Mechanical Fourier Calculator
Moderator: James Steele
Forum rules
The forum for petitions, theoretical discussion, gripes, or other matters outside deemed outside the scope of helping users make optimal use of MOTU hardware and software. Posts in other forums may be moved here at the moderators discretion. No politics or religion!!
The forum for petitions, theoretical discussion, gripes, or other matters outside deemed outside the scope of helping users make optimal use of MOTU hardware and software. Posts in other forums may be moved here at the moderators discretion. No politics or religion!!
Mechanical Fourier Calculator
Since it's kind of quiet on the comet front, I ran across this to satisfy my inner geek.
828x MacOS 13.6.5 M1 Studio Max 1TB 64G DP11.31
- Shooshie
- Posts: 19820
- Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
- Primary DAW OS: MacOS
- Location: Dallas
- Contact:
Re: Mechanical Fourier Calculator
Amazing. And if that's amazing, this is amazing times 10:
Mechanical Fourier Analysis
It shows the same machine used to analyze the harmonics, extract the coefficients, and predict the sines needed to sum as a given wave form. Fourier analysis from a mechanical device! But not so surprising, I guess, when you consider that such math was created to solve real problems that CAN be described in a mechanical way.
Shooshie
Mechanical Fourier Analysis
It shows the same machine used to analyze the harmonics, extract the coefficients, and predict the sines needed to sum as a given wave form. Fourier analysis from a mechanical device! But not so surprising, I guess, when you consider that such math was created to solve real problems that CAN be described in a mechanical way.
Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
Re: Mechanical Fourier Calculator
I think this is even more amazing than the Michelson-Morley experiment, but shows the ingenuity of the 19th Century mind. Makes Steam Punk look legitimate.
828x MacOS 13.6.5 M1 Studio Max 1TB 64G DP11.31
- Shooshie
- Posts: 19820
- Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
- Primary DAW OS: MacOS
- Location: Dallas
- Contact:
Re: Mechanical Fourier Calculator
Yeah, steampunk is cool, actually. I have used it for desktop icons and backgrounds. It seems like fantasy to believe that the old, simple world could cross over into the complex worlds of science and math, but underscoring the seeming complexity of advanced science and math are the simplest of relationships. For example, the ratio forming one of the most complex numbers known — π — is the simplest to describe, and one that any living creature can experience: take a stick, pivot it around from its center point. A complete rotation of one endpoint circumscribes π, relative to the length of the stick. How could anything so simple and obvious be so irrational?cuttime wrote:I think this is even more amazing than the Michelson-Morley experiment, but shows the ingenuity of the 19th Century mind. Makes Steam Punk look legitimate.
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
Re: Mechanical Fourier Calculator
Pretty cool. Back in the old days, I had a job at a Boston hospital as an engineer in the anesthesia department. An intern had "invented" what he called the BARC (Bedside Analog Respiratory Computer) which he never got working. One of my first jobs was to make it work. The analysis section used the same sort of techniques, but using analog circuits. I've since then forgotten more than I remember about that math.
Phil
Phil
DP 11.23, 2020 M1 Mac Mini [9,1] (16 Gig RAM), Mac Pro 3GHz 8 core [6,1] (16 Gig RAM), OS 14.3.1/11.6.2, Lynx Aurora (n) 8tb, MOTU 8pre-es, MOTU M6, MOTU 828, Apogee Rosetta 800, UAD-2 Satellite, a truckload of outboard gear and plug-ins, and a partridge in a pear tree.
- Shooshie
- Posts: 19820
- Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
- Primary DAW OS: MacOS
- Location: Dallas
- Contact:
Re: Mechanical Fourier Calculator
Math is definitely a use it or lose it kind of thing, but when I get deeply engrossed in physics, it slowly starts coming back to me. I think the secret is to think like Richard Feynman, constructing real-world models or analogs for what you're trying to solve. And that's exactly what that machine does. In fact, it does it so well that it helps me visualize that math better than anything I ever saw before. I think one could almost do it without the machine, based on knowing how it works. Almost. Well... ok, that's an exaggeration. But you can certainly understand it better.Phil O wrote:I've since then forgotten more than I remember about that math.
Now I've got to go watch Feynman's Cornel lectures again.
Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|