Is the "Earth Harp" real (acoustically)?

zoobyshoe

I'm thinking just about inaudible to the unaided ear. In all these videos the effect of repeated stroking is to increase the amplitude. The rods are certainly ringing softly at the first stroke and I think the secret of the "earth harp" is in the electronic amplification.

Whiskey

I suspect the vibration or tension from Close rubbing the string triggers a note on a synthesizer. I can't believe those long loose strings are actually making any sound.

And there are no patents related to the Earth Harp, just copyrights. It appears to be just showmanship.

pdubbs

My BS monitor also went off when I saw the "earth harp" no way that is real acoustic sound coming from the strings. Instead, I offer that is is merely a midi controller that is triggering a synthesizer/sampler somewhere. I write and produce electronic music and have made some interesting midi controllers using various household items. Just notice the lack of any microphones to mic the instrument and then notice how it perfectly fits in with his other played instruments and backing track. It is perfectly mixed and sits "well" in the track; too well for that matter. And it is too responsive to be what he actually says it is. Try to make sound from a wine glass quick like he does with the earth harp

tonytee1947

All this discussion is so theoretical that I wonder why nobody has asked the obvious (at least to me) question. I'm not a physicist or even a scientist but I have professionally played a stringed instrument. Forget all the stuff about whether it's rods or cables; it's obviously cables of some kind. And the way this guy "plays" his "harp" is by running his hands, gloved or not, with rosin or not, along these cables. So the question is this; can this teeny (compared to a series of cables stretched over 100 feet) little man have a physical sound producing effect on these cables? This looks to me, just at first glance, to be something more in the realm of David Copperfield than the area of physics or music.

tb2496

in his latest performance on AGT I noticed that sometimes the sound he's suppose to play is played before he actually moves his hands to play it.

so for example the melody changes from one note to another but he has not moved his hands to another string yet. when he moves his hand to another string and touches/rubs it (maybe one second delay), no new note is triggered in what we hear.

which means the music is either prerecorded or someone else is playing what's suppose to be his sound/melody.

Devils

The Earth operates like a giant bell, it has a mainly liquid core & hard outer surface. Earthquakes make the bell ring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_wave

Playing the Earth like a musical instrument is a bit far fetched though.

dkotschessaa

I just watched a bunch of these videos and the stage lighting really makes it difficult to discern anything like this. In the true spirit of skepticism I think it is best to refrain from depending too much on "sense input" of this type.