Music Visualization without Computer

This, my first instructable, will show you how get addicting audio visualizations using ordinary tap water.
Caution: when completed, this can be highly addicting.
Caution: this could potentially harm your speakers. It has not harmed mine for any long period of time, but it could happen.
Have fun!

Step 1 Remove the speaker cover.

If your speaker is already naked, great. If not, you will have to remove the cover. Some speakers have a cover that just needs to be pulled, some you have to unscrew the whole housing to remove whatever's in front of it.

Comments

[kallen8]

Does it change the sound at all?

[nikolardo]

Yes - it's significantly muffled. The water dampens the speakers vibrations. However, it's certainly still audible.

[nametaken]

Clever design :) Do you think sand would work just as well?

[nikolardo]

I'm inclined to think not - I know I've seen things on youtube with sand resonating, but they're generally surface patterns on something flat. I certainly don't know, and you should definitely try it, but I suspect that sand isn't fluid enough to move quickly enough to show these effects - my guess is that it would just muffle the sound.

[Logan D]

Try this with non-newtonian fluid like cornstarch in water. However, you might need a more powerful speaker to get some crazy results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoTKXXNQIU&feature=related

[nikolardo]

After a long time, I did eventually do this with cornstarch in water. However, I found that it would not respond to music at all, only a sine wave - not even both at the same time. However, by varying the period of the sine wave, I was able to create some very, very creepy things. For added creepiness, add a drop or two of food colouring AFTER starting it up - it'll crawl and swirl its way around for a long, long time.

[Laral]

Nice Chladni figures! Try shining a small spotlight on the water and watch the light show on the wall/ceiling.

[ChpperKahn]

ack! i used to get the worst kind of heeby geebies from this... it freaks me out when i look at it. happened first in my moms foot massager, the one where its a tub of water with vibrating pads and such. am i the only one?

[zabdiel]

You can buy waterproof speakers or weatherproof speakers. If you just want the speaker without an enclosure (which would probably work for this) then you can get on for a couple of pounds.

[alex-sharetskiy]

it looks as if it's alive!

[Wolf Seril]

That's sweet. And it doesn't affect the sound?

[nikolardo]

Actually, it does affect the sound. If you don't use much water it's not too noticeable, just a little muffled, but the more water you add, the more muffled it is, because all the energy is being transferred to the water instead of the air. HOWEVER this is really cool, because if you put your finger(s) in the water, it feels AWESOME. It's like touching a speaker and feeling the sound, only instead of having it vibrate away from you like a speaker, it vibrates all around you. But yes, when I do this I usually have one speaker with no water so I can hear the music well.

[Wolf Seril]

Oh that makes more sense then.

[thepelton]

Many speaker cones are made of paper, which will dissolve in water.

[nikolardo]

thus the polyurethane

[depotdevoid]

That looks awesome!

[hg341]

nice well done