Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Truck Flute

 mobile bass woodwind
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This is a bass flute made out of a tractor trailer. I noticed today when the 14 year old rolled down the back window about half way that the whole car started vibrating at about 10 hertz which I guess is about 6 octaves below middle c. I guess the wind going by the opening of the back window created a resonator like a flute. I was thinking it would be nice to experiment with this and maybe make an instrument. I wonder if you turned a truck cab into a mouthpiece like shape and then connected it too the trailer part of the truck and cut openings that could be controlled remotely, if you could create a gigantic bass flute that would play as you traveled along the highway.

Alternatively to this you could just have flutes that are mounted on the outside of a car and that have air funneled into their mouth pieces. This wouldn't have to be a bass flute. I guess you could have a whole convoy of car woodwinds.

—JesusHChrist, Jan 02 2012

Flute-based speed analysis countermeasures? Dispensable_20Radar_20Detector_2fJammers
(okay, that feature is not ready for prime time yet) [normzone, Jan 05 2012]

if you hold a saxophone out a car window at 30 mph it plays itself http://www.facebook...d=2231246848&v=wall
[JesusHChrist, Jan 06 2012]

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       // the whole car started vibrating at about 10 hertz which I guess is about 6 octaves below middle c. I guess the wind going by the opening of the back window created a resonator like a flute. //   

       That, or your tie-rod ends suddenly wore out.   

       With a fleet of finely-tuned trucks and a multilane highway, a young composer could make their name in the music and automotive industries simultaneously. Perfectly- choreographed sequences of accelleration and decelleration would introduce harmonics and accents with engine notes, air brakes, and tire noise.   

       Best not to think about percussion.   

       [+]
—Alterother, Jan 02 2012
   

       //sequences of accelleration and decelleration// Only for octaves -- for other intervals, you'd have keys.
—mouseposture, Jan 02 2012
   

       Yes, all held out the drivers' windows and jingled in perfect unison.
—Alterother, Jan 02 2012
   

       //...vibrating at about 10 hertz which I guess is about 6 octaves below middle c.//   

       Middle C is 256 Hz, and frequency halves with every octave down, so 6 octaves down is 4 Hz
—Loris, Jan 02 2012
   

       (Hmmm... PVC Pipe organ truck, thinks I...)
—lurch, Jan 02 2012
   

       I've noticed that resonation when one rear window is opened a bit too. This idea would work well for aeroplanes too.
—hippo, Jan 05 2012
   

       [+] I like it. I imagine a highway orchestra...and maybe some back road symphony.
This is like blowing air into an empty bottle. The size changes the pitch and tone.
—xandram, Jan 05 2012
   

       Rather than having holes and keys, you could make the trailer longer and shorter like a trombone.
—marklar, Jan 05 2012
   

       When I haul ladders angled up and over the roof of my truck the open-ended rungs make a high pitched whistle at highway speeds. (+)   

       //for aeroplanes//   

       Serious question, w/ advance forgiveness begged - I've never had opportunity to try noise-cancelling headphones; how well would they handle a loud, low, steady pitched note?
—lurch, Jan 05 2012
   

       What was that? Sorry, didn't hear. Must be your bass voice...
—RayfordSteele, Jan 05 2012
   

       "Do you know how fast you were going ?"
"Sorry officer, I was just trying to play 'Toccata and Fugue in D'"
—FlyingToaster, Jan 05 2012
   

       Ooh, good point, [bigsleep]. This may lead to a feature creep on my dispensable radar detector / jammer (link).   

       What would the revenuers use to determine your speed? Shotgun microphones with frequency analyzing tools? What would be the best way to address that? Sound canceling technology?   

       EDIT: I think you may need to use one of those anti-personel sound-emitting devices, tightly focused, playing Old Man River.
—normzone, Jan 05 2012
   

       //Middle C is 256 Hz// A more common value these days is 440 Hz * 2^(3/12), approximately 261.625565 Hz, but that's a very minor quibble, as 256 Hz is well within the recent historical range, and even now, it's not all that firmly fixed in practice.   

       As it happens, I've used a 256 Hz middle C as a tonic, in situations where the exact value was somewhat arbitrary and I appreciated the simpler arithmetic.   

       For completeness, 10 hz is approximately 4.678072 octaves below 256 Hz, and 4.709432 octaves below 261.625565 Hz. Not that it really matters.   

       Also, your trailer was more like an ocarina than a flute.
—spidermother, Jan 12 2012
   


 

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