My band used a custom fog machine that used dry ice. It was composed of a 55 gallon drum, a massive set of coils and a basket and crank setup for lowering the dry ice into the water. The whole thing tapped directly into the power supply with a huge set of jumper clamps, completely bypassing the buildings breaker box.
Back then, dry ice was only available through a local ice cream vendor, namely Pied Piper Ice Cream of Asbury Park. The roadies in the band would obtain a block just before the show which would reduce by 50% by the time it was used.
Ahhhh, those were the days… opening up with “Watcher of the Skies” while the stage filled with fog… my keyboard screaming through the PA mains with the opening chord sequence, drinks vibrating across the table just like the classic poster as someone yelled from the back of the room, “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!”
Thanks for the ideas. I called Harbormodels and had a great lengthy chat with Dave. He’s a good source of info on generating smoke. I’ve forwarded this thread to him as a courtesy. Dave is forwarding me an MSDS on the smoke fluid.
Concern #1: If I play indoors, will this set off smoke alarms? Fog machines operate with (propolyne?) glycol based fluids that (I assume) are less likely to call out the fire dept.
Concern #2: The cleanup. The standard fog machines I know of are known to leave a film. Dave at Harbormodels claims that their machine leaves NO residue, though I find that really hard to believe. Dave - can you PROVE IT???
Hey Doug! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SYNTH!! Hey Chris! I certainly remember some fog on that Relayer stage But about controller keyboards, especially the kind that Doug could do some serious decoration to…here’s the dotcom:
Very nice indeed. I too noticed immediately the typewriter keys and thought that was definately the icing on the cake. I love the antique etchings as well. Very 1800’s.
Crazy idea, but these shurikens would look nice as pitch/mod wheels. Shame about the bloody ergonomics.
Then again, only one person in the World would notice a Ninjasynth in the mix. Well, just forget it
Oops… me and my sense of humour. Sorry about that.
Well, to keep OT in the 19th Century the typical materials were brass, glass, steel and wood. So, plastic knobs don´t seem as “authentic”, if it´s not going too far. At least Bakelite chickenheads or the ones used by MXR, or something like these, perhaps. Use shellac and carve the pointers.
Bakelite is seen by many steampunks as the beginning of plastic, and it is generally shunned. Wood knobs would be best, as brass and copper are quite heavy and expensive. FWIW, I am working on a steampunk passive voltage processor and will be using wooden beads for the knobs. Very cheap, and looks good, too.
Mooger5
Thanks for the great suggestions. I’ll keep those shurikens in mind, but the cost of bandages might prove to be expensive.
Voltor07
I’d like to be a SteamPunk purist, but I realized early on in this project that I’d have to give up some Victorian era designs and materials in favor of buildable and practical. Besides, isn’t SteamPunk about an ALTERNATE timeline? Who said plastics weren’t invented in then???
I’m working on the panel design for my 8 channel modified Paia vocoder (Poly-Phonemic Duple-Orator). It will have eight vertical “sight glass” tubes with 20 orange LEDs showing each frequency band. Sould be cool once I get it finished.
But about controller keyboards, especially the kind that Doug could do some serious decoration to…here’s the dotcom:
