![]() A temperature sensor modulates a bass note that moves faster as the temperature rises and slower when the temperature drops.A UV sensor activates a low, meditative sine-wave tone that climbs in pitch as the sun rises and falls as the sun sets.As Quintron puts it, “Instead of using your hand to turn the voltage choke up and down, the weather is doing that for you.” ![]() In the case of the Weather Warlock, the voltage is increased or decreased based on the input of environmental sensors. This article was originally published in the March/April 2016 issue of Popular Science, under the title “Weather Maestro.” A Closer Look at the Weather WarlockĪll analog synthesizers shape and bend sounds using a combination of voltage-controlled circuits. That’s not something you can walk into a store and buy.” “I wanted a synth that I could use to play and manipulate rhythms, while playing the organ with the other hand. The instrument was born of necessity, Quintron says. Quintron invented the instrument he calls the Drum Buddy, a rotating, light-activated drum machine. Artists Laurie Anderson and Sean Lennon, and the New Orleans Museum of Art, have all purchased Drum Buddies. Quintron’s other creations include the Spit Machine, a hand organ that uses saliva in its circuitry, and the Disco Light Machine, which uses a drum and lights to create music.īut his most notable invention is the Drum Buddy, a rotating, light-activated drum machine that creates different rhythms and sound effects. A live stream of the Weather Warlock’s music could change that. “A lot of blind people cannot synchronize with cyclical changes in the day,” Quintron says. “Theoretically, blind people could experience a sunset through sound.” He hopes the Weather Warlock will help others too. “The sounds the synth makes are harmonious and consonant, inspired by the healing state of mind that I was forced to be in,” he says. Quintron tuned the synth to a harmonious chord-E major- and used intervals that are “mathematically sympathetic”: octaves, fifths, and major thirds. A custom circuit board transforms those weather patterns into droning noises. “It brought me peace during a dark time.” The resulting instrument, called the Weather Warlock, has sensors that detect sunlight, temperature, wind, and moisture. “I spent much of the time on my front porch building prototypes,” he says. While undergoing chemotherapy, Quintron was stuck at home. And then, in 2011, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. ![]() As a touring musician, he could never find the time. ![]() For nearly a decade, New Orleans organist and inventor David Rolston, better known as Quintron, had harbored a particular dream: to build a synthesizer controlled by the weather. ![]()
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