The Scoppiatori Exploder/ Burster revisited.

As I've mentioned before my building these machines is in part a practical investigation to discover how they might have sounded and played in a modern context. I've decided my build of the the Scoppiatori Exploder/ Burster is wrong. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started from the premise that it was similar to the standard intonarumori  with a drum and string but stood on its end. But I don't think there is any reason for this. I now think it is a mechanical drum probably based on designs by Leonardo da Vinci which Russolo would have been aware. Page 984r Codex Atlanticus. Which is held in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in MIlan.

Mechanical kettle drum. Page 984r Codex Atlanticus, Picture from Wikimedia commons.

I also don't like the sounds the machine makes. I feel they don't compliment or are that different from my other three intonarumoris. It is also far too complicated a design.

Here's the machine about to be dismantled, showing the glockenspiel, 'sonic hamster wheel' and other mechanism.  

I'll  be looking to reuse some of these mechanisms or even make them into stand alone machines. 

I'm going to raise the drum and create a platform for my motor driven beaters to hit the drum. Using speed controllers this will allow for different rhythms to be set.

I've inserted a board at an angle to re-direct the sound to the horn opening. I saw this on the machines designed by Luciano Chessa at the Wigmore hall concert.  I will be keeping the levers to tighten the tone on the drum using either the design from Russolo's musikinstrument patent or a string as in the Ronzatori. The other levers can lower objects on to the drum to either 'dance' or to be hit by the motor beaters. Which will hopefully create the sounds Russolo describes in his book, The Art of Noises, '....like the bursting of objects that break and shatter' or 'make a noise similar to that of  a gasoline engine..' But I will see how my practical experimentation will go.

 

David Lein musician, educator, and filmmaker visits.

David Lien Musician, Educator, and Filmmaker paid me a visit to see my intonarumori. He wanted to film my machines and interview me for an episode on his Youtube channel 'The instrument makers'.

I hired out a local church hall for an afternoon where my machines could be set out, amplified and played. It was the first time four of my machines had been brought together and played. Needless to say this process still needs to be given a little more thought. 

It was a very enjoyable afternoon, David made a number of useful suggestions and his interest has inspired me to further develop the project. The visit ended with us playing a short improvised performance.

 

 

 

The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners

The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners. Wigmore Hall London. 17th January 2025

Conducted by Luciano Chessa

Russolo and Marinetti brought 16 machines to London in 1914, a hundred years later the machines are back. Nine works were  conducted by Luciano Chessa and performed by the New Music Society of the Guildford school of Music and Drama. Surely a once in a life time event.

As you can see from my photograph an array of Intonarumori were there to perform, which meant you could hear a depth of tones and a range of textures. Luciano even performed a solo.

Luciano's book has been a very important reference for me in my project so it was a real privilege to see this performance. I must now finish my instruments and look to a performance.

Here's The Guardian newspaper's review of the concert.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jan/19/orchestra-of-futurist-noise-intoners-ensemble-klang-review-london-contemporary-music-festival-lcmf-wigmore-hall?CMP=share_btn_url

 Motorik or What!

The Musikinstrument is nearly finished. I just need to tidy some aspects up. The individual tubes need separate microphones to amplify the sound in the tubes which other wise cannot be heard. This in turn needs to be to be put through a pre-amp and a mixer in order for the instrument to be played. I also need to learn how to play it!

 Very Motorik as some one has said.

 Russolo in his patent suggests that, 'Instead of pipes, resonators of another kind,
e.g. strings, can be used.' Here I think I'm going to try a metal spring which was used in another of Russolo's machines.

Set the controls for the heart of the Sun

One aspect of my work is a practical investigation into these sound machines. I feel I have tried to make the scissor mechanism work by adding a support and sliding rails but this does not improve the operation, so I will take up Russolo's suggestion in his patent that this Nurnberg (Nuremberg) scissor type mechanism 'can be replaced by any other type of construction'. I'm going to use simple levers and pulleys, mechanisms Russolo has used in his other machines. 

Supporting rails and linear bearings.

Addition of the pulleys. Still thinking about keeping the scissor mechanism in place.

Pulleys and lever controls. This mechanism works, the only problem I have at the moment is the string 'riding off ' the pulleys. My next step is to amplify the sound in the tubes and then tidy the machine up.

Musikinstrument final assembly and failure.

People who looked at the patent plans said it wouldn't work. I wasn't too sure but by making the machine as faithfully to the plans I hoped to find out what any problems might be. Here's the final assembly.

 

 

Mechanically there is too much movement, twisting and pivoting on the lever mechanism to pull the tubes up. Either some structural supports need to be added or a completely new slider mechanism devised. Russolo in his patent says that this Nurnberg (Nuremberg) scissor type mechanism 'can be replaced by any other type of construction'. 

The extension of the tubes would seem to make no difference to the sound. There is a pitch difference but that is made by the underneath pressure roller tightening the drum skin. The sound is similar to that made by my Ronzatori where the drum skin is tightened by the string. In fact Russolo suggests that the pipes could be replaced by 'resonators of another kind, e.g. Strings could be used'. 

So as I blogged earlier I suspect that like the Instrument de Musique this machine was never made and really only the sketch of an idea to be developed. Ultimately the sounds it makes are a little underwhelming given the effort made to realize the machine.

Musikinstrument progress

 Using a 3d printer I've started to print out the brackets and flanges for the telescopic tubes. Now I'm quite confident at coding and using the printer I might look to add printed parts to my earlier machines.

Starting to take shape. I'm not convince this is going to work. The levers seem too flimsy and the whole mechanism will perhaps need some support.