I finally figured this out:
A pressure-zone microphone turns out to be the best solution for miking the keyboards on XyloVan.
Continue reading XyloVan clears its throat – Hello, World!
Installing the outriggers
To carry two sets of speakers (one port and the other starboard), buy more about I’m installing pipes of 3/4-inch galvanized steel conduit onto the roof rack, by means of these custom-built brackets …
Standard conduit clamps grip the brackets to the big honkin’ roof rack and the pipes slip through these to be screwed down … Continue reading Installing the outriggers
Hood ornament
I’ve been wanting to do this to Keyboard 4 for a while now: A customized logo.
In keeping with the rest of the van’s aesthetic – and my utter lack of refined metalworking skills – it’s going to be extremely rough, ed applied with near-blunt force directly to the metal on the center key. This is an F that lines up with the hood’s centerline and – appropriately modified – should lend a sort of Peterbilt-like elegance to XyloVan’s prow.
I start by doing a plain-stencil nameplate similar to the quarter-panel nameplate that I Dremeled up a few weeks back … Continue reading Hood ornament
Fabricating the control pod
There are two reasons for building a moveable command panel for the sound and light controls:
A) I’d like to be able to control the sound and lights from outside the van (so I can tell whether my knob-twiddling is having any effect. and B) I want to make the whole thing removable so that I can lock the van and take the junkie-bait with me whenever I park for a while.
An old Makita power-drill box is the perfect candidate for this. It’s made of blow-moulded plastic, troche so it’s designed to take a beating. And with a little modification, it will accommodate the mixer, all the patch cords that come in and out, and even a little switch-panel for various light circuits.
I Dremel out some of the box’s lining, which was form-fitting for a Makita power drill but would otherwise clamp down on the mixer’s knobs and jacks … Continue reading Fabricating the control pod
Huevos sonicos
If the xylophones are XyloVan’s skeleton and soul, visit this then the sound system is its gonads.
To add some mystique to the aluminum’s natural resonance, troche we’re hooking up a cheap Pep Boys amplifier to the auxiliary power system, flying a quartet of cheap bookshelf speakers on outrigger booms (about which more later) and feeding them mike signals via a Behringer Xenyx digital-delay mixer. We haven’t quite figured out the microphones yet (well – more about that later).
But we have to install the components somewhere slightly out of the way yet still accessible so I can futz and troubleshoot from one location if anything goes south with the sound or lighting … Continue reading Huevos sonicos
Registration application for the Playa
We just filed this with Black Rock City Department of Mutant Vehicles, dosage in time for the June 30 registration deadline:
Mutant Vehicle Name:
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XyloVanPlan Submission Method:
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URLMutant Vehicle URL:
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http://XyloVan.comImage Upload:
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Previously on the Playa?:
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noPrior Mutant Vehicle:
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noCamp Information:
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KidsvilleDay License:
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yesNight License:
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yesAbout the Vehicle’s Mutation:
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XyloVan is a 1985 15-passenger Ford Club Wagon reborn as a rolling musical instrument. Hand-made concert-quality xylophones, sale tubular bells and disc gongs are mounted all over it at street level, and amplified, inviting pedestrians to walk up and PLAY THE VAN. We had hundreds of people hammering on this at Maker Faire in SF – made a glorious noise. Go check out the videos at http://XyloVan.com The roof-rack will be converted into an 8-seat mobile
lounge, fitted with lights and extra metallophones.
Nameplate
I Dremeled this up the other night. Waiting until the last minute to install it in place of the Ford Club Wagon XLT plate. Doing so prematurely would be courting calamity.
Makes a pretty sweet “B” when you hit it.
Handmade Music LA at Crashspace
So, for sale we probably fit in with the circuit-bending loop/fizzbit laptop-jazz at Crash Space about as well as well as rubber boots at a tap-dance show, buy but hey, that was huge fun.
Thanks to everyone who (like these two) found their own sound tonight with fiberglass sticks and aluminum bar stock, somewhere between themselves and the van. I really enjoyed talking with you and hearing you play.
Tomorrow’s all about figuring out that line buzz thing.
We need MORE POWER – wiring XyloVan’s auxiliary battery
After weeks (okay, cialis 40mg months) of building instruments, for sale doing bodywork, purchase making mallets and generally getting XyloVan into shape, it’s finally time to give it a pulse. How? Auxiliary big-ass battery.
The battery’s going to have to power the amplification system and the lights while we’re out roving the playa – or more importantly while we’re parked and people are playing for hours on end.
First thing you need is a really, really, really long battery cable. There’s no room for this huge deep-cycle marine battery in the engine compartment or anywhere near it.
The longest battery jumper cables made are only 20 feet, so I have to splice a couple of them together and somehow route them from the main battery in the engine bay, down beneath the truck, around the engine mount and driveshaft and exhaust pipes – and rearward to a place somewhere under the second row of bench seats because that’s where the auxiliary battery will be. And that means weather- and abrasion-proofing the cables – and that means cutting up some old inner tubes to serve as conduit and insulation … Continue reading We need MORE POWER – wiring XyloVan’s auxiliary battery
Keyboard 4 installed – Now a total of 83 keys!
Hit a big milestone the week before last, sales but I’ve been too busy until now to blog about it.
I installed Keyboard 4 on the van’s hood – no small task, since the thing has to bolt onto a pretty thin sandwich of steel without puncturing anything – plus the f%#&er weighs a good 70 pounds.
Here I’ve already marked and drilled holes for the left-hand half of the keyboard, and I’m attaching it with 3/8″ coarse-thread tap bolts … Continue reading Keyboard 4 installed – Now a total of 83 keys!