Music For Drones: part 3, pickup test

C had a telephone pickup lying around his studio, so we decided it would be interesting to hook it up to the drone. Telephone pickups (like guitar pickups) listen for electronic signals, not sound waves. So, what you’re hearing here is (mainly) the battery) and (some of) the quadcopter’s circuit board.



Unlike many of the other sounds, which are mainly pitches (alterations in pitch when we change the motors/rotors, or the steady buzzing of motors and rotors), this pickup has a perceptible rhythm. If you listen carefully, there’s a high-pitched pulse that runs around 222-227bpm.

This weekend, we flew Pauline (with the green stripes) with the pickup (we also few her, in a separate sortie, with a contact mic). We don’t have video, but we do have audio; once C processes those, we’ll post them.