you could do to improve the lifespan of your relay contacts that are responsible for the lamps. A) Change to LEDs (boring). B) Find the right sized resistor to just barely make the filiment glow then put it across the relay contacts. While your bulbs will never truely be "off" they will be preheated which will significantly reduce in rush current and preserve the relay contacts. Use big (high-power rated) resistors cuz they will get HOT. Inductive loads also cause arcing on contact OPENING and require diodes or snubbers to prevent this arcing. Make sure you have a backwards diode on each of your relay coils to arrest the coil current when the relay is de-energized. Clever trick, put a 10-ohm in series with the diode. This will cause the relay to drop out more quickly. Maybe only a few ms, but you might be able to cycle noticably faster. Optimal resistance should be 10-50% less than the coil resistance. Make sure your diodes have the cathode (stripe side) facing (+) side of relay coil. 2) Coil failure. Easy stuff like don't over-current your coils is obvious. But the parallel diode/snubber not only saves the contacts of upstream driving relays, it also reduces voltage stress on the wire insulation. This will prolong the life of the coil. You may also notice less electrical noise in your audio signals. Small value cap (

[@LanceMabu]

This guy relays!

[@klaasj7808]

who cares they are cheap

[@inv41id]

@@klaasj7808 Anyone who doesn't want to senselessly create waste and doesn't consider their devices consumables

[@martinsp90]

​@@inv41id Fucking spot on.

[@allothernamesbutthis]

8:38

[@sparkyprojects]

Relay life is usually rated for the contact life at rated currents, you're only passing signals, so not really an issue The coils (as you rightly said) are more like speakers, as long as you don't greatly exceed the coil voltage, those relays should last years.

[@ManofCulture]

and rated ac/dc voltage too

[@rich1051414]

@@ManofCulture Square wave dc is effectively AC at a little more than half the DC voltage.

[@rlrfproductions]

Came here to say exactly this, he's probably pushing hundreds of times less current than they were designed for. At that point the mechanical failure rate would be higher, and that'll last years easily

[@mrkv4k]

Passing small signals is often worse, than passing currents close to 1/10th of rated current. But it looks like that he is using contacts to control onother relays, which is probably the best case.

[@catriona_drummond]

Frankly those relay noises, being distorted into sounding a bit heavier and darker would sound awesome. I am thinking industrial.

[@matthewnewman5477]

Contact microphones built into the case.

[@reggiep75]

@@matthewnewman5477 - I'd be inclined to attach some to the relays themselves, depending on size and surface area of relay. That would be monstrous!!

[@SharpblueCreative]

Take a listen to the sound track and effects from the 1950’s movie Forbidden Planet - this is reminiscent of that

[@SoundAuthor]

@@matthewnewman5477 Yup. Run that noise through some resonant filters and go nuts.

[@UsagiElectric]

I love that you built a sequencer out of relays, but I love that it's essentially relay computer memory flip flops even more!

[@PW132yt]

1:32 looking forward to next month's video where you send a furby to the moon on a relay-controlled rocket

[@mrkosmos9421]

The way the pots are connected is simply genius. A perfect way to use the properties of the relays to their fullest.

[@huntabadday2663]

I like how the sequencer is a type of percussion... or just the relay sound in general sounds good. Oh, and I love the nixie tube as a step counter

[@kay486]

not a nixie, this is basically a 7 segment incandescent lightbulb. no glowing neon is involved

[@WilliamMoser]

5:30, very Raymond Scotty, love it!

[@hank2188]

I frickin love old analogue music machines like this sequencer! This video shows why I love your channel

[@yeseldiaz3453]

6:03 I feel like most arcade cabinets back in the glory days gave us something close to this with the strobes and the rackachatatatata etc. I love thinking about shit like Defender/Rampage/Centipede/Robotron/others because of the sounds they'd fill those bigass arcade rooms with so this was unexpectedly nostalgic

[@Musikkeller-Innsider]

A great relaytionship between music and technology!

[@moseshorowitz4345]

Watching and listening to this thing in action is giving me heavy flashbacks to 1970s Dr. Who. I could see John Pertwee encountering this in the TARDIS.

[@jameshamaker9321]

I remember, Dr. Who, from back them. I'm an eighties kid, personally and I could see that happening.

[@davechisholm9670]

Haha, welcome to life as a Telecoms technician a few decades ago… step by step and crossbar telephone exchanges were bloody noisy places! Each type of switchgear had its particular cadences, each rack a symphony of electromechanical engineering brilliance.

[@headrushindi]

You are Brilliant !! I am a musician/Actor/Magician "Old school style" , so you can imagine how much I Love the Frankenstein mix between Analog , Mechanical , and digital. Looks like I will have to binge on all your past videos' this weekend.

[@MrHBSoftware]

9:21 that sounds awesome!

[@trevord9811]

Your imagination & enthusiasm is boundless - outside the box? More like outside the planet; but honestly, such fun too. Cannot wait to visit the museum and tinker.

[@MitchBowman93]

That first couple of seconds gave off some very "Forbidden Planet" vibes. Love it!

[@andythebritton]

Yup. My first thought too. Also when he was triggering it manually.

[@fissionchips8840]

Best video I've watched all week!! Needed this 😁👍 I can escape 🌍 for 10 minutes.. thank goodness for Sam and channels like this.

[@davidkeith4166]

After watching your videos I am convinced that the "limitless" pill actually exists. Super cool stuff.

[@j377yb33n]

that relay sound with reverb would be a pretty neat introduction bit if you were ever going to cover autobahn

[@stumcconnel]

Those relays you were beating the crap out of on the mega duck reminded me of a device we use at work to do very basic EMI testing that is basically a 24VDC relay with a mains plug attached which just stuffs 240VAC across the coil and makes the relay oscillate very aggressively. Makes a hell of a racket and always sounds like it's going to explode, but that thing's been going for about 30 years!

[@kaitlyn__L]

Haha that's fun. I've seen some videos on electromechanical buzzers which work much the same way (such as "the Dixie buzzer") - and you get different sounds at DC and AC, or even depending on the voltage IIRC. A lot of those sounds immediately stood out to me as having been used extensively in Thunderbirds and other Anderson productions.

[@dozerblade]

An innovator of our time.

[@SkullDraizer]

You did a relay good job @LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER

[@andrewinkelman376]

Being playful, creative and inspired, I believe you would make a great physics teacher for kids. I guess Montessori-style.

[@harryscorah2091]

This is some proper BBC Radiophonic Workshop stuff!

[@tomahzo]

At first I thought: "Nice, a sequencer - only that it's implemented using electromechanical circuitry." But when you added the contact mic output then it became an entirely new beast. This is now an electromechanical instrument. That's really unique :D. 8:21 : Hearing that relay lose its shit really cracks me up ;D. I love listening to hardware that's pushed to its physical limitations. Seriously, though: That's an electromechanical oscillator. Has anyone done a module like that before? That's incredible! I've never even thought of the idea of adding non-electronic (or not entirely electronic anyway) modules to a modular synth. This opens up so many possibilities :D. Actually, thinking about it someone's GOT to make a Floppytron module now :D. And a printertron. A modular synth consisting of mostly voltage-controlled electromechanical sound sources. That would be INSANE :D.

[@davidm3569]

Some of the sounds reminded me of the classic sci fi film Forbidden Planet, the one with the famous robot! 😀

[@fathomisticfantasy2681]

This is totally the most amasing way to recreate the 595 chip and the 555 chip. You could have wired those two with like the D-type register 74, 173 for latching. Yet, you did the incredible and did all this with realays. Inpecable talent for sure!!!

[@morris7025]

You are out doing yourself on this project! I really like the idea of boiling everything down to relays - can't wait to see beatstep pro style!!! And the music is relay, relay good tooooooo!!!!!! :)

[@Scodiddly]

Love the mechanical noise from the relays. Like playing an old pinball machine with all the mechanics inside.

[@_Killian]

Loved watching your channel grow

[@spazkong]

I must watch the entire video before making suggestions, you've usually thought of everything and beyond anyway! I'd love to visit the Museum and have a photo taken with the Megadrone :)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Ha all good we all do it

[@dcorbin5779]

This is great. Mabey u can use the relay noise as a kick. That snap the relays make has an excellent crunchy quality.

[@haycrossaudio5474]

Amazing work as always Sam. It's mind boggling just how much abuse a relay can take. Love it

[@fuzz2567]

Brilliant - keep giving us this stuff.

[@Elektronijaenis]

The sounds from the pizoed relays were really cool! I've mostly built simple stuff like fuzzboxes, but I'm getting an more and more of an itch for modular synths.

[@aurora3655]

It purrs like a dragon my friend!

[@ronaldlundbohm815]

Nice clean build Very interesting stuff

[@SaccoBelmonte]

Truly fascinating. Very nice concept.

[@javinshki17000]

Quality content as always

[@stephaneblondin2224]

So clever. It's like his brain is on fire. We love you.

[@NegativeReferral]

I love the sound of relays.

[@DisasterxUs]

You're an absolute mad genius, ya know it? 😅

[@wackenthaljef]

TSam is my better technology teacher ever!

[@FelipeTellez]

This is borderline a steampunk René!!!!!

[@LondonSteveLee]

Inspirational as usual!

[@ls__8165]

have you tried feeding 2 audio signals in the voltage inputs of the sequencer? i guess that it would become like a sequenced audio crossfader with some interesting distortion!!

[@alsxdb4735]

Hooo wonderfull the new frontier of sequencers

[@AJB2K3]

Nice, liking the sounds from the relays

[@bgeditor1733]

Another amazing video!

[@MeatVision]

You are an absolute mad lad

[@neilherke6285]

When you finally finish doodling on that desk I would love a clean photo of it to make a wall sticker from!

[@nekokna]

LOVELY table art!!!

[@repeat_defender]

I like the clicking, I think it makes a cool as hell original sound. I must not be the only one...

[@SpectrumDIY]

Honestly, that reminds me of classic pinball machines. I like it. :D

[@jameshamaker9321]

I got those vibes too, it was like listening to a pinball machine, if they played music instead of just beeping. Also I do remember the old, galaga machine in San Francisco, at the arcade in game building in pier 39. The music, played with the relay synth, reminded me of that machine, is why I mentioned it.

[@SpectrumDIY]

@@jameshamaker9321 that's really cool! I love classic arcade games and ask the mechanical sounds. So stimmy! I might have to build a pinball machine (solenoid style) 🤔🤔

[@RomanBuehler]

It's a bit like the klee sequencer... but with the added benefit of substraction! nice!

[@jameshamaker9321]

This style of cabinet, reminds me of the old moog control panels, from the relay systems on the Atari sound board. I believe it was series 2 or 3, that used the nixy tube display for numbers. I think it was the 3rd series board, version 1. I'm very sure they can be found in the electronics, listing on eBay.

[@chrism4008]

Theres a single human being who creates nixy tubes now. Saw an awesome video about it, its sad that technology like that is becoming lost. Its probably not good to lose them either

[@cferrarini]

beautiful!!!!! very nice job.

[@ZafroSoundz]

Love it, looks so much fun!

[@kaisersozeh7845]

Superb! Really want to hear a relay based percussion box, like the guiro, but with a massive relay (like from the display cabinet) for bass drum. Different sizes of relay, mounted on different materials, some with rattles and chains hanging off, coins on the contacts? Electromechanical percussion - you'll need a quieter sequencer! Love this fella, very Delia Derbyshire

[@misforyoutube8452]

Very unique sounds!

[@SeattleFocusBlue]

I'm just imagining a night club lining the walls and ceiling with these.... colored lighting throughout with a few beam lights and lasers.

[@Remowylliams]

Those robotic sounds really reminded me of some of the sound effects in the movie, 'Forbidden Planet'

[@Skootavision]

My first higher voltage experiments used digitally controlled relays and it was a massive pain cos they would stick closed or fail to close, especially as they warmed. Thank god for addressable LEDs. Damn fine work. I can't help but think the pandemic has nudged you along a bit and was pondering how far you might have come in the same time with the museum if you'd had a full schedule of gigs last year? Ps I think Hainbach could do wonders with the mic'd up relays w/no synth

[@Colin_Ames]

Outstanding.

[@hubzcaps]

nice visual aid. the crunch tho mmmmm

[@reggiep75]

All of those relays going off slightly after each other would make a light 808 snare. There needs to be some bigger relays with contact mics on them - fit them in whatever way gets the best noise inside, outside, topside, bottom side... just capture that noise!!

[@AnalogDude_]

does this mechanical de bouncing have a effect on the sound versus integrated circuits? those sparks (witch you can prevent by adding a 100nf or so capacitor)...the delay of the separation?

[@hpstarman]

The sounds remind me of Forbidden Planet. 5:43

[@StevenIngram]

I had the same thought. :) There were also moments it was a little Logan's Run.

[@kerzwhile]

This is incredible!!

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

Definitely totally Hainbach 👍👍👍💓

[@joeybruins]

what is that for panel thath converts 6.35mm audio jacks to banana plugs?

[@VeraTR909]

How about creating a 3-bit sawtooth waveform for instance using stepped voltages on really fast relays? Electromechanidigital

[@spazmobot]

Golly you and your toys are fun to watch.

[@travisguide4516]

this one was very practical I need one!

[@theorulez]

*'Deadmau5 wants to know your location'* Great job mate.

[@plugspud421]

Thanks for having a quick chat at the boot fair this morning synthesiser man 😂 👍

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

wheyyyy

[@laurencevanhelsuwe3052]

I'm sure sometime in the early 80s you could have had a one day hit with this on Top Of The Pops !

[@cheesyboi6585]

that was the coolest video ever

[@If_Only_I_Knew_Why]

If the contacts start breaking down in the relays, I hope it sounds cool.

[@TheNameIsForty]

These relays gotta be running damn hot.

[@yeaho7935]

What we call it it's lick shots you can see it in our sounds system out here Jamaica

[@cloud1482]

relays sound great

[@pauljs75]

Now another idea for something weird... Make a thing that has a continuous loop of audio tape. Perhaps one record/erase head. And then playback heads for each step of a sequencer. I suspect that would be funky as heck in a low-fi analog way. I wonder if it'd be able to make some glitch/stutter noise effects?

[@MarkTillotson]

Sounds so radiophonic workshop at times!

[@tommyhatcher3399]

That's great? Can you make one with vacuum tubes?

[@IkkeNiet22]

Epic machine! 👌👌👌

[@maxtester8824]

Mate, you are a genious!!!!

[@olik136]

If I had watched this video 20 years ago...I would have been on an entirely different path today

[@Lu_Woods]

When the grid fails, and the chips run out...you'll be a powerful man!

[@tommyflowers7098]

Steam-Punk? Please. We got Electro-Punk right here! Never before have I had such an urge to learn what this guy does and make my own electronic music-making gear. Damn. I think I'm to embark on a new hobby.

[@mondongokoreano1373]

This is amazing

[@jaunejaune]

about noisy machines, have you heard about MOTOR SYNTH ? it's making oscilators from drones motors, pretty amazing

[@buidseach]

Getting some Forbidden Planet Vibes :)

[@Lu_Woods]

IT sounds so happily angry. ...looks like Cosmo's 4 headed cousin. ; )

[@kasamikona]

I hope you have some protection against the inputs shorting together, or whatever you're plugging into the input can handle that! If two steps trigger at the same time, one has the knob all the way down and the other has the knob all the way up, you get a total zero resistance between the two input ends. I think a resistor in series with the wiper pin on each knob before it goes into the relays should do it (maybe you already did that I don't know!), it might change how the summing works a bit but it'll be more in the direction of what you expect anyway.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

it has mix resistors and wants to output to a high impedance input. if i didnt do that it would keep turning off in the video and be unusable haha

[@sahalin12345]

It's silly! I love it!!