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Mystery Song Coffee Stirrer

Follow the numbers to play a mystery song.
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A coffee stick has 12 lines on it, each with numbers on them.

You put the coffee stirrer on the edge of the table at line number 1. You then pluck down on the stirrer. It will vibrate at a certain frequency playing a note.

You then move it to the line having the number 2 on it and pluck it again playing the next note of the tune. You continue to 3, 4 etc until you've played the whole melody.

See link to see this being done without numbers. The idea is to have a stirrer like the guy is using that you can play by following the numbers.

doctorremulac3, Dec 10 2016

Inspiration https://www.youtube...watch?v=ATGbHjUKnqM
With a numbered stick anybody could play a tune like this. [doctorremulac3, Dec 10 2016]

mechanical bagpipes http://www.bobessex.co.uk/6.html
[not_morrison_rm, Dec 11 2016]

Fake! https://www.youtube...watch?v=Tet2CMHZjx8
[bungston, Dec 11 2016]

Bob's Coffee https://www.google....CYKHT8FBTIQ_AUICCgD
Mbira - african thumb pianos [bungston, Dec 11 2016]

Time to prototype / final product, 6 to 8 weeks. http://www.smartpac...P7NACFYJ8fgodplYJpA
Total time and cash invested, several hours, a few hundred bucks for the provisional patent and test run. [doctorremulac3, Dec 11 2016]

[link]






       edit* The numbers have to be non sequential   

       If you wanted them sequential then*   

       The stirrer has to be made of different materials to change notes higher whilest still going up in number. That is, the stick getting longer will have longer notes. A melody will have changes against this progression.   

       There is still the timing issue which could be dealt with by the time it takes to move to the next line.
wjt, Dec 10 2016
  

       Not sure what you're saying, sorry if I didn't describe it properly.   

       The idea is just to put numbers on the stick that you align with the edge of the table. You play the 1, then 2, then 3 etc to play the melody.   

       All songs are played the same way, you just play 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc. but the numbers are in different positions on the stick for different songs. You won't know what the melody is until you play it.   

       Maybe I'll sell this idea to Starbucks.
doctorremulac3, Dec 10 2016
  

       Sweet. (+) Kids would love this, so popsicle and dilly-bar sticks would be the way to go.
I think you've found your aglet.
  

       Starbucks executive: ' How does it work?'   

       Doctoremulac3: ' Don't know but it's a good idea.'   

       Executive: ' Since you don't know, here's a Starbuck voucher'.   

       Doc. leaves and Executive calls his lawyers then the R&D department.   

       edit* OK, my bad, You didn't state the numbers weren't sequential. *
wjt, Dec 11 2016
  

       Ok, I'll raise you one mechanical bagpipes...link
not_morrison_rm, Dec 11 2016
  

       You know, waking up and looking at this again first thing in the morning... this is actually kind of cool. I'd love one of these if I were sitting at at a coffee shop. Sipping my coffee, following the numbers and going "Hey! It's Jingle Bells! Of course, Christmas, I get it!" I however am very easy to amuse.   

       Is there anybody who when given one of these wouldn't use it to see what the tune was? (Seriously, I'm asking.)
doctorremulac3, Dec 11 2016
  

       I am sad it is fake but I think it is. It looked at one point to me that he did not hit it enough to make the notes. But linked same video one user points he slides it the wrong way at the end.   

       Coffee stirrers are only for coffee. Leave everything to the experts. Nothing new is possible.
bungston, Dec 11 2016
  

       Whoa, he does move the stick in the wrong direction a couple of times.   

       That being said... I grabbed a plastic stirrer to do a "Mythbusters" test and played an absolutely beautiful version of Jingle Bells. I think this guy sampled a stirrer, played the melody then attempted to play along with the pre-recorded stirrer recording but you can do a test yourself. It works fine. Why wouldn't it? The only thing missing is the precision you'd need to actually play a tune which is addressed by the printed numbers and lines.   

       Want to clarify how this works. Again, you just follow the numbers, 1,2,3,4,5,6 to play the tune. Jingle Bells would be printed on the stick like this: (from top of the stick to bottom)   

       8---------- 1,2,3 4,5,6,7,11------- 10 ---------------- 9------------------   

       Since the numbers would have to be pretty small, you'd want a tune that didn't have too many repeat notes since they'd all have to be printed side by side on that little stirrer.
doctorremulac3, Dec 11 2016
  

       You could just print an incremental number side and the songs number progression on the other. That way overlapping numbers would present no problem. The user just has to remember the sequence.   

       //You won't know what the melody is until you play it// not hard to sight-read this.
pocmloc, Dec 11 2016
  

       If a series of strips is fixed at given lengths this becomes a mbira - african thumb piano. But if you have only one strip then the doctorremulabira becomes your option.
bungston, Dec 11 2016
  

       //You could just print an incremental number side and the songs number progression on the other. That way overlapping numbers would present no problem. The user just has to remember the sequence.//   

       Not sure I follow you but the whole point would be not having to remember anything. Just click one, two, three etc and the song plays. The incremental numbers are the same as the song number progression.   

       Also, the moment that you have to flip the swizzle stick over other than perhaps to read a very brief instruction on how to play the song is the moment 99% of the people would lose interest.   

       By the way, see link for how easy this would be to do.   

       And obviously this doesn't have to just be coffee stirrers. You could hand them out as key fobs with your company jingle etc. INTEL for instance with their little ding ding ding ding chime jingle. Basically any stick that you want to convert into a musical instrument.
doctorremulac3, Dec 11 2016
  

       The note depends on the flex of stick over the edge. Could you pre-stress the plastic at a number so that the note is changed?   

       This might allow a progression of the stick getting smaller whilst retaining note change in the melody.   

       Even those just learning to count can have fun.
wjt, Dec 13 2016
  

       //Could you pre-stress the plastic at a number so that the note is changed?//   

       I don't know how you'd pre-stress it, sounds pretty complicated. Instead of doing something fancy like that I suppose you could have thicker bits and thinner bits that would vibrate differently.   

       Seems like a lot of work though. Just printing a standard stirrer would be pretty easy.
doctorremulac3, Dec 13 2016
  
      
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