Search our collection

Acoustics

Delve into objects charting the development of acoustics as a science, featuring sound-producing apparatus and electronic means of sound production for musical composition and performance.

Topics
Clear all filters
Image
Category
Collection
Maker
On Display
Object type
Place
Material
Date
Cylindrical musical box, (Harpe Harmonique Piccolo).

Musical box

1890
Battery box for 6034 cell batteries, made by the Morgan Brothers. Admiralty pattern 2417, pattern number 6034.

Battery Box for 6034 cell batteries

1937-1947
Uher mixer model 700 used by electro-acoustic musician Hugh Davies (1943-2005)

Sound Mixer

Soundmirror model BK-401 quarter inch tape recorder probably used for tape loops by electro-acoustic musician Hugh Davies (1943-2005)

Soundmirror model BK-401 tape recorder

Polyphon disc musical box, partially restored in the Science Museum 1996-1997.

Polyphon disc musical box

1880-1920
Battery accumulator for admiralty pattern 6034 cell. One of three. Accumulator is 24-volt, 3 amperes.

Battery Accumulator, 6034C

1944
(P.D.H. MarkI.) Lead wood baffle; baffle only.

Lead wood baffle

Strombos siren (horn & tube with cylinder) compressed air driven.

Strombos siren (horn & tube with cylinder) compressed air driven

1915
Rubber eel, complete with cable.

Rubber eel

1918
M.S. description of Ellis's tuning forks.

Description of Ellis's Tuning forks

Box of throat mics used by electro-acoustic musician Hugh Davies (1943-2005)

Throat microphones

Battery box for 6034 cell batteries, made by the Morgan Brothers. Admiralty pattern 2417, pattern number 6034.

Battery Box for 6034 cell batteries

1937-1947
Photograph 8"x9 3/4" of Scott's phonautograph made by De Palma, Naples.

Scott's phonautograph

1876
Wurlitzer rhythm unit, ‘Sideman’ model, mono, valve electronics, in-built speaker and amplifier, 110 Volts, by Wurlitzer, 1959-1969.

Wurlitzer rhythm unit

1959-1969
32 step 19" rack-mounting analogue sequencer constructed and used by electro-acoustic musician Hugh Davies (1943-2005)

32 step 19" rack-mounting analogue sequencer

Keyboard musical instruments, twin manual, electromechanical, Mellotron Mk2, made by Streetly Electronics Ltd, Sutton Coldfield and distributed by Mellotronics Ltd, London, playing by mechanical selection rhythms and lead instruments pre-recorded on 3/8" 3 track magnetic tape, with various accessories, master tapes and originals (in various formats), c.1965

Mellotron keyboard musical instruments

1965
Three large tuning forks with 6 slides; two large resonators; with a screw piston; four stands, and four metal components, made by Koenig, Paris

Three large tuning forks, resonators and related equipment

Tone-limit apparatus for notes of high pitch, consisting of 31 small tuning forks on stand. Two violin bows for use with the forks.

Tone-limit Apparatus for Notes of High Pitch

A 1827 Recorder A/S 3B. 220 volts. Serial no. DER 2643, Year 1945. Reconditioned 22/11/45

Recorder

Outboard C Tube.

Outboard C Tube

1917
Low-Hilger audiometer, including: 2 12V 48 watt projector bulbs, 5 diaphragms (one torn) on brass mounts, (in metal boxes), 2 diaphragms on wooden mounts, 1 horn and stand, 1 box of lantern slides, mostly referring to the audiometer.

Low-Hilger audiometer

1924
Iron pulley by Rudolph Koenig, 1885

Iron pulley by Rudolph Koenig

1885
Rayleigh disk: includes Rayleigh disk, mounted in glass box Galvo lantern and enclosed scale; Oscillator unit.

Rayleigh disk: includes Rayleigh disk

Beat frequency oscillator, Bruel & Kjaer, Copenhagen, Denmark, model 1014, in fitted carrying case, serial no.22663, circa 1955, with 2 leads (loose)

Beat frequency oscillator

circa 1955
3626 signal injector. A/S62 220v Serial no. 500 KN 1942

Signal Injector

A 156 board, fuse 6-way 2 pole 6 way 15 amps

156 Board

5810A Panel transmitting. A/S 54 Serial no. 3779 KN 1942

Panel transmitting

Monochord which measures to the 1/2000th inch.

Monochord

1870
A 2413 motor unit. 220v A/S 468 Year 1943. Makers code PF99

Motor unit

Plucked reed keyboard instrument.

Plucked reed keyboard instrument

1850
Demonstration model showing three types of organ pipe and three types of organ action.

Demonstration model showing types of organ pipe and actions

1970
Stand associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig, Paris, France. For interference experiments

Stand associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig

Lowrey electronic organs were originally made by and named after their developer, Frederick Lowrey, a Chicago-based industrialist and entrepreneur, with the organs constructed in Lowrey’s home state of Illinois. During the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world and this example (also known as a Lowrey Symphonic Holiday organ) is one of their later examples. Organ made in mid-1970s with electronic and plastic components and wooden body. With wooden stool.

Lowrey four-channel Symphonic Electronic Organ Model TGS, by Lowrey, Illinois, USA, c. 1974-76

circa 1974-76
Slide associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig, Paris, France. For interference experiments

Slide associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig

Large tuning fork by Koenig, Paris, France. For interference experiments

Large tuning fork by Koenig

Volume: "Memoire sur la compression des liquides & c", 1837

Book: Mémoire sur la compression des liquides, 1837

1837
Sectioned transducer (in an envelope)

Sectioned transducer

1950-1959
Type 170 transducer

Transducer

1950-1959
Patt. 804082 transducer

Transducer

1950-1959
Sound range hydrophone

Sound range hydrophone

1950-1959
ARP QUADRA music synthesizer with flight case, circuit diagrams, manual and program chart. The ARP QUADRA music synthesizer represents an advanced generation of synthesizer technology from the late twentieth century, making extensive use of MSI and LSI scale electronics along with reasonably advance analogue op-amps. The ARP Quadra was a 61 key analog synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. from 1978 to 1981. The machine combined pre-existing products: the Omni II, Odyssey, a Solina-esque string synthesizer unit, a phaser and a divide-down organ with ADSR envelope, and a 4075 24 db low pass filter into one box. It had four sections: a Bass synth, Poly synth, Lead synth, and String synth. It was quite good at emulating each of these sounds and could function in any of its four modes at a time with the ability of layering the different sections. Bass was on the bottom two octaves, and had two unison bass circuits (electric and string), with AR and a single pole low pass filter and a related AD envelope for cutoff. A string section was similar to the ARP Omni. Poly Synth, and a two voice Lead Synth similar to the Odyssey and a five-way mixer with four-unit outputs, a stereo pair, a line mono and an XLR out. There were 16 program patches for storing sounds. Other major features include an incredible phase shifter, multiple balanced audio outputs for each section, dual portamento controls and a superior arpeggiator.

Music synthesizer

1979-1984
2076 Loudspeaker A/S2 Serial no. 1293, patent no. 324085. Clifford & Small Ltd, London

Loudspeaker

3354 trunk with fittings A/S 4A, Serial no. 1572, 1943

Trunk with fittings

6503 injector A/S 85. Patt. 6503, Serial no. 479 made by W.E., year 1944

Injector

Overtone apparatus with 65 reeds; (one reed broken and one reed bent).

Overtone apparatus with 65 reeds

1870
Type 164/174 transducer

Transducer

1950-1959
Reverberation Line, part of the Oramics machine, 1966, used to create electronic synthesized music and developed by Daphne Oram, co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Reverberation Line for Oramics Machine.9

1966
Stand associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig, Paris, France. For interference experiments

Stand associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig

One large wingnut for securing resonator to stand. Would have been attached to one of the stands parts 13-16. Associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig, Paris, France, for interference experiments.

Wingnut associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig

Slide associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig, Paris, France. For interference experiments

Slide associated with three large tuning forks by Koenig