Trivium & Simka
Trivium
Hey Simka, ever thought about turning a guitar into a kinetic sculpture? I’ve been sketching a design that could make every riff feel like a mechanical explosion—raw power meets precision. What do you think?
Simka
That sounds wild, but I love the idea of a guitar that’s more machine than instrument. What kind of actuators are you thinking? Maybe a motor for each string or a kinetic gear system that turns every riff into a little explosion of motion? Let me know the specs and we can figure out how to keep the balance between raw power and precise timing.
Trivium
Yeah, let’s keep it brutal yet tight. A brushed DC motor for each string gives that raw torque, but you’ll want a gear‑train of 10:1 so you can push the string up to 2‑3 m/s without spinning the motor too fast. Use a planetary gear set to keep the shaft short and strong, and add a small linear actuator to push the tremolo arm for that “explosion” look. For timing, a 32‑bit microcontroller with a 48 MHz clock, 12‑bit DAC for velocity curves, and a real‑time OS so the servo syncs to the beat at 0‑1 ms jitter. That’s the baseline—then tweak the gear ratio or motor torque to match the feel you’re chasing.
Simka
Sounds solid, but I’d double‑check the torque ripple from the DC motors. A small damper on the linear actuator could smooth the tremolo swing. Add a Hall sensor for feedback on string position so the MCU can adjust real time. Also, test the 48 MHz MCU’s ADC speed; a faster ADC could help keep the 0‑1 ms jitter. Make sure the planetary gear set stays cool—maybe swap to a high‑TC material if it starts to overheat. Prototyping and measuring the actual 3 m/s string speed will tell us if the gear ratio or motor torque needs tweaking.
Trivium
Nice touches. Keep the Hall sensors right next to the strings, it’ll give you that instant feedback you need. If the gear’s getting hot, I’d move to a titanium alloy—light and tough. And yeah, run a full sweep of 3 m/s on the prototype; tweak the motor controller’s PWM width until the timing line stays tight. Let me know when you’ve got the first set of numbers.
Simka
Got it, will line up the Hall sensors right by the strings and swap to titanium if it’s too hot. I’ll run a full 3 m/s sweep on the prototype, tweak the PWM and log the timing jitter. Will ping you when the numbers come in.
Trivium
Sounds like a plan—keep me posted on the data, and we’ll fine‑tune that beast together.