Melody Thomas reports on the strange sights and sounds coming from Victoria University of Wellington, where she finds three musical Tesla Coils, a robotic backing band, and some very clever people making magic happen behind the scenes.
Josh Bailey is a software engineer working for Google out of Victoria University in Wellington. He is originally from New Zealand but has spent the past 12 years in California.
Back in his homeland, Bailey has been developing a tesla coil control system named ‘Chime Red’, enabling PhD students from Victoria’s Sonic Arts Engineering programme to put together some special musical compositions using the coils.
Melody discovers music written for mechatronic bass robotic drums, and Tesla Coil, the high voltage, donut shaped, resonant transformer circuit, which shoots arcs of arcs of purple lightning.
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Find a whole collection of robot music here
Music Details
Artist: Bon Jovi
Song: Livin’ on a Prayer
Composer: BonJovi, Child, Sambora
Album: Slippery When Wet
Label: Mercury
Artist: Tesla Coils, Mechatronic bass and robotic drums
Song: Details TBC
Composer: Jason Long
Album: Unreleased
Label: RNZ Recording
Artist: Tesla Coils, Mechatronic bass and robotic drums
Song: Details TBC
Composer: Jim Murphy
Album: Unreleased
Label: RNZ Recording