Product: Music Media: Analog
Dominotes   (+8, -1)  [vote for, against]
musical dominoes

One of the great things to do with dominoes is to line hundreds of them up and knock over the first one so that a sequence of linear collapses follows in sequence.

Dominotes are used in the same way, except when they fall over they emit a single musical sound. They can do this because each one contains a tiny movement sensor that transmits a signal to a nearby receiver, amplifier and speakers.

When you use Dominotes your collapsing lines of dominoes can now also play streams of notes or other sounds.
-- xenzag, Feb 24 2015

Dominos Piazza Dominos_20Piazza
The idea would make great performance art here. [8th of 7, Feb 25 2015]

Or they could play the scale degrees of the numbers on both sides of the domino as an interval so that blind players who were also musicians could match dominos up in the regular game. There would be lots of variations, maybe they keep adding up until all the notes of the scale are used in the chord and then they change keys.
-- JesusHChrist, Feb 25 2015


nifty but not too thrilled about it being digital and wifi and stuff. Just put a little bell in there... or make them bigger.
-- FlyingToaster, Feb 25 2015


With the bell in the ball cat toy the sound continues, until the cat gets tried.

These sound like a one note musician.

If they could mimic the sound of a shoe dropping, the guy in the hotel room below yours might get a good night sleep. (unless he stays awake all night worrying about the single guy that wears four shoes.)
-- popbottle, Feb 25 2015


^ Done, in the goon show circa 1950-ish, they are in a tent in the desert and the person upstairs drops three shoes, leading to debate on 1 three-legged man or 3 one-legged men...

//If they could mimic the sound of a shoe dropping,

That's oddly Zen..

NB, one bun preferably if it can be done with large concrete dominoes that each have a church bell in them.
-- not_morrison_rm, Feb 25 2015


I like this one, but I'm sure it could be achieved in a more lo-fi fashion by embedding some kind of tubular bell within the domino, rather than fiddling about with signalling over wireless.
-- zen_tom, Feb 25 2015


Bun to the person who tries this with Stonehenge.
-- RayfordSteele, Feb 25 2015


I have created large dominoe idea on hb already. The non use of "analogue" physical noise making is due to size. I want the Dominotes to be small and able to be cheaply made so that acquiring hundreds of them becomes feasible.
-- xenzag, Feb 25 2015


A spiral bar, attached at the outer end to the inside of a hollow wooden domino, should dong nicely when it falls over.
-- pocmloc, Feb 25 2015


// acquiring hundreds of them becomes feasible //

There is no economic barrier, providing that the acquisitive individual is sufficiently lackingin scruples to simply steal all they want.
-- 8th of 7, Feb 25 2015


I quite like the idea but would the distance between dominotes limit the musical creativity? A dominote length falling would be the extreme interval unless more blanks are used.

Parallel divergent or convergent lines could create some interesting scores. Could a computer program be written to convert music to physical dominotes?
-- wjt, Feb 26 2015


You are quite right that the cadence would be narrow, but blanks would facilitate some control. Sustain would be impossible without several blanks being inserted, and the previous note held by the software. I think it's doable, but then I would say that! Ha. I'm going to apply for a grant to develop it - double ha ha.
-- xenzag, Feb 26 2015


Chords are possible as 1 domino can knock over 2 which knock over 4 at once. If they were all the same note that would help with the sustain issue but it would get louder before tapering off. Of course, throwing a few blanks into the buildup would help.
-- AusCan531, Feb 26 2015


//sustain issue// There's a guitar (or some other stringed instrument) technique of constant strumming...
-- FlyingToaster, Feb 26 2015


//sustain

A slinky going down stairs...with wires tuned to give certain notes, plucked by a central plectrum on a weight that oscillates up and down as the aforementioned slinky goes down the stairs.

Alternatively, a slinky with an internal bellows, possibly connected to wind instrument of the Hibernian persuasion...
-- not_morrison_rm, Feb 26 2015



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