Songs in The Key of Meat: Zut Plays This 70's Microwave Thermometer/Attachment.

[Zut8083]

Last one-

The multimeter says the thermocouple probe itself doesn't work, either mV or uA/mA.  Nada after heating.  Zip, ziltch.

Well, I do have some old, spare humbuckers and an extra toaster in the kitchen...

[peoplechipper]

damn! and I was hoping you'd discover death screams at the protein level...

[Zut8083]

Well, I was looking into this a bit more: there are cheap probes for electric thermometers with 1/8" telephone jack.  Dual female thermometer into meat item, trailing 1/8" male into dual 1/8" female/male 1/4" into extension into deth amp?  Meat harmonies prior to teutonic amplifier combustion?

"Life always finds a way."
-Dr. Ian Malcolm, Isla Nublar.

[peoplechipper]

please!

[Zut8083]

It is on a list of fun things to do...after getting rid of the moused up former smoker and building MkII.

[edwin]

Eugene Chadbourne has an amplified toaster and an electric rake that he uses in live shows. He "played" the toaster through my Mesa Boogie Studio 22 with no mishaps. I never asked how he amplified the toaster but whatever he is using for a pickup is sturdy enough to survive the toaster being flung across the stage. The rake had contact pickups on it and makes an ungodly noise when dragged across the floor or when the tines on the rake are plucked or attacked with various objects.

Look forward to the results of your experiment...

I recorded him playing a house concert a few years ago in my neighborhood. The rake made an appearance for the encore and I'm sure it woke up all the neighbors. An unGodly racket indeed! He went after the floor, the walls, the ceiling, basically played the whole room. He's a wonderful guy.

[Zut8083]

I was thinking about putting a bunch of cheap piezo contact microphones/drum triggers on my vuvuzela if this thermomeatstrument doesn't work.  But, I would have to solder them to something easily plugged into an amplifier, and I keep getting hitched up on that part: how do a bunch of signals get put together conveniently to be amplified in a single channel, and not have it stink or blow up an output transformer?  The piezos are actually pretty cheap; they just don't have adapters, hence the mild confusion, and who can stop at just one?  More bad ideas to follow meat and sound.

[StephenR]

I recorded him playing a house concert a few years ago in my neighborhood. The rake made an appearance for the encore and I'm sure it woke up all the neighbors. An unGodly racket indeed! He went after the floor, the walls, the ceiling, basically played the whole room. He's a wonderful guy.

Eugene is definitely a trip and a wonderful person. I had the pleasure of playing four gigs with "Eugene Chadbourne and the Ernest Tubb Memorial Tribute Band" around 1999-2000. He has such an unconventional approach to music that some of the hardest songs for me to follow were the ones I actually knew the changes to and had played before. When I was working for ArtistPro.com Publishing we published a book by Eugene called "I Hate the Man Who Runs This Bar". The book is hilarious and contains much insight into the reality of being in the music business. Out of print currently but there are still copies floating around.

https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Man-Who-Runs-This/dp/0918371198


Zut... if you use drum triggers aren't they designed to be run into a mixer?

[Zut8083]

Hi, Stephen,

I think you are right, but it seems that these triggers/mics can also be soldered into male or female phone adaptors, where I believe the brass is the ground and the piezoelectric crystal is the signal.  That's what I believe I saw on the Instructables website where one can make a contact mic (http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Contact-Microphone/), or two can be paired to make a balanced contact mic that is "noise free" and connectable to an XLR cable or mount (http://www.instructables.com/id/Balanced-piezo-contact-microphones/).  Here the piezo is hot and cold, and the brass from each half becomes the ground and silicone adhesive/caulk is applied to the two piezo elements that face each other, preventing noise or shorts.  The second link also has a recording of burning wood with balanced contact mics, taken from the actual wood as it combusts, I believe.

[edwin]

I miss JB Saunders, the local surplus electronics shop that went out of business about 5 years ago. It had everything, including all kinds of piezo thingies you could adapt into crazy pickups. All my gear has parts from that place. Now with Fistell's and Radio Shack gone, there is no place to buy electronic components anywhere near Denver/Boulder.

[Zut8083]

eBay and Etsy?  Everything to make these hydrophone/balanced mics is available on the 'Bay.