The word on the street, the mix that everyone is talking about, finally, humankind has reached it's ultimate objective. Originally mixed for Loskop Radio, we can now start to unfurl the sound journey that will change your life, fix the world and achieve eternal cosmic harmony. Oh yes. 
Re-released 28 Nov 24, now with more road drill. Part 2 released early Dec 24.

01 - I Said Shut It

Mostly cooler fans strumming partly-broken stringed instruments and other objects.

02 - I Said Shut It

Featuring a live recording from the Executive Management Conference of our corporate parent company, Noise Logistics International, with a motivational speech by the CEO, plus a load of funny noises and stupid samples. Enjoy!

03 - I Said Shut It

04 - I Said Shut It

Tails & Trails- voice recordings

Wearable soundscape for the Bogart character in Tails & Trails performances, Handmade Productions. Info here: https://handmadeproductions.org.uk/tales-and-trails/

Tails & Trails - Bogart

Wearable soundscape for the Tom Bell character in Tails & Trails performances, Handmade Productions. Info here: https://handmadeproductions.org.uk/tales-and-trails/

Tails & Trails - Tom Bell

Wearable soundscape for the White Doe character in Tails & Trails performances, Handmade Productions. Info here: https://handmadeproductions.org.uk/tales-and-trails/

Tails & Trails - White Doe

Quick recording of the Discarnate Heart being struck and strummed, with some of the audio being processed through an ADDAC 8 channel filter bank.
The strike, 8 Auto-Strummers and 8 filter channels are all controlled via a large Audio Console. This allows several people to play with the awesome sound of an acoustic piano's heart.
Come and try it out at Makefest 20-21 August at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry.

Discarnate Heart (Acousatron-in-Making)

This electroacoustic composition by S. Summers is made entirely from recordings of the Acousatron, which is the new Noisy Toys interactive installation of 2017. The Acousatron is mainly comprised of acoustic instruments (primarily a piano and 4 violins) with electrical and mechanical controls that allow visitors to control and play the instruments in new ways. The sounds used here follow the process of building the Acoustatron, including it's development through many of the Noisy Toys workshops. The 'auto-strummers' used to strike the strings are the same as those used by thousands of people in schools and at public events who have attended our 'Scavengers' and 'Circuit Boxes' workshops over the last few years. The sounds of the motors and the flails hitting various objects start and finish this piece. Contact and acoustic microphone recordings taken from some of the national events that we took the Acousatron to in 2017 feature throughout; UK Maker Faire, Big Bang Fair, Science and Media museum relaunch.
There will soon be a free-to-download sample pack available here for anyone to have a go at using these incredible sounds for their own music.
More information on the Acousatron and where you can play it here: http://noisytoys.org/acousatron/

Well Tampered Clavier

The Acousatron performed by Stephen Summers at MANTIS (Manchester Theatre in Sound) festival on 13 November 2017. MANTIS features Electroacoustic music from established and up-and-coming composers and artists. This event formed part of the New Music North West Festival.
The Acousatron combines acoustic instruments and objects with upcycled computer hardware, all fitted with mechanical agitators. It’s aim is to exploit the musical potential of ‘hacked’ acoustic instruments and electronics. This is a recording of the first-ever live performance using the heart of the Acousatron (a very prepared piano), which was played using a variety of electro-motors and manual strikers.
You can find more information about the full interactive Acousatron installation -which can be booked for public events- here: http://noisytoys.org/acousatron/

Acousatron Live at MANTIS Nov 2017

Klavierstruck Live at MANTIS  Nov 2017

One heat sink and two bass drives, recorded with four microphones in an IBC (a big plastic box). This is a shortened, stereo version of the original which was composed in 5.1 surround-sound format by Stephen Summers (that's me). This piece is just one of a series based on recordings of heat sinks and electro motors in various situations. 
Here, the spectral content of the metallic sounds and the spatial effects of the reverberation chamber (the IBC) are enhanced by the slowed playback, although the four-microphone effects are mostly lost in this stereo mix.

The recording of a heat sink being struck by a flail- attached to the blade of a rotating fan- is slowed down to 50%, 25% and 12.5%, reversed and filtered. 

Dissipators
Heat sinks and fans with flails are the core elements in the Noisy Toys workshop kits, which contain only upcycled junk from discarded electronic goods. I have run this workshop in countless schools and STEM events over the country for several years and have often been surprised at the interesting musical patterns that emerge from this simple system as people move the objects around. OK so I suppose I got a bit obsessed with fans and heat sinks and the patterns that emerge at the edge of chaos when the objects are placed at just the right position.

Space
Two microphones are placed in the ears of Benito's head- these are directly connected to the front stereo pair of speakers- and two are in the top rear corners of the IBC- which connect to the back stereo pair. In this stereo mix much of the spatial effect is lost of course.

Bass
The bass frequencies produced by the bass drives are very low and may not be audible at all on some systems- for example playback through a laptop or pad. Use some decent speakers.
The bass drives are computer hard drives used as electromagnetic signal generators- the audio signal being taken from the power connections. 
One of the bass drives is manually spun, the other is motor controlled and can play specific pitches. Some of the bass sounds were played back at X2 and X4 speed through a monitor in the IBC and then re-recorded and slowed back to original speed to add natural reverberation.

Eternal Cosmic Heat Dissipation

Free to Download noisy samples help yourself. Mostly analogue from VCS3, MS20 & MonoPoly. Plenty more to follow including bass, beats & bleeps.

FREE DOWNLOAD - NoisyToys sample set 01 sweeps & sirens

Heat sinks hit by flails on cooler fans, the mighty heart of the Acousatron and other mechanised strings, recordings taken from installation & workshops at the National Science & Media Museum (Bradford) in 2018.

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